Should countries attempt to get dibs on a COVID-19 vaccine for their own citizens, even if it comes at the expense of more vulnerable populations in other countries? Ana Santos Rutschman, a law professor who specializes in health law and emerging health technologies, asks this question in her June 25, 2020 essay published in The …
Barriers to building wealth: Nick Maggiulli on the racial wealth gap
“Money drives the world,” Nick Maggiulli argues, yet in the U.S., black households have far less capital than white households. Why is that? Maggiulli, a data scientist and blogger who specializes in personal finance, shows that this racial wealth gap is deeply rooted in systemic discrimination. In this June 4, 2020 essay, Maggiulli uses the …
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Students as consumers: E. Michele Ramsey on the language of capitalism in higher education
Is college a public good or a consumer good? E. Michele Ramsey asks this question in her May 5, 2020 post on the blog Mere Rhetoric. She critiques the rise of consumer metaphors in higher education, showing how this “language of business” affects students’ and society’s perception of the purpose of college. In the face …
Power couples: Cardiff Garcia and Stacey Vanek Smith on marriage and income inequality
Another way the rich keep getting richer? Marriage. This NPR podcast from February 24, 2020 explains the phenomenon of “assortative mating,” which occurs when people of similar education levels and socioeconomic status marry each other. Hosts Cardiff Garcia and Stacey Vanek Smith interview economist Branko Milanovic, who argues that this trend furthers income inequality in …
Bearing the burden: Helen Lewis on how pandemics affect women
Who’s watching the kids? For many families, the answer falls along predictable gender lines, as women attempt to balance their jobs with unpaid caregiving. In her March 19, 2020 essay in The Atlantic, Helen Lewis contends that this gender divide matters, especially in pandemics. Lewis looks at the current crisis as well as past pandemics …
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Privacy and public health: Sidney Fussell on smartphone surveillance
How do we balance protecting individual rights and safeguarding public health? This question is at the heart of the current response to the COVID-19 global health crisis. In his March 21, 2020 WIRED article, Sidney Fussell asks whether using people’s smartphone data to track the virus is an infringement on privacy or a necessity to …
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Calling in sick: Amanda Mull on protecting everyone with paid sick leave
Wash your hands. Stop touching your face. Avoid large crowds. This past week, we’ve been inundated with advice for stopping the spread of COVID-19. In her February 28, 2020 essay, Amanda Mull argues that pandemics like this one could be contained more easily if we addressed an underlying structural issue inherent in the American workplace: …
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Keeping kids safe: Jaclyn Schildkraut on school lockdown drills
Active shooter lockdown drills are now common in U.S. schools, in response to recent deadly school shootings. In 2019, the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers worked with the advocacy group Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund to issue a report calling for the end of these drills. Jaclyn Schildkraut, a researcher …
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On the ballot: Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux and Meredith Conroy on representation in elected office
Quick! Which state leads the country in electing women of color to executive office? The answer? New Mexico. It’s not a “fluke,” Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux and Meredith Conroy contend in their FiveThirtyEight essay published on January 31, 2020. Rather, they argue, the work that has been done in New Mexico to put women in office can …
A man’s place: A conversation about masculinity in the #MeToo era
Too often, the most pressing debates about gender (i.e. sexual assault, equal pay) are simplified to women’s-only issues. That’s a problem. In this November 12, 2019 YES! piece, nine people discuss our collective responsibility in these conversations and debate how men should participate in the #MeToo movement. Alex Meyers, Earth-Feather Sovereign, Imara Jones, Kalimah Johnson, …
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