The COVID-19 pandemic was not only a public health crisis but also a societal one. The uncertainty surrounding the pandemic facilitated the spread of numerous conspiracy narratives—for example, claims that the virus had been deliberately created or that certain groups were using the pandemic to pursue secret agendas. Such narratives offer seemingly simple explanations for complex events and frequently identify individuals or social groups that are allegedly responsible for a crisis.
In a recent study, DSS researcher Marcus Eisentraut, together with Alexander Jedinger from GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences and Lena Masch from the University of Münster, investigated whether belief in COVID-19 conspiracy theories is associated with prejudice toward ethnic minority groups. Their theoretical point of departure was the scapegoating hypothesis, according to which people may be more inclined during societal crises to blame particular groups for threatening developments.
The researchers analyzed data from two surveys conducted in Germany. The first study was based on cross-sectional data from 896 respondents, while the second used longitudinal data from 2,048 individuals. The analyses examined attitudes toward immigrants, Muslims, Jews, and refugees.
The findings reveal a consistent pattern: The more strongly respondents endorsed COVID-19 conspiracy theories, the more negative their attitudes were toward all four groups. This association was observed in both the cross-sectional and the longitudinal data.
The study thus demonstrates that conspiracy narratives do not merely shape how people understand societal crises. They may also go hand in hand with the devaluation of minority groups, thereby placing a strain on social relations and societal cohesion.