HEALTH INEQUALITIES AND COGNATE INEQUITIES IN AMERICAN SOCIETY; RACISM, NEOLIBERALISM, AND FREEDOM FROM INDIGNITY

Year 2022, Volume: 7 Issue: 1, 76 - 115, 23.03.2022

Faruk Hadžić

Abstract

The paper re-examines neoliberal societies' essential characteristics and dignity exposition, arguing that
racial injustice represents and inaugurates a systemic culmination. By proceeding with the theoretical
framework of neoliberalism's impact on inequality, the study presents racism and its relevance in health
and cognate inequalities and association to human security- freedom from indignity. Racial inequality in
health and cognate inequities can not be transformed unless the power of neoliberalism is simultaneously
contested. The COVID-19 has exposed the adverse effects of a system that has dominated and
disproportionately impacted racialized US communities. It has refined confirmation of long-standing
structural variations pointing out inadequate policies, budget discrepancies, jeopardizing human security
conceptualization. Thus, opening ground for a neoliberalism reversal within the alternative hybrid order.
The phenomenon's roots and current issues lie in the realization of capitalism, the morphology of the nationstate, and the generative order of colonialism. The unequal access and comprehensive discrimination make
a paradoxical paradigm that the affluent US society is less prosperous. With an ideal approach to skepticism
and confusion regarding critical race theory, the legal history, doctrinal race development, and the
International Convention on Racial Discrimination, a contemporary racial foundation needs to be
developed, reaffirmed, improved, and protected to incorporate the democratic content of the US's principlesThe paper re-examines neoliberal societies' essential characteristics and dignity exposition, arguing that
racial injustice represents and inaugurates a systemic culmination. By proceeding with the theoretical
framework of neoliberalism's impact on inequality, the study presents racism and its relevance in health
and cognate inequalities and association to human security- freedom from indignity. Racial inequality in
health and cognate inequities can not be transformed unless the power of neoliberalism is simultaneously
contested. The COVID-19 has exposed the adverse effects of a system that has dominated and
disproportionately impacted racialized US communities. It has refined confirmation of long-standing
structural variations pointing out inadequate policies, budget discrepancies, jeopardizing human security
conceptualization. Thus, opening ground for a neoliberalism reversal within the alternative hybrid order.
The phenomenon's roots and current issues lie in the realization of capitalism, the morphology of the nationstate, and the generative order of colonialism. The unequal access and comprehensive discrimination make
a paradoxical paradigm that the affluent US society is less prosperous. With an ideal approach to skepticism
and confusion regarding critical race theory, the legal history, doctrinal race development, and the
International Convention on Racial Discrimination, a contemporary racial foundation needs to be
developed, reaffirmed, improved, and protected to incorporate the democratic content of the US's principles

Keywords

health inequalities, racism, USA, human security, freedom from indignity, neoliberalism, inequities, human rights

