Science and Technology Studies Commons^™

Social Ties Are The Engine Of Resilience, Daniel P. Aldrich, Danae Metaxa, Paige Maas

Daniel P Aldrich

Response To My Critics, Daniel P. Aldrich

Daniel P Aldrich

This article responds to the questions and criticisms raised by six reviewers about my book Building Resilience: Social Capital in Post-Disaster Recovery. I focus on the distinctions between social capital types (bonding, bridging, and linking), the difficulties in pinning down widely accepted proxies for social capital, the double edged nature of social networks, race, class, and ethnicity, and public policies which can deepen reservoirs of social capital. Given the ubiquitous nature of disasters and society’s need to move beyond technical and engineering-based responses to crisis, this article continues an important dialogue on the role of human factors in disaster management …

Building Resilience: Social Capital In Post-Disaster Recovery, Daniel Aldrich

Daniel P Aldrich

Each year, natural disasters threaten the strength and stability of communities worldwide. Yet responses to the challenges of recovery vary greatly and in ways that aren’t explained by the magnitude of the catastrophe or the amount of aid provided by national governments or the international community. The difference between resilience and disrepair, as Daniel P. Aldrich shows, lies in the depth of communities’ social capital. Building Resilience highlights the critical role of social capital in the ability of a community to withstand disaster and rebuild both the infrastructure and the ties that are at the foundation of any community. Aldrich …

The Politics Of Natural Disasters (Pre-Print), Daniel P. Aldrich

Daniel P Aldrich

Political scientists, sociologists, geographers, anthropologists, economists, and historians have studied disaster recovery, best practices in disaster response, the role of the government in rebuilding, and so forth. This annotated bibliography illuminates representative examples of the interdisciplinary work in this vast academic subfield.

Social, Not Physical, Infrastructure: The Critical Role Of Civil Society After The 1923 Tokyo Earthquake, Daniel P. Aldrich

Daniel P Aldrich

Despite the tremendous destruction wrought by catastrophes, social science holds few quantitative assessments of explanations for the rate of recovery. This article illuminates four factors—damage, population density, human capital, and economic capital—that are thought to explain the variation in the pace of population recovery following disaster; it also explores the popular but relatively untested factor of social capital. Using time-series, cross-sectional models and propensity score matching, it tests these approaches using new data from the rebuilding of 39 neighborhoods in Tokyo after its 1923 earthquake. Social capital, more than earthquake damage, population density, human capital, or economic capital, best predicts …

The Externalities Of Strong Social Capital: Post-Tsunami Recovery In Southeast India, Daniel P. Aldrich

Daniel P Aldrich

Much research has implied that social capital functions as an unqualified “public good,” enhancing governance, economic performance, and quality of life (Coleman 1988; Cohen and Arato 1992; Putnam 1993; Cohen and Rogers 1995). Scholars of disaster (Nakagawa and Shaw 2004; Adger et al. 2005; Dynes 2005; Tatsuki 2008) have extended this concept to posit that social capital provides nonexcludable benefits to whole communities after major crises. Using qualitative methods to analyze data from villages in Tamil Nadu, India following the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, this paper demonstrates that high levels of social capital simultaneously provided strong benefits and equally strong …

Between Market And State: Directions In Social Science Research On Disaster, Daniel P. Aldrich

Daniel P Aldrich

In this extended review, I discuss three recent books on disaster: Governing after Crisis: The Politics of Investigation, Accountability, and Learning edited by Arjen Boin, Allan McConnell, and Paul ‘T Hart, Learning from Catastrophes: Strategies for Reaction and Response , edited by Howard Kunreuther and Micheel Useem, and The Next Catastrophe: Reducing Our Vulnerabilities to Natural, Industrial, and Terrorist Disasters by Charles Perrow. All three books invoke the market and state as core forces at work in mitigation and disaster recovery, overlooking the critical role of social capital.

The Power Of People: Social Capital’S Role In Recovery From The 1995 Kobe Earthquake, Daniel P. Aldrich

Daniel P Aldrich

Despite the regularity of disasters, social science has only begun to generate replicable knowledge about the factors which facilitate post-crisis recovery. Building on the broad variation in recovery rates within disaster-affected cities, I investigate the ability of Kobe’s nine wards to repopulate after the 1995 Kobe earthquake in Japan. This article uses case studies of neighborhoods in Kobe alongside new time-series, cross-sectional data set to test five variables thought to influence recovery along with the relatively untested factor of social capital. Controlling for damage, population density, economic conditions, inequality and other variables thought important in past research, social capital proves …

Fixing Recovery: Social Capital In Post-Crisis Resilience, Daniel P. Aldrich

Daniel P Aldrich

Disasters remain among the most critical events which impact residents and their neighborhoods; they have killed far more individuals than high salience issues such as terrorism. Unfortunately, disaster recovery programs run by the United States and foreign governments have not been updated to reflect a new understanding of the essential nature of social capital and networks. I call for a re-orientation of disaster preparedness and recovery programs at all levels away from the standard fixes focused on physical infrastructure towards ones targeting social infrastructure. The reservoirs of social capital and the trust (or lack thereof) between citizens in disaster-affected communities …

Separate And Unequal: Post-Tsunami Aid Distribution In Southern India, Daniel P. Aldrich

Daniel P Aldrich

Objective. Disasters are a regular occurrence throughout the world. Whether all eligible victims of a catastrophe receive similar amounts of aid from governments and donors following a crisis remains an open question. Methods. I use data on 62 similarly damaged inland fishing villages in five districts of southeastern India following the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami to measure the causal influence of caste, location, wealth, and bridging social capital on the receipt of aid. Using two-limit tobit and negative binomial models, I investigate the factors that influence the time spent in refugee camps, receipt of an initial aid packet, and receipt …