Staying inside the bubble: the unequal consequences of limiting weak ties during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract A worldwide consequence of COVID-19 was the limitation placed on the creation and maintenance of social contacts outside household boundaries. Based on narrative interviews with 690 individuals across 30 European countries, this paper explores how people experienced such pandemic-related changes to their social relations. Distinguishing between strong and weak ties, the analysis shows that while acts of solidarity were performed during the pandemic, they usually relied on strong ties as they were bound in some way, e.g., limited to a close group of friends and family, the neighbourhood, or based around a shared group identity. Those outside these boundaries were left without support, and weak ties in the form of ‘bridges’ connecting different communities were mostly absent. The paper argues that because weak ties were strongly discouraged during the pandemic, the exclusionary power of social capital was reinforced, and social networks became more fragmented, potentially affecting social cohesion negatively in the post-pandemic period as well.