A Montgomery County native has been studying the social impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dr. Michael Ryan, who grew up in Waynetown and now teaches sociology at Nazarbayev University in Kazakhstan, is the editor of “The COVID-19 Pandemic Series,” a two-volume collection of papers from more than 50 experts around the world.
The papers analyze everything from the response from government and schools, the attitudes of anti-quarantine protesters and the pandemic’s effect on Asian Americans and LGBTQ+ people.
Ryan’s research focuses on how the pandemic has highlighted and worsened inequalities such as the wealth gap. The top 600 billionaires in the U.S. have made over a trillion dollars since the pandemic began.
“I don’t think it’s fair to say that all the economy is suffering. We need to understand why most are suffering and a few are benefitting,” Ryan said.
Ryan, who said he was skeptical that the pandemic would be a major threat at first, also looked at how the pandemic fueled nationalist feelings and gave neoconservative leaders across the globe a new cause for rallying supporters.
As COVID-19 wages on, Ryan also said the world has missed an opportunity to rethink energy and the environment, noting the reversal of improvements in air, water and noise pollution that occurred early in the pandemic.
“Ironically, as we were putting on masks, the earth was finally breathing,” said Ryan, who is finishing a book about the pandemic’s long-term impacts.
For more information about the pandemic series, visit www.routledge.com/The-COVID-19-Pandemic-Series/book-series/CVIDPAN
