Effects of the pandemic on bonding and bridging social capital. The case of A Coruña

Abstract

The pandemic and the following social isolation meant a challenge to socialize and maintaining social ties. However, the level of hyperconnection caused by the everyday use of online social networks as a tool to get information, keep in touch with others and participate in social life could act as a savior during that time, preventing the erosion of interpersonal ties and therefore, of both bonding and bridging social capital.  Giving this context, the main objective of this paper is to find out if interpersonal relationships changed and if so, if the changes are associated to gender, age, or the size of the municipality of residence. To provide an answer data from the 2,022 Survey about social capital and online social networks in the province of A Coruña was analyzed. This paper also pursues a secondary aim: get to know how the use of online social networks affected both types of social capital during lockdown. The main conclusion obtained is that citizens managed to keep their levels of social capital, especially those referred to bonding social capital which even increased. Also, online social networks were identified as a highly efficient tool to intensify contact during lockdown.