Was Lockdown Racist?
This paper argues that lockdown was racist, where “lockdown” refers to a historically situated kind of regulatory response to the Covid-19 pandemic imposing significant restrictions on leaving the home and on activities outside it. We articulate a notion of negligent racism which is objective and do...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Michigan Publishing
2025-04-01
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| Series: | Ergo, An Open Access Journal of Philosophy |
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| Online Access: | https://journals.publishing.umich.edu/ergo/article/id/7431/ |
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| author | Alex Broadbent Pieter Streicher |
| author_facet | Alex Broadbent Pieter Streicher |
| author_sort | Alex Broadbent |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This paper argues that lockdown was racist, where “lockdown” refers to a historically situated kind of regulatory response to the Covid-19 pandemic imposing significant restrictions on leaving the home and on activities outside it. We articulate a notion of negligent racism which is objective and does not require intent, and show that lockdown satisfies its definition. The effects of lockdown on Africa significantly disadvantaged its inhabitants relative to the inhabitants of at least some other regions. We show how this suffices to establish the general proposition that lockdown was negligently racist (not merely “sometimes” or “someplace”), given our definitions. We defend our conclusion against two objections: that lockdown was a (moral) necessity (one version of which is the idea that it was a necessary precaution); and that race is explanatorily irrelevant, meaning that to whatever extent our argument is successful, it succeeds merely in showing that lockdown was anti-poor and not that it was racist. Nothing remains to gainsay the conclusion that lockdown was racist. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-b6af93109e014c97be05b2d140f076da |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2330-4014 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-04-01 |
| publisher | Michigan Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Ergo, An Open Access Journal of Philosophy |
| spelling | doaj-art-b6af93109e014c97be05b2d140f076da2025-08-20T02:09:09ZengMichigan PublishingErgo, An Open Access Journal of Philosophy2330-40142025-04-0112010.3998/ergo.7431Was Lockdown Racist?Alex Broadbent0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5120-6584Pieter Streicher1Philosophy Department, Durham UniversityCentre for Philosophy of Epidemiology, Medicine, and Public Health; Centre for Philosophy of Epidemiology, Medicine, and Public Health, Durham University; University of JohannesburgThis paper argues that lockdown was racist, where “lockdown” refers to a historically situated kind of regulatory response to the Covid-19 pandemic imposing significant restrictions on leaving the home and on activities outside it. We articulate a notion of negligent racism which is objective and does not require intent, and show that lockdown satisfies its definition. The effects of lockdown on Africa significantly disadvantaged its inhabitants relative to the inhabitants of at least some other regions. We show how this suffices to establish the general proposition that lockdown was negligently racist (not merely “sometimes” or “someplace”), given our definitions. We defend our conclusion against two objections: that lockdown was a (moral) necessity (one version of which is the idea that it was a necessary precaution); and that race is explanatorily irrelevant, meaning that to whatever extent our argument is successful, it succeeds merely in showing that lockdown was anti-poor and not that it was racist. Nothing remains to gainsay the conclusion that lockdown was racist.https://journals.publishing.umich.edu/ergo/article/id/7431/Covid-19pandemicracismnegligent racismlockdownAfrica |
| spellingShingle | Alex Broadbent Pieter Streicher Was Lockdown Racist? Ergo, An Open Access Journal of Philosophy Covid-19 pandemic racism negligent racism lockdown Africa |
| title | Was Lockdown Racist? |
| title_full | Was Lockdown Racist? |
| title_fullStr | Was Lockdown Racist? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Was Lockdown Racist? |
| title_short | Was Lockdown Racist? |
| title_sort | was lockdown racist |
| topic | Covid-19 pandemic racism negligent racism lockdown Africa |
| url | https://journals.publishing.umich.edu/ergo/article/id/7431/ |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT alexbroadbent waslockdownracist AT pieterstreicher waslockdownracist |