Inequities in healthcare and unequal risk correlated with racial categories have received a lot of attention in the past year and a half. From early in the COVID-19 pandemic, it was apparent that the risks of severe disease were not borne equally. Age is clearly related to risk, with plausible biological underpinnings; we have observed independently that the behavior of our immune systems changes throughout our lives. Variation in risk is also correlated with racial categories, but here the story is complex, involving unequal exposure risks related to job type & living conditions, differing access to healthcare, and varied prevalence of preexisting conditions, along with other possible factors. If we were looking to predict risk, we might therefore consider racial categories as one predictor. But will that improve or exacerbate inequity related to racial categories in healthcare and public health?
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racialized society
Book Review: The Agony of Education
The Agony of Education: Black Students at a White University by Joe R. Feagin, Hernan Vera, and Nikitah Imani (Taylor & Francis, 1996) is a hard book to read. I noted that it has a 1996 copyright and has probably sat on my “unread books” pile for the best part of a decade. The book chronicles the struggles of black students at a predominantly white, large State University that is not identified. The big question for me in reading this book is whether to accept the “racialized society” approach in analyzing the experience of black students. This sees white students as insensitive and at least latently racist, university structures as unfriendly to blacks and favorable to whites, and university administrators and faculty (mostly white) as perpetuators of this system, despite their liberal pretensions.
The evidence of this study makes a strong case for all these structures being in place and making the experience of blacks in such institutions one of agony. Students experience differential treatment from advisors and faculty, are assumed to be there simply because of affirmative action rather than ability, and often get the subtle message of “not welcome here.” [Read more…] about Book Review: The Agony of Education