The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Intergroup Attitudes Toward Stigmatized Minorities

Abstract: This systematic review examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on intergroup attitudes toward stigmatized minorities worldwide. We explore how pandemic related threats influenced both majority attitudes toward vulnerable minorities and minority perceptions of majority attitudes. Our analysis focuses on stigmatized groups due to their ethnic background (e.g., Asian and Black communities) or other socially devalued features (e.g., homosexual and elderly people). The pandemic introduced a pervasive threat, offering a unique opportunity to study its effects on intergroup dynamics. Findings showed that when the pandemic threat entered the public discourse as a rhetorical and political tool, it tended to exacerbate pre-existing anti-minority sentiment, reinforcing negative intergroup dynamics. The focus on ethnic “us versus them” rhetoric often led to scapegoating, fostering fear and distrust toward marginalized communities. Although the major focus of the review was to ascertain the possible negative effects on intergroup attitudes it also emerged that, whenever the pandemic was framed as a global threat stressing common destiny in the face of dramatic health consequences, people exhibited increased empathy and reduced avoidance of vulnerable outgroups, leading to more positive intergroup attitudes. This review thus highlights the multifaceted impact of COVID-19 on intergroup relations, demonstrating how it mostly (but not always) acted as a catalyst for heightened prejudice, underscoring the importance of individual and sociocontextual factors in shaping intergroup attitudes during health crises. Limitations and future directions are discussed to refine our understanding of these dynamics.