Social Capital Trends in Germany in the Face of the Covid-19 Pandemic: A Research Note

Ulrike Burrmann,Sebastian Braun,Stephan Sielschott,Michael Mutz

doi:10.3389/fpos.2022.814943

Ulrike Burrmann, Sebastian Braun + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3389/fpos.2022.814943

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Abstract

This research note reports social capital trends in Germany during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is based on a comparison of survey data from 2017/18 and 2020/21, i.e., trends reported here inform about changes of social capital levels during the “second lockdown” of the pandemic, when containment policies were in effect throughout the country. Findings point to stable levels of in-group trust, out-group trust and prosocial attitudes. At the same time, sociability orientations are lower and society is generally perceived as less solidary. Members in voluntary organizations have more social capital compared to non-members—this difference is found before as well as during the pandemic. Regarding that changes are generally small, it can be concluded that the pandemic did neither strengthen social capital considerably, nor did it lead to a massive overall decline of social capital.

Highlights

Much scholarly work has addressed social capital (Bourdieu 1986; Coleman 1990; Lin et al, 2001)
In the course of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020/21, respondents indicated a significantly lower sociability level and lower level of trust perceived in society compared to 2017/18
We find no significant differences between 2017/18 and 2020/21 for the other four indicators of social capital

Summary

Introduction

Much scholarly work has addressed social capital (Bourdieu 1986; Coleman 1990; Lin et al, 2001). Previous research has shown that social capital is associated with a large variety of positive outcomes in communities, regions and countries, including the performance of political institutions (Paxton 2002; Putnam 1993), public health and happiness levels (Ehsan et al, 2019), or economic productivity (Knack and Keefer 1997; Whiteley 2000). A recent analysis from Japan shows that some aspects of social capital, for instance, more pronounced norms of reciprocity in a Japanese province, are associated with fewer COVID-19 related deaths (Murayama et al, 2021). In European countries, regions with higher social capital had lower incidence rates and lower rates of COVID-19 related deaths (Bartscher et al, 2020)

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