CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 1Social Capital and NetworksSocial impacts of COVID-19Nonprofit Sector and Volunteering

Social Cohesion and Its Development in Germany Before, During, and After COVID-19: The Bertelsmann Social Cohesion Radar

Open access
Boehnke, Klaus, Unzicker, Kai, Dragolov, Georgi, Hartz, Carina, Arant, Regina·2026·Computational Social Sciences
DOI 10.1007/978-3-032-01373-6_2
Open this paper in CoChat — free accountOpen PDF

Abstract

The subsequent chapter introduces the conceptual and measurement approach of the Bertelsmann Social Cohesion Radar (SCR). It then continues by reporting the scores obtained by the SCR in country-wide representative studies in Germany in 2017, 2020, and 2023, i.e., before, during, and after the coronavirus pandemic. Results show that in Germany during these years, social cohesion, measured on a scoring scheme from 0 (zero), lowest possible cohesion, to 100 (highest possible cohesion), dropped from 61 to 52. Additional studies in the State of Baden-Württemberg, conducted more closely in time to the coronavirus pandemic's onset and apex, showed that the drop indeed occurred over COVID-19. The most pronounced drop in scores for the single dimensions of social cohesion between 2017 and 2023 was found for Dimension 3.1, Solidarity and Helpfulness. This suggests that COVID-19 indeed had detrimental consequences for the neighborhood quality of life: The percentage of Germans who responded, “(between) at least once every week and daily” to the question “How often do you volunteer in your free time to help other people?” dropped from 26 to 14% over COVID.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1007/978-3-032-01373-6_2

Cites

1 of 1 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 14

  1. R. Arant, K. Boehnke, Identifikation mit dem Gemeinwesen-Welches Wir-Gefühl ist ein gutes Wir- Gefühl?, in Der Kitt der Gesellschaft [The sealant of society]. ed. by B. Stiftung (Bertelsmann Stiftung, 2016), pp.145-173
  2. D. Baier, K. Ellrich, Vertrauen in die Polizei im Spiegel verschiedener Befragungs-studien [Trust in the police as mirrored in various survey studies], in Polizeibeamte als Opfer von Gewalt. Ergeb- nisse einer Mixed-Method-Studie, ed. by K. Ellrich, D. Baier. Verlag für Polizeiwissenschaft (2014), pp. 43-90
  3. J.W. Berry, A psychology of immigration. J. Soc. Issues 57(3), 615-631 (2001)
  4. T. Bliesener, M.C. Bergmann, Anerkennung sozialer Regeln-Die Entwicklung normenabwe- ichender Einstellungen und Verhaltensweisen junger Menschen in Deutschland, in Der Kitt der Gesellschaft. ed. by B. Stiftung (Bertelsmann Stiftung, 2016), pp.287-311
  5. J. Delhey, K. Boehnke, G. Dragolov, Z.S. Ignácz, M. Larsen, J. Lorenz, M. Koch, Social cohesion and its correlates: a comparison of Western and Asian societies. Comp. Sociol. 17(3-4), 426-455 (2018)
  6. J. Delhey, G. Dragolov, K. Boehnke, Social cohesion in international comparison: a review of key measures and findings. Kölner Zeitschrift Für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie 75, 95-120 (2023)
  7. G. Dragolov, Z.S. Ignácz, J. Lorenz, J. Delhey, K. Boehnke, K. Unzicker, Social cohesion in the Western world. What holds societies together: insights from the Social Cohesion Radar (Springer International, 2016)
  8. C. Hartz, Reducing Citizens' Worries Through Resilience: A Two-Wave Panel Study During the Corona Pandemic. Master thesis. Jacobs University Bremen (2021)
  9. S. Munzert, P.C. Bauer, Political depolarization in German public opinion, 1980-2010. Polit. Sci. Res. Methods 1, 67-89 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1017/psrm.2013. · DOI
  10. P. Sachweh, E. Sthamer, Befunde zum Gerechtigkeitsempfinden der Deutschen und potenzielle soziale Folgen empfundener Ungerechtigkeit [Findings on the perception of justice among Germans and potential consequences of experiencing injustice], in Der Kitt der Gesellschaft [The sealant of society]. ed. by B. Stiftung (Bertelsmann Stiftung, 2016), pp.207-251
  11. D. Schiefer, J. van der Noll, The essentials of social cohesion: a literature review. Soc. Indic. Res. 132(2), 579-603 (2017)
  12. B. Stiftung (ed.) What holds Asian Societies Together? Insights from the Social Cohesion Radar (Verlag Bertelsmann Stiftung, 2018)
  13. N. Teichler, J-Y. Gerlitz, C. Cornesse, C. Dilger, O. Groh-Samberg, H. Lengfeld, E. Nissen, J. Reinecke, S. Skolarski, R. Traunmüller, L. Verneuer-Emre, Entkoppelte Lebenswelten? Soziale Beziehungen und gesellschaftlicher Zusammenhalt in Deutschland. Erster Zusammenhalts- bericht des FGZ. SOCIUM, Forschungsinstitut Gesellschaftlicher Zusammenhalt [Decoupled life worlds? Social relations and societal cohesion in Germany. First cohesion report of the FGZ] (2023). https://doi.org/10.26092/elib/2517 · DOI
  14. C. Teney, G. Pietrantuono, T. Wolfram, What polarizes citizens? An explorative analysis of 817 attitudinal items from a non-random online panel in Germany. PLoS ONE 19(5), e0302446 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0302446 · DOI

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Boehnke, K., Unzicker, K., Dragolov, G., Hartz, C., & Arant, R.
Affiliations
  • Constructor University (DE)
  • Bertelsmann Stiftung (DE)
Corresponding author
Boehnke, Klaus
ORCID
Venue
Computational Social Sciences
Publisher
Springer Nature Switzerland
Published
2026
Pages
25-52
ISSN
  • 2509-9574 (ISSN-L)
  • 2509-9582
DOI
10.1007/978-3-032-01373-6_2
OpenAlex
W7128299754
Cited by
0
References
1
FWCI
0.00
Type
book chapter
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
Computational social sciences (publishedVersion, cc-by)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social Capital and Networks
  • Social Sciences › Safety Research › Social impacts of COVID-19
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Nonprofit Sector and Volunteering
Keywords
social cohesion, COVID-19 pandemic, solidarity, volunteering, neighborhood quality of life, Germany, Baden-Württemberg

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review