Work Type
Article
Publication Date
2025
Department
Liberal Arts and Sciences
Keywords
COVID-19; capitalism; vaccination; public health; environmental policy; censorship
Abstract
The obvious role of capital in generating poverty, war, and environmental breakdown has not led to a parallel recognition of how deeply it shapes the ideology and practice of healthcare. Progressives view access to healthcare as a matter of “right,” but with rare exceptions they do not focus attention on the wider determinants of health policy – from the life-conditions that shape public health to the prevalence, in capitalist countries, of market-inspired remedies. Looking at the US experience and noting how capitalist priorities have permeated official policies toward Covid-19, this essay discusses how medical objections to these policies have been marginalized and how critiques that might otherwise have informed a socialist agenda have instead been weaponized by right-wing ideologues.
Recommended Citation
Wallis, V. (2025). Covid-19 in the History of Capitalism. Capitalism Nature Socialism, 36(1), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1080/10455752.2024.2434559
Comments
This article was published in Capitalism Nature Socialism under a Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY).