New Zealand’s pandemic response: solidarity in a post-truth world
New Zealand’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic has been distinctly different to many developed countries that have been plagued by inaction, divisiveness, misinformation, blame and deflection. New Zealand has shown remarkable community cohesion and solidarity and has unified behind the shared goal of eliminating COVID-19 from the country. Post-truth politics creates a divided and fragmented […]
Individual social capital and COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic has created unprecedented interruption to physical social interaction. A significant proportion of the world’s population is in some form of isolation or lockdown, with limited access to normal social activities. This has serious implications for social capital which is primarily built, maintained and realised by social interaction. Social capital is linked to […]
Social connection and the COVID-19 pandemic Impacts on social capital
With the World Health Organization (WHO) declaring COVID-19 a pandemic, many people are now facing the prospect of various forms of social isolation in the immediate future. People are being encouraged to maintain physical distance from others to limit the spread of the virus. Some countries have implemented lockdowns that include banning public gatherings, cancelling […]
Explanation of the different levels of social capital
One of the key questions about social capital is where or at what level of society it resides. Does it reside with the individual like human capital? Or is it a property of society more generally? Or in fact, is it both the property of individuals and of society? The question of whether social capital […]
