Racial and Ethnic Inequalities, Health Disparities and Racism in Times of COVID-19 Pandemic Populism in the EU: Unveiling Anti-Migrant Attitudes, Precarious Living Conditions and Barriers to Integration in Greece

Theodoros Fouskas (), George Koulierakis, Fotini-Maria Mine, Athanasios Theofilopoulos, Sofia Konstantopoulou, Fabiola Ortega- de-Mora, Dimitrios Georgiadis and Georgia Pantazi
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Theodoros Fouskas: Department of Public Health Policy, School of Public Health, University of West Attica, 11521 Athens, Greece
George Koulierakis: Department of Public Health Policy, School of Public Health, University of West Attica, 11521 Athens, Greece
Fotini-Maria Mine: Department of Public Health Policy, School of Public Health, University of West Attica, 11521 Athens, Greece
Athanasios Theofilopoulos: Department of Public Health Policy, School of Public Health, University of West Attica, 11521 Athens, Greece
Sofia Konstantopoulou: Department of Public Health Policy, School of Public Health, University of West Attica, 11521 Athens, Greece
Fabiola Ortega- de-Mora: Department of Education and Social Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, Pablo de Olavide University, 41013 Seville, Spain
Dimitrios Georgiadis: Department of Public Health Policy, School of Public Health, University of West Attica, 11521 Athens, Greece
Georgia Pantazi: Department of Public Health Policy, School of Public Health, University of West Attica, 11521 Athens, Greece

Societies, 2022, vol. 12, issue 6, 1-22

Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact particularly on the most vulnerable populations, including immigrants, asylum seekers and refugees in the EU. The article depicts the results of the comparative research project “Local Alliance for Integration (LION/GSRI/University of West Attica/81018): Migrant and Refugee integration into local societies in times of the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain and Greece” implementing a qualitative methodology. This article analyses via 32 in-depth interviews the experiences of immigrants, asylum seekers and refugees in Greece, the increased barriers towards integration due to racial and ethnic inequalities, precarity and health disparities during this period which function as a means of perpetuating exclusion in five sectors: (a) formal employment, (b) healthcare, (c) formal education and language training, (d) housing and social care/protection, and (e) intercultural coexistence as well as the new rise of a hostile rhetoric and anti-migrant attitudes under a COVID-19 pandemic populism. The unravelling of the narratives revealed perceptions and practices of inequality and uncertainty as well as of hope. The socioeconomic impact of the pandemic on immigrants, asylum seekers and refugees, similarities and differences that occurred and evidence of the ongoing obstacles they encountered during the pandemic are presented. Policy and practice implications include the implementation of prevention measures by the institutions that are tasked with the responsibility to remove hindrances, address unequal treatment, racial/ethnic and social inequalities and raise awareness on multiple ways in which the COVID-19 pandemic has intensified vulnerability.

Keywords: racial and ethnic inequalities; precarity; health disparities; racism; COVID-19; populism; anti-immigrant; migrants; asylum seekers; refugees; integration; Greece (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A13 A14 P P0 P1 P2 P3 P4 P5 Z1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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