References

• Alexander, M. (2012). The New Jim Crow: Mass incarceration in the age of colorblindness, New York: New York Press.
• Al Attar, M. (2020). AfronomicsLAw, “I Can’t Breathe”: Confronting the Racism of International Law, https://www.afronomicslaw.org/2020/10/02/i-cant-breathe-confronting-the-racismof-international-law/
• Alston, P. (2018). Special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights. New York: United Nations Human Rights Council.
• Alvaredo, F., Piketty T., Saez, E., Zucman, G. (2018). World inequality report. Berlin: World Inequality Lab.
• Bilinovic, A. and Skoric, J. (2015). Obrazovanje kao faktor socijalnog razvoja. In: Regioni i regionalizacija: Komparativna analiza IV, Novi Sad: Filozofski fakultet
• Braveman, P., Gottlieb, L. (2014). The social determinants of health: It's time to consider the causes of the causes. Public Health Reports, 129,19-31.
• Bradley, A. (2019). Human rights racism, Harvard Human Rights Journal, Vol 32: 1-58 https://harvardhrj.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/14/2020/06/Human-Rights-Racism-1.pdf
• Brenner, N., Theodore, N. (2002). Cities and geographies of actually existing neoliberalism. Antipode, 34,349-379.
• City Budget Commission. (2020, May 21). Seven Facts About the NYPD Budget. https://cbcny.org/research/seven-facts-about-nypd-budget
• Costley, D. (2021). abcNews, People of color more exposed than whites to air pollution, https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/people-color-exposed-whites-air-pollution77397374
• Declaration of Alma-Ata. (1978, May 21). International Conference on Primary Health Care. https://www.who.int/publications/almaata_declaration_en.pdf
• Engdahl, F. (2011). Gods of money: Wall Street and the death of the American century. California: Progressive Press.
• Franck, T. (1999). Law and Society in the Age of Individualism, Oxford: Oxford University Press
• Gaffney, A. (2015). The neoliberal turn in American health care. International Journal of Health Service, 45: 3-52.
• George, S. (1999). A short history of neoliberalism. Bangkok: Mas Press.
• Glenn, E. (2000). Citizenship and Inequality: Historical and Global Perspectives, Social Problems, 47 (1): 1-20
• Gould, E. and Wilson, V. (2020). Black workers face two of the most lethal preexisting conditions for coronavirus—racism and economic inequality, Economic Policy Institute https://www.epi.org/publication/black-workers-covid/
• Gould, E., Perez, D. and Wilson, V. (2020). Latinx workers—particularly women—face devastating job losses in the COVID-19 recession, Economic Policy Institute, https://www.epi.org/publication/latinx-workers-covid/
• Hammond, B. (2021, May 21). Empire Center, New York’s shrinking budget for public health deserves more attention. https://www.empirecenter.org/publications/new-yorks-shrinkingbudget-for-public-health/
• Hansen, D. (2016, June 10). Unless it changes, capitalism will starve humanity by 2050. https://www.forbes.com/sites/drewhansen/2016/02/09/unless-it-changes-capitalism-willstarve-humanity-by-2050/?sh=1cdb35937ccc
• Harvey, D. (2007). A brief history of neoliberalism. New York: Oxford University Press.
• Harvey, D. (2003). The new imperialism. New York: Oxford University Press.
• Hinrichs, B. (2020, June 2). Afroamerikanci: Sve siromašniji, bolesniji, neobrazovaniji. https://www.dw.com/bs/afroamerikanci-sve-siroma%C5%A1niji-bolesnijineobrazovaniji/a-53693801 https://www.jstor.org/stable/211817
• Hohle, R. (2018). Racism in the neoliberal era: A meta history of elite white power. London: Routledge.
• Horkheimer, M. and Adorno, T. (2002). Dialectic of enlightenment philosophical fragments, Stamford: Stamford University Press.
• Leach, M., MacGregor, H. Scoones, I. and Wilkinson, A. (2021). Post-pandemic transformations: How and why COVID-19 requires us to rethink development, World Development, Volume 138, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2020.105233
• Krugman, P. (2009). The conscience of a liberal. New York: W. W. Norton and Company.
• Mastilica, M. (2020). Nejednakosti u zdravstvenom sistemu. Zagreb: Škola Narodnog Zdravlja Andrija Stampar.
• MDougall, G. (2021). The international convention on the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination, United Nations Audiovisual Library of International Law, 1-9 https://legal.un.org/avl/pdf/ha/cerd/cerd_e.pdf
• Mbembe, N. (2019). Necro-politics. Durham: Duke University Press. National Center for Health Statistics. (2018, May 21). Centre for desease control and prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus18.pdf#Highlights
