Compensation and Community Corrosion: Perceived Inequalities, Social Comparisons, and Competition Following the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill
Compensation and Community Corrosion: Perceived Inequalities, Social Comparisons, and Competition Following the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill
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DOI：
10.1111/socf.12167
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发表时间：
2015-06-01
影响因子：
1.8
通讯作者：
Bergstrand, Kelly
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Mayer, Brian;Running, Katrina;Bergstrand, Kelly
灾难发生后，受害者赔偿计划通常与个人康复和社区重建有关。但灾后赔偿制度也有可能带来混乱和竞争，进一步破坏受创伤影响社区的社会结构。为了评估灾害赔偿过程对社区社会关系的影响，以及这种影响背后的机制，我们转向深水地平线石油泄漏的情况下，BP实施了美国历史上最大的赔偿制度之一。使用从四个墨西哥湾沿岸社区的居民访谈的数据，我们研究在何种程度上，这一索赔过程阻碍了努力从这场灾难中恢复。我们的数据表明，虽然英国石油公司的资金在经济困难时期帮助了海湾地区的一些居民，但许多受访者认为补偿过程中存在不确定性、随机性和不均衡性，这导致了社区成员之间的负面社会比较和竞争。由于这种敌意，我们认为，英国石油公司的补偿制度是一个破坏性的机制，有助于社区腐蚀和引入另一个来源的心理压力到已经受到创伤的地区。
After disasters, victim compensation programs are typically associated with individual healing and community rebuilding. But postdisaster compensation systems also have the potential to introduce confusion and competition, further fraying the social fabric of communities affected by trauma. To assess the perceived effects of disaster compensation processes on community social relations, as well as the mechanisms that underlie such effects, we turn to the case of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, after which BP implemented one of the largest compensation systems in U.S. history. Using data from interviews of residents of four Gulf Coast communities, we examine the extent to which this claims process hindered efforts to recover from this disaster. Our data suggest that while BP money helped some residents in the Gulf during a difficult economic time, many interviewees perceived uncertainty, randomness, and unevenness in the compensation process, which led to negative social comparisons and competition among community members. Because of this animosity, we argue that BP's compensation system was a disruptive mechanism that contributed to community corrosion and introduced another source of psychological stress into already-traumatized areas.