How Has COVID-19 Produced New Forms of Stigma?

Contributor(s): Nikita Simpson | Throughout the pandemic, the general population alongside policymakers have faced extreme uncertainty. Without a full picture of the virus and how it spreads, there has been much speculation about COVID-19 transmission and how to prevent it. These new perceptions of risk can work to polarise, exclude and stigmatise certain groups or individuals, compounding existing stereotypes and forms of historical exclusion.
Drawing on ethnographic insights, Nikita Simpson explores how these new relations of stigma have emerged in the UK during the pandemic. She considers how stigma has played out in relation to people from minoritised groups, essential workers and those living in multigenerational households and its damaging effects on mental health, wellbeing and social cohesion. How can we tackle these new forms of stigma?
Meet our speaker
Nikita Simpson is a PhD candidate in the Department of Anthropology at LSE, and Research Co-ordinator of the Covid and Care Research Group.
This film is part of the 'Festival Shorts' series, 10-minute talks by LSE experts released during Festival week.
Keywords: COVID-19, care, policy, health, anthropology, Shaping the Post-COVID World, Nikita Simpson, mental health, wellbeing.