• Ndugga, N., Artiga, S. (2021, May 21). Kaiser Family Foundation, racial disparities in health care. https://www.kff.org/racial-equity-and-health-policy/issue-brief/disparities-in-health-andhealth-care-5-key-question-and-answers/ OECD, (2019). Confronting Poverty, Poverty Facts and Myths, https://confrontingpoverty.org/poverty-facts-and-myths/americas-poor-are-worse-off-thanelsewhere/
• Ortiz, I. and Cummins, M. (2019). Austerity: The New Normal A Renewed Washington Consensus 2010-24, Initiative for Policy Dialogue, New York, https://www.ituccsi.org/IMG/pdf/austerity_the_new_normal_ortiz_cummins.pdf
• Pager, D. and Shepherd, H. (2008). Discrimination in Employment, Housing, Credit, and Consumer Markets, Annual Review of Sociology, Vol. 34:181- 209 https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.soc.33.040406.131740
• Pirtle, W. (2020). Racial Capitalism: A Fundamental Cause of Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic Inequities in the United States, Health education and behavior, Vol 47, Issue 4, 2020, https://doi.org/10.1177/1090198120922942
• Phillips, K. (1991). The politics of rich and poor: Wealth and the electorate in the Reagan aftermath, New York: Harper Perennial.
• Pryor, C., Gurewich, D. (2004). Getting care but paying the price: How medical debt leaves many in Massachusetts facing tough choices. Boston: Access Project.
• Rosen, H. (2013). Public finance. Boston: Irwin McGraw-Hill.
• Sawchuk, S. (2021). Edweek.org., What Is Critical Race Theory, and Why Is It Under Attack? https://www.edweek.org/leadership/what-is-critical-race-theory-and-why-is-it-underattack/2021/05
• Stiglitz, J. (2019). People, power, and profits: Progressive capitalism for an age of discontent hardcover. Bristol: Allen Lane.
• Taylor, E., Guy-Walls, P., Wilkerson, P. et al. (2019). The Historical Perspectives of Stereotypes on African-American Males. J. Hum. Rights Soc. Work, 4: 213–225 https://doi.org/10.1007/s41134-019-00096-y
• United Nations. (2021). Human Security Unit: Application of the human security concept and the United Nations trust fund for human security. New York: United Nations.
• Sacker, A., Firth, D., Fitzpatrick, R., Lynch, K., Bartley, M. (2000). Comparing health inequality in men and women: A prospective study of mortality. BMJ, 320,1986-96.
• The Century Foundation. (2019, May 21). Report health care, racism, inequality, and health care for African-Americans. https://tcf.org/content/report/racism-inequality-health-care-africanamericans/?agreed=1
• The Commonwealth Fund. (2019, June 10). Underinsured rate Rose from 2014-2018, with greatest growth among people in employer health plans. https://www.commonwealthfund.org/pressrelease/2019/underinsured-rate-rose-2014-2018-greatest-growth-among-people-employerhealth
• Verdugo, J. (2004). The failures of neoliberalism: Health sector reform in Guatemala, sickness and wealth. Cambridge: South End Press.
• Vladeck, P. (2003). Universal health insurance in the United States: Reflections on the past, the present, and the future, American Journal of Public Health, 93: 16-19.
• Wade, R. (2011). The great slump: What next? International Journal of Labour Research, 3: 21- 49.
• Whalin, L., Block, W. (2017). Rasne razlike i udjeli u kojima su pripadnici rasa sudjelovali u prohibiciji alkohola i ratu droga. Acta Economica Et Turistica, 3,119-135.
• Wilkinson, R., Pickett, K. (2009). The spirit Level: Why more equal societes almost always do better. London: Allen Lane.
• Williams, J. (2004). The Washington consensus as policy prescription for development. https://www.piie.com/publications/papers/williamson0204.pdf
• Woods, E., Schertzer, R., Greenfeld, L, Hughes, C. and Miller-Idriss, C. (2020). COVID-19, nationalism, and the politics of crisis: A scholarly exchange, Nations and Nationalism, 26 (4): 807-825 https://doi.org/10.1111/nana.12644
• World Bank. (2020). How the World Bank Group is helping countries with COVID-19. https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/factsheet/2020/02/11/how-the-world-bank-group-ishelping-countries-with-covid-19-coronavirus
• World Bank. (2017). Half the world lacks access to essential health services, 100 million still pushed into extreme poverty because of health expenses. https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2017/12/13/world-bank-who-halfworld-lacks-access-to-essential-health-services-100-million-still-pushed-into-extremepoverty-because-of-health-expense