The three A's of social capital in crises: Challenges with the availability, accessibility and activatability of social support

Social capital has become a major factor for analysing vulnerabilities and resilience in the context of disaster studies in recent years. Usually, it is studied along its three forms of bonding, bridging, and linking social capital, and it is often framed as a static characteristic that a person either has at his or her disposal or not. Based on the results of case studies conducted in Germany and Estonia focusing on four different crises (floods in Germany;long-term disruption of electricity due to a major storm in Estonia;a cyber-attack in Estonia;as well as the COVID-19 pandemic in both countries) we claim that this description and analysis of social capital does not allow for a comprehensive understanding of all the challenges disaster management has to deal with to decrease vulnerabilities and increase resilience. Using qualitative content analysis, we present a heuristic framework which not only asks whether bonding, bridging, and linking social capital is available to individuals, but also whether social capital is accessible and activatable when responding to or recovering from a disaster. In doing so, the paper helps to improve the overall usability of official or unofficial social support to cope with crises.

Care organisations role as intermediaries between the authorities and the marginalised in crisis management

Social service providers work to alleviate social disadvantages, which may particularly loom during crises. These organisations have a close understanding of the needs of their clients. However, this knowledge is rarely taken into account in tailoring crisis measures, which may lead to increased vulnerability and create additional suffering. In this paper, we take a novel look at the role of care organisations as intermediaries between their clients and the authorities in representing the needs and capabilities of vulnerable people and explore the factors hindering or facilitating this representation. We focused on care organisations in Europe and collected data from 32 interviews, followed by 5 workshops and an international colloquium with 6 language-based discussion groups with participants from organisations offering care services to socially marginalised individuals. The results demonstrate the role these organisations had in advocating their clients' needs to the authorities to adapt the crisis measures accordingly ("bottom-up approach”), and communicating official information about the risks and government rules to their clients ("top-down approach”). We found effective mediation to stem from long-term, trusting client relationship to be able to reflect on clients' needs, while the lack of collaboration protocol and tradition can be seen as the main barrier to inclusive crisis management. Networking with social care services to bring their expertise into crisis management systems is essential to promote the resilience of the diverse society.