Purpose

The stigmatisation of COVID-19 patients or suspected cases is a matter of grave concern across the world, including India. Today, COVID-19 patients or suspected cases are being stigmatised or labelled as “corona carrier” and “corona spreader” because of which they are facing social rejection, mental torture, abusive behaviour and violence in the society. The objectives of the present study are to examine the nature of stigma construction in Indian society during COVID-19 pandemic and to explore its outcome on the well-being of corona-affected people.

Design/methodology/approach

The study uses content analysis method to explain the COVID-19 stigma. The data have been collected from various Indian newspapers and magazines. The researchers have analysed the content of the news items related to social stigma which were collected from March to September 2020.

Findings

The study finds that COVID-19 patients or suspected cases are insulted and discriminated rudely by their family members and neighbours, and in many cases, they are not allowed to enter the house or the neighbourhood. The study has also pointed out that many COVID-19 patients or suspected cases have committed suicide as a result of being stigmatisation. Finally, the study explores that this social stigma is spreading due to fake news, lack of awareness and fear of corona infection.

Originality/value

This is an original paper which is based on content analysis. The present study focuses on the social stigma in Indian society during COVID-19. Basically, the present study has applied the theory of Erving Goffman which is based on stigma to examine the nature and problem of social stigma during COVID-19. The study has found that there are three types of social stigma during the corona pandemic: self-made stigma, family-made stigma and society-made stigma.

中文翻译：

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COVID-19大流行时期的社会污名：来自印度的证据

目的

对COVID-19患者或可疑病例的侮辱是包括印度在内的世界范围内严重关注的问题。如今，COVID-19患者或疑似病例被侮辱或贴上“电晕携带者”和“电晕蔓延器”的标签，因为它们正面临着社会上的拒绝，精神折磨，虐待行为和社会暴力。本研究的目的是研究COVID-19大流行期间印度社会中污名化建设的性质，并探讨其对受电晕影响的人们的幸福感的结果。

设计/方法/方法

该研究使用内容分析方法来解释COVID-19的污名。这些数据是从印度各种报纸和杂志中收集的。研究人员分析了从2020年3月至2020年9月收集的与社会污名化相关的新闻内容。

发现

研究发现，COVID-19患者或疑似病例受到其家人和邻居的侮辱和歧视，在许多情况下，他们不允许进入房屋或邻居。该研究还指出，许多COVID-19患者或疑似病例由于受到侮辱而自杀。最后，研究发现，由于假新闻，意识不足和对电晕感染的恐惧，这种社会污名正在蔓延。

创意/价值

这是基于内容分析的原始论文。本研究的重点是在COVID-19期间印度社会的社会污名。基本上，本研究应用了基于耻辱感的Erving Goffman理论来研究COVID-19期间社会耻辱感的性质和问题。研究发现电晕大流行期间存在三种社会污名：自制污名，家庭污名和社会污名。