Has the COVID-19 pandemic fuelled xenophobia in South Africa? Little is known about the effect of mass disease-related threats (such as COVID19) on human psychology in the country. But the existing research on pathogen stress suggests that a mass disease event (like a pandemic) can increase antipathy toward foreigners. In particular, levels of zero-sum thinking about immigration should be influenced by pathogen threats. The study explores whether the pandemic increased the welfare chauvinism of the adult populace as well as levels of anti-immigrant violence. The South African Social Attitudes Survey (N=2,988) was used to investigate how the pandemic impacted xenophobia. The fieldwork schedule for SASAS 2020 allows researchers to test how the COVID-19 pandemic affected public attitudes. Results show that the pandemic did intensify anti-immigrant sentiment (albeit not substantially). The article concludes with an assessment of this change and recommendations for future research.
Human Sciences Research Council (Fri,) studied this question.