Abstract
The global coronavirus pandemic has dramatically changed the way people and institutions interact with one another. In the United States, there has been an observable and documented increase in xenophobia and a breakdown of social and institutional trust. Consistent with a US history of scapegoating other populations for major crises, the US government primarily blamed China for the origin and spread of the virus. These actions have been discussed in a variety of forums with emerging interest in empirically examining people’s interpretations and understandings of the pandemic. The current project contributes to emerging work by examining the ways in which individual people attribute and form their concepts of blame about and during the pandemic. I interviewed 12 Northwestern University undergraduate students and asked questions about who they blame and why. The data were subjected to grounded analysis and coded for common themes. The analyses provide insight into how narratives of blame are developed and disseminated to the public, and are consumed by the public. This work could have broader societal implications, such as being used to improve health campaigns or support programs designed to rebuild social and institutional trust.