Rethinking vulnerability through Covid‐19

Abstract

In times of crisis, inequalities are more commonly exaggerated than ameliorated – meaning both that vulnerable populations are often forced to make do with what resources are at hand and that many of those who barely manage in ‘normal’ times are pushed beyond capability and opportunity thresholds. Indeed, new case definitions of vulnerability that emerge in a crisis may push previously unrecognized groups (e.g. service employees, ‘care’ facility residents) into extreme vulnerability, as borderline coping quickly becomes calamity coping. To understand emerging vulnerability, it is therefore critical for social scientists to have a seat at the table where scarce resources are being allocated – before, during and after a crisis.

 

Biography

David Napier is Professor of Medical Anthropology at University College London (UCL) and Director of its Science, Medicine, and Society Network. Napier has been involved in three Lancet commissions, leading the 2014 Lancet Commission on Culture and Health. He is currently International Chair, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Committee on the Cultural Contexts of Health and Wellbeing. He is also Innovations Lead for Sonar‐Global, a European Commission social science network responding to infectious disease outbreaks and antimicrobial resistance. His email is d.napier@ucl.ac.uk.