A Study on the Identity Stigmatization of Plague Victims in A Journal of the Plague Year from the Perspective of Social Identity Theory

Daniel Defoe’s A Journal of the Plague Year, set during London’s 1665 Great Plague, depictscomplex plague-era social phenomena. Existing studies mostly focus on external social factors (knowledgeproduction, social control, cultural comparison) to interpret the work’s historical context and narrative functions,yet rarely center on the plague’s direct victims—the infected. This paper uses Erving Goffman’s stigmatizationconcept and social identity theory as core tools to explore stigmatization’s manifestations, mechanisms, andsocial-psychological roots in the work. It finds stigmatization is structural oppression from group interactions,shown in power discipline, class conflict, and discursive construction. Essentially as a product of social structureand group psychology collusion, it reflects crisis-era group identity and identity politics. Defoe, via the anonymousnarrator’s panoramic account, reveals and reflects on stigmatization. The work offers cross-temporal warningsfor public health crisis group relations, stressing true community identity lies in respecting all individuals’dignity