Thinking In a Pandemic | Boston Review
Become a Member | Boston Review

A Political and Literary Forum

Menu Search
Donate Shop Join

Class & Inequality

Thomas Piketty Takes On the Ideology of Inequality

In his sweeping new history, the economist systematically demolishes the conceit that extreme inequality is our destiny, rather than our choice.

Marshall Steinbaum

Read More

Class & Inequality

Class & Inequality

Beyond the Neoliberal University

Astra Taylor talks with Rutgers faculty union president Todd Wolfson about organizing academic communities in the age of COVID-19.

Todd Wolfson, Astra Taylor

Class & Inequality, Science & Nature

Pigs and Capital

In a world unraveled by COVID-19, the brutality of factory farming demands we rethink our relationship to animals.

Troy Vettese

Class & Inequality

Who Pays for Cheap Language Instruction?

Media stories praising online language learning as an inexpensive way to take a “vacation” during COVID-19 have expressed astonishingly little curiosity about the conditions under which gig-economy language teachers labor.

Yuliya Komska, Alberto Bruzos Moro, Roberto Rey Agudo

Class & Inequality

The Keynesian Revolution

A new biography reveals the full scope of John Maynard Keynes’s critique of unfettered capitalism, emphasizing the economist’s larger philosophical vision of the good life.

Jonathan Kirshner

Class & Inequality, Politics

A Politics of the Future

Despite the myth that deaths of the elderly are never untimely, the author mourns a friend, fifty years his senior, who succumbed to COVID-19. She taught him that a moral life entails wanting those rewards not only for yourself but for everyone.

Simon Waxman

Class & Inequality

The End of Family Values

Neoliberalism rests on the myth that “good” families can provide for their own without public support. COVID-19 may finally change all that.

Julie Kohler

Class & Inequality, Science & Nature

What Would Health Security Look Like?

Nineteenth-century reformers understood the deep connections between public health and environmental protection. That's why struggles for Medicare for All and a Green New Deal are two sides of the same coin.

Sunaura Taylor

Class & Inequality, Politics

When Will Capitalism End?

Rumors of the imminent death of capitalism have often been greatly exaggerated. But that doesn’t mean we must give up on making things better.

Alyssa Battistoni

Class & Inequality

We're Not All In It Together

The deep, growing divisions in U.S. society have an outsize effect in determining who suffers from this pandemic—as well as how the government responds.

Rajan Menon, Jeffrey Kucik

Class & Inequality, Global Justice

What 30 Percent Unemployment Looks Like

As we know from South Africa's crisis, political and social fault lines will shape the contours of joblessness.

Nicholas Rush Smith

Class & Inequality, Science & Nature

COVID-19 Crisis Capitalism Comes to Real Estate

Proptech is leading to new forms of housing injustice in ways that increase the power of landlords and further disempower tenants and those seeking shelter.

Erin McElroy, Meredith Whittaker, Genevieve Fried

Class & Inequality

Deaths of Despair

Boston Review talks with Nobel Prize-winning economist Angus Deaton about COVID-19, the relationship between culture, financial hardship, and health, and why capitalism’s flaws are proving fatal for America’s working class. 

Joshua Cohen, Angus Deaton

Sign Up for Our Newsletter

Vital reading on politics, literature, and more in your inbox

Love Boston Review?

Then you’ll love our new membership program! Join us to support engaged discussion on critical issues. You’ll also enjoy exclusive membership benefits.
Get Started

Copyright © 1993-2020 Boston Review and its authors.

Support Boston Review

Become a Member

Make a tax-deductible donation today

Boston Review Printing Note: For best printing results try turning on any options your web browser's print dialog makes available for printing backgrounds and background graphics.

JOIN THE DISCUSSION

Get Our Weekly Emails

Confronting the challenges of this moment demands all the moral and deliberative clarity we can muster. While much remains uncertain, Boston Review’s responsibility to public reason is sure. Sign up for our newsletter and don’t miss a thing. 

THINKING IN A PANDEMIC

Donate Today