Biopolitics of othering during the COVID-19 pandemic

The study investigates how discourses of otherness emerged and operated during the COVID-19 pandemic and whether they legitimized biopolitical measures. Situating COVID-19 within the long history of scapegoating and racialized responses to disease, the authors aim to: (1) frame the pandemic within the biopolitics of othering; (2) map social worlds/arenas (social, political, mediatized) where othering discourses arise and identify the actors promoting them; and (3) discuss implications of the biopolitics of othering in a global emergency. The central hypothesis is that pandemic-era othering discourses both legitimize biopolitical actions/measures and exacerbate social, political, and cultural divisions.

The paper reviews scholarship on otherness, pandemics, and biopolitics. Otherness is understood as socially constructed boundaries between ‘us’ and ‘them’ (Neumann; Gregory et al.) and is central to postcolonial studies (Said) and Foucauldian analyses of power/knowledge whereby marginal groups define norms at the center. Pandemics are social as well as medical phenomena, differentially impacting groups by race, class, and ethnicity; historically they have fueled stigmatization and blame (e.g., Jews during plague, Irish for cholera, Italians for polio, ‘Spanish flu’). COVID-19 revived scapegoating (e.g., ‘Chinese virus’, ‘Kung Flu’), linking disease to migrants and minorities, and introduced an infodemic amplifying myths and conspiracy theories. Biopolitics (Foucault) covers state practices to protect population health (quarantine, masking, border closures), yet political decisions determine who is exposed and to what extent. The literature identifies two recurrent othering patterns in pandemics: (1) scapegoating minorities/migrants and (2) legitimizing mobility restrictions and other measures that may curtail rights and exacerbate inequalities. The review frames the study’s use of SKAD and Situational Analysis to examine discourse production and its social effects.

Epistemology is interpretative; methodology is qualitative. The authors conducted a semi-systematic literature review of research articles accessed via the ResearchGate COVID-19 research community. Search keywords: ‘COVID-19’, ‘Other’, ‘Otherness’. Of 27 records matching keywords, 20 English-language papers from 2020/2021 were selected to avoid redundancy. Data were coded and analyzed using content analysis, Situational Analysis (especially social worlds/arenas mapping), and the Sociology of Knowledge Approach to Discourse (SKAD) for interpretation. NVivo 12+ was used for categorization and coding. An initial code tree guided by the research aim included categories such as Biopolitics and politics of life; Borders; Discrimination; Emotional policy discourse; Fear; Nationality; Othering; Others (with subcodes such as African communities, Black people, ‘Chinese virus’, Ethnic minorities, ‘Good’ vs. ‘Bad’ citizens, Latinx people, Migrant workers, Outsiders, Poor people, Strangers, ‘Us’ vs. ‘Them’, Virus as Other, ‘White European’, Workers, Vulnerable populations); Public health policy; Racial discourses; Risk discourses; Social actors–Others; Social/Health inequalities; Social aspects of pandemic; Xenophobia. Situational Analysis enabled mapping of actors, arenas, and nonhuman elements (e.g., media/infodemic), while SKAD treated discourses as historically situated social practices constituting objects and legitimizing meaning structures.

• Three key arenas where othering discourses emerged: social worlds (everyday actors and groups responding to fear and risk), political worlds (politicians producing blame/naming narratives), and mediatized worlds (legacy and social media amplifying dichotomies and infodemics).
• Discursive strategies and mechanisms: social representations of Others formed via anchoring and objectification; actorialization (constructing heroes and villains), generalization (homogenizing group identities as ‘we’ vs. ‘they’), and axiologization (assigning moral valuations).
• Types of Others varied by context: migrant workers/strangers (e.g., Canada), ‘bad’ citizens (Brazil), racial/ethnic/national Others (Hungary, Italy, China, U.S.), outsiders (domestic and foreign in China), Asian Americans (U.S.), African/Black communities (China), Latinx people (U.S.), religious Others, healthcare workers, COVID-19 patients/recoverees, lower socioeconomic groups, rich people, and ‘White people’, as well as ‘virus-as-Other’ framings.
• Media produced stereotypical dichotomies (own/alien, good/bad), fostering xenophobia and racism; widespread infodemic propagated myths (e.g., weather kills virus; melanin or specific genetics confer immunity; BCG vaccination protects migrants), hampering mitigation.
• Political discourses: naming practices (‘Chinese virus’, place-linked labels) racialized the pandemic and shaped public perceptions; politicians across countries engaged in scapegoating and sometimes spread misinformation. Examples include Salvini (Italy) on migrants, U.S. presidential rhetoric, Middle East/North Africa nationalist narratives, and claims in India about workers’ resilience.
• Biopolitics of othering: Discourses legitimized or facilitated restrictive measures and policy moves that vulnerabilize certain groups (e.g., Canada’s migrant worker policies; Brazil’s ‘righteous citizens’ vs. ‘criminals’ dichotomy amidst disputes over distancing; Mexico’s border-closure narratives). Some media contexts (e.g., Iraq) emphasized global perspectives rather than external threats.
• Identified social effects: (1) heightened anti-social behavior (xenophobia, racism, violence); (2) context-specific construction of multiple Others; (3) biopolitical effects whereby othering discourses provide discursive legitimation for measures that can produce multilayered discrimination. The sample comprised 20 analyzed articles.

Findings support the hypothesis that othering discourses proliferated during COVID-19 across social, political, and media arenas and often served to legitimize biopolitical actions, particularly unpopular restrictions, while exacerbating inequalities. Media and political naming practices crystallized ‘us/them’ binaries that aligned with policy choices around borders, mobility, and surveillance. The infodemic functioned as a nonhuman element shaping discursive fields and public behavior, underscoring the need for timely, accurate communication. While causal chains between discourse and specific measures are complex and context-dependent, the mapped mechanisms (anchoring, objectification, actorialization, generalization, axiologization) explain how abstract threats become embodied in target groups, facilitating acceptance of restrictive policies. The analysis highlights the importance of discourse-aware public health strategies and the ethical imperative to avoid stigmatization in risk communication.

Othering processes were ubiquitous during the COVID-19 pandemic. Although clear causal demonstration between othering discourses and biopolitical measures is limited, multiple cases indicate that such discourses can legitimize restrictive actions and contribute to discrimination. Lessons from prior epidemics (Ebola, HIV) show that stigma undermines effective responses. Addressing othering through careful naming, countering misinformation, and discourse-sensitive public health communication may improve pandemic responses. Future research should more directly trace causal pathways between discourse production, public opinion, and policy adoption, and compare contexts to identify protective factors that reduce stigmatization while maintaining public health efficacy.

• Semi-systematic review limited to 20 English-language articles (2020–2021) sourced via ResearchGate, which may not capture all relevant studies or contexts.
• Focus on textual/discursive materials; no primary data collection with human participants.
• Situational Analysis and SKAD mapping identify associations but do not establish causal relationships between discourses and biopolitical measures.
• Potential selection and publication biases in the sampled literature.