Disruptions in interpersonal relationships during the Covid-19 pandemic
Type de matériel :
14
Government measures in France introduced during the Covid-19 pandemic limited many social activities. They have impacted on interpersonal relationships by strengthening or weakening certain social ties. We investigate these trends using a survey conducted during the first lockdown (April-May 2020) with 16,224 individuals in metropolitan France and a second longitudinal follow up between December 2020 and January 2021 with a subsample (n=3,620). During this period, relationships were impacted by two converging processes that have created inequalities according to people’s social positions. On the one hand, the decrease in interaction opportunities led many to almost exclusively use telecommunication services to socialise, thus strengthening homophily in their social network (especially by education level) and close ties (family and close friends). On the other hand, while these constraints may have contributed to strengthening specific weak ties such as with neighbours, they have tended to weaken the loosest ties that are essential to relational diversity. These two processes have most affected the networks of young people, who have many weak and evanescent ties, whereas the networks of the oldest have been less impacted by the crisis.
Réseaux sociaux