Axiological dimensions in COVID-19 pandemic discourses

Abstract

The global pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus has led to a series of actions at the political, economic, and social levels unprecedented so far. Due to the high risk of contagion, by both air and human touch, governments in many countries around the world have resorted to sets of measures, some even drastic, aimed at restricting and reducing, as far as possible, the physical closeness between people. These measures affected to different extents life in society as we knew it, not only economic and cultural life but also social interactions and activities, communication, and inter-relationships between people. In general, the measures were justified at the political level through the attempts to keep the number of illnesses and deaths to a minimum. This chapter analyses comparatively how the actions, some of them severe, to restrict social life were justified in speeches announcing these measures by the heads of state in three European countries: Germany, France, and Romania, in March 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic spread through Europe. Through a thematic discourse analysis, it examines the extent to which axiological and ethical issues have been invoked in these discourses, what axiological and ethical dimensions have been emphasized, and how they have been used to justify measures that have entailed social restrictions, including those on certain rights and freedoms. Moreover, it analyses the similarities and differences in terms of ethical and value-centred dimensions and cultural norms present, as well as in terms of their justificatory utilization, between the discourses of the heads of state of the three countries regarded by the study.