COVID-19 Death Gaps: Understanding How Race and Class Inequities Shape Pandemic Health Outcomes – Talk by Dr. Whitney Pirtle

Dr. Whitney Pirtle, assistant professor of sociology and McArthur Foundation Chair in International Justice and Human Rights at the University of California, Merced, will present a webinar, COVID-19 Death Gaps: Understanding How Race and Class Inequities Shape Pandemic Health Outcomes, at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 28. This event, part of UNC Asheville’s annual Martin Luther King Jr. commemoration, is free and open to everyone – pre-register at this link.

Abstract Provided by Whitney Pirtle

Health sociologists have long explained how socioeconomic status, and later racism, are basic root causes of health disparities. I extend this work to argue that racial capitalism, or the idea that racialized exploitation and capital accumulation are mutually reinforced systems, structure health inequities. Furthermore, these intersecting systems are exacerbated in the face of additional forms of oppression and in times of health crises. Synthesizing early reports and preliminary empirical studies, I demonstrate how multiple, overlapping mechanisms shape the excess deaths in COVID-19 across racial lines. This analysis demonstrates that health inequities will continue to be replicated unless we can fundamentally change our unequal system.

Whitney Pirtle Bio

Dr, Whitney N. Laster Pirtle is an assistant professor of sociology and McArthur Foundation Chair in International Justice and Human Rights at the University of California, Merced (UC Merced). She received her B.A. from Grand Valley State University, and earned her M.A. and Ph.D. in sociology from Vanderbilt University. At UC Merced, she has affiliations with the Public Health, and Critical Race and Ethnic Studies Departments and directs the Sociology of Health and Equity (SHE) Lab.

Pirtle is an award-winning author, teacher, and mentor. Her research explores issues relating to race, identity, inequality, health equity, and Black feminist praxis. Her work has been published in academic journals such as Ethnic & Racial Studies, Social Science & Medicine, and Sociology of Race and Ethnicity, as well as public media websites such as The Atlantic, Huffington Post and Feminist Wire. 

She continues to research racial disparities in COVID-19, with a forthcoming article in Gender & Society urging for a structural intersectional analysis of the pandemic. In addition, her co-edited volume Black Feminist Sociology: Perspectives and Praxis is forthcoming with Routledge Spring 2021. She recently won the 2020 A. Wade Smith Award for Teaching, Mentoring, and Service from the Association of Black Sociologists.

Please note: UNC Asheville’s MLK Commemoration includes events just for our students and university community. You can find those events here.