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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the way people in a collectivist culture, particularly Egyptians, define social isolation and to understand the effect of social isolation on maintaining traditional networks of social relations.

To do this, online ethnographic semi-structured interviews were carried out with a purposeful sample of non-infected Egyptians who have access to social media networks.

Although collectivism may be perceived as a risk factor in developing countries, it has positive effects on reducing the spread of COVID-19 among Egyptians through the preventive measures it entails. Increased fear, worries and anxiety about the family and in-group members is a limiting factor against the prevalence of the disease, despite the emotional hardships experienced by individuals.

The sample interviewed does not refer to the entire Egyptian population, since the number of social media users represents 43.5% of Egyptians. Therefore, generalization of research data may be problematic.

The paper aims to raise awareness of the important of stressing collectivist character traits since they can help develop more preventive measures against the spread of the disease. Research findings also indicate that there is a need to coexist with the disease under controlled conditions to lessen the psychological risks of social isolation.

In light of the paucity of research carried out on COVID-19, the present research provides a pioneering insight into the meaning of social isolation in a collectivist culture and the distinctive local methods adopted by people to maintain their networks of social relations.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the meaning of the socially constructed identity of Al‐Ma'brouk in rural Egypt.

The principal qualitative tool of data collection included intensive interviews with a sample of ten parents from two villages in lower Egypt.

The two main outcomes which emerged from the research were first, the social construction of intellectual disability in rural Egypt has contributed to the emergence of a distinctive culturally‐mediated social identity called Al‐Ma'brouk, or the “blessed”, with ascribed social roles; and second, this socially constructed identity has a positive impact on the families of intellectually disabled children.

The first finding concerning the local social construction of intellectual disability corresponds to previous research on how culture shapes “disability”. The second finding that ascribed social roles of intellectually disabled children have rooted social rationalizations raises a general question concerning how rural communities in Egypt justify and cope with intellectual disability.

Many studies on intellectually disabled children overlook their social roles in society, and mainly envision disability as a barrier and a familial adversity. The paper contributes to the debate that intellectual disability is a social construction rather than a limiting factor.