The Effects of the COVID-19-induced Lockdown on the Social Capital and Cultural Capital in Italy

Abstract

The present study investigated the effects of the first COVID-19 lockdown on the Cultural and Social Capitals in Italy in a large group of adults (n = 1125). The relationships between the COVID-19 spread and participants’ Cultural Capital, Social Capital, educational level, occupational prestige, and age were studied using structural equation models. For women but not for men, pandemic spread was positively affected by occupational prestige and it had a positive relationship with their Social Capital (women: CFI = 0.949; RMSEA = 0.059 [CI = 0.045-0.075]; men: CFI = 0.959; RMSEA = 0.064 [CI = 0.039–0.087]). Moreover, the participants were divided into three validated clusters based on their Cultural and Social Capitals levels to investigate changes in the Capitals compared with the pre-lockdown period. It was found that the lockdown contributed to improving the gap among individuals increasing high levels and decreasing low levels of both the Capitals. People with high Cultural and Social Capitals seemed to have seized the opportunity given by COVID-19 restrictions to cultivate their cultural interests and become more involved within their networks. In contrast, individuals with low Cultural and Social Capitals paid the highest price for the social isolation. Given that the Capitals encourage healthy behavior and influence well-being and mental health, institutions should develop or improve their policies and practices to foster individual resources, and make fairer opportunities available during the pandemic.

The Impact of Covid-19 Pandemics on Social Activeness of Polish Farmers

“…Similarly, increase of activeness was observed in more villages in the second year than in the first one. In community centres and rural women's clubs the decrease was much more visible in those organisations that were initially active, which contradicts the observations done by Menardo et al (2023). Perhaps this is because they nowadays play rather a role of socialising than of typical NGOs.…”

“…Thus there is no clear trend visible in the data. Research carried out in Italy between March and May 2020 revealed that after the outspread of pandemic people with higher social capital became more active, while whose with lower level of social capital became less active (Menardo et al 2023). To check this phenomenon in Polish conditions, a comparison of active and inactive organisations was carried out (Table 1.…”