Social Capital and Post-disaster Recovery :A sociological study of natural disaster

Researchers of natural disasters have begun to notice the important role of social capital in the governance of disaster.Based on the data of a large-scale social survey in 11 provincesin western China , this article thoroughly studies how social capital , both in micro and macro level , helps the disaster victims to recover from disasters .The results show that disaster victims are actively using their social capital embedded in personal networks to get formal and informal support to get a sooner and better recover from disasters.However, social networks have different impacts on different types of social action.Vulnerable social groups are more dependent on their strong-ties networks, which may bring about negative influences to their recovery .As for macro-level social capital , trust plays a positive role in disaster recovery , while the role of social participation is more complex.Based on these results, the article suggests that policy makers should pay special attention to the vulnerable groupsin the governance of disaster, and make full use of existing local social networks and social associations to mobilize the public to actively participate in re-construction of the disaster-influenced area.

赵延东;

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