Effects of Covid-19 pandemic to social inequalities: The case of Eskisehir

This thesis examines the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on social life; it is a study that aims to relate how people are affected by the epidemic period, what inequalities the pandemic creates, whether it affects existing social inequalities, and how it affects them, with the social class structure. In this study, based on the life practices of individuals during the pandemic period, how the results of the pandemic differ according to the class position is problematized. While it is seen that the studies on the Covid-19 pandemic generally focus on the medical and economic dimension of the disease, it is seen that the social dimension of the pandemic is generally neglected. In this context, the social dimension of the pandemic has been discussed, based on the social class perspective. Within the scope of the research, using the semi-structured in-depth interview technique, a total of 30 people, 10 from each of the lower,middle, and upper socioeconomic classes, were interviewed face-to-face or online via Zoom or WhatsApp applications. In the interviews, it was seen that the pandemic experiences of people in different socioeconomic classes differed from each other, and it was explained that the main reason for this was economic differentiation. In the interviews, it was seen that the individuals in the lower socioeconomic class experienced more job and income loss during the pandemic period than the individuals in the other socioeconomic classes, and therefore they became more open to social risks. Another important finding obtained from the interviews is that most of the participants who think that they isolate themselves against the pandemic during this period are participants in the upper socioeconomic class. While it was observed that those who experienced the least alternative forms of work such as flexible working and rotatory working during the pandemic period were individuals in the lower socioeconomic class, it is among the important findings that individuals in the lower socioeconomic class felt more insecure against the pandemic due to this differentiation.