Social Construction of Vulnerable Populations: The Case of Age in the COVID-19 Pandemic

ABSTRACT

This article explores the role of social construction in public administrators' differential treatment of older Americans as a vulnerable population during the COVID-19 pandemic. The analysis compares differences in how both federal and state web sites reacted to information that increased age and male sex correlated with negative COVID-19 outcomes and relates these differences in presentation to hegemonic constructions of each group.