Comparative analysis of social capital during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Russia and Japan

This paper examines the features and roles of social capital in Russia and Japan from a comparative economic perspective during the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing on original survey data, it investigates patterns of interpersonal trust, institutional trust, civic engagement, resource mobilisation from existing social networks, and evaluations of government policies. Despite shared characteristics of strong particularised trust and limited generalised trust, the findings reveal distinct configurations of social capital. Russia exhibits bonding-centred social capital, characterised by reliance on family and close personal networks and concentrated trust in selected state institutions. Japan combines both bonding and bridging social capital, although traditional local community ties, civic engagement, and institutional trust have weakened. During the pandemic, informal networks provided support in Russia, whereas formal institutional assistance was perceived as relatively more effective in Japan. Differences in policy evaluations across age groups further suggest an ongoing transformation of social capital in both countries.