Equally at risk? Perceived financial differences, risk assessment and containment measures in the COVID-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected nearly everybody around the world. The risk of getting infected as well as the risks posed by the economic consequences of the containment measures do not stop at borders or class differences. How do citizens react to such a transboundary crisis? Do such crises have an equalising effect across different social strata of the population? And who are the groups who favour strong government containment measures such as lockdowns? To answer these questions, we conducted an original survey in Germany and the U.S. during the first wave of the virus in June 2020. We find no support for an equalising effect of the crisis, as our conceptual point of departure – the notion of risk society – would presume. Rather, our results indicate that citizens who perceive that they are financially less well-off have greater economic and health-related fears. They also differ in their preferred government response from those who are economically satisfied.

KEYWORDS:

• COVID-19
• crisis
• socio-economic inequality
• public opinion
• risk society

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Another influential sociological stand is the governmentality perspective that draws on Foucault (2004 [1979]), which conceives risk as a governmental disciplinary power to monitor and manage citizens in order to foster prevailing governmental agendas, such as neoliberal ones (see also: Dean, 1997).

2 It should (and has) also be noted, however, that a more nuanced reading of Beck would allow a certain compatibility with class analysis (cf. Beck, 1986, p. 46; Curran, 2013, fn. 3; Ekberg, 2007, p. 361) and that Beck’s perspective on the topic evolved over time (Curran, 2018).

3 For example, most initial studies suggest that the risk to catch the disease has indeed been higher for the lower socio-economic strata in Germany after the initial wave of those who caught it during their ski holidays spread out (Pluemper & Neumayer, 2020). And in the U.S., Finch and Hernández Finch (2020, p. 6) confirmed that a large number of deaths caused by COVID-19 were associated with poverty.

4 The higher penetration rate of the disease renders the health risk more severe in the US. This finding is exacerbated by the fact that, compared to Germany, many of the socio-economically disadvantaged in the US have no health insurance.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Stiftung Deutsch-Amerikanische Wissenschaftsbeziehungen.

Notes on contributors

Daniel Stockemer

Daniel Stockemer is Full Professor in Comparative Politics and Konrad Adenauer Research Chair in Empirical Democracy Studies at the University of Ottawa.

Arne Niemann

Arne Niemann is Full Professor for International Relations at the University of Mainz.

Doris Unger

Doris Unger is Senior Research in the Department of International Relations at the University of Mainz.

Friedrich Plank

Friedrich Plank is Post-doctoral Fellow in International Relations at the University of Mainz.