Doctoral Dissertation Research: Race, Class and Social Capital in Devastated Neighborhoods

博士论文研究：受灾社区的种族、阶级和社会资本

• 批准号: 1434602
• 负责人: Nan Lin
• 金额: $ 1.12万
• 依托单位: Duke University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-08-01 至 2015-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1434602&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Race; Class

SES- 1434602Nan Lin, NanSancha MedwinterDuke UniversityThis dissertation research is an innovative multi-method qualitative field study of two post-disaster neighborhoods in New York City, after Hurricane Sandy. Although these neighborhoods are similarly impacted by a natural disaster and receive similar types of aid through a large NGO (non-governmental organizations) and FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency), the racial and economic characteristics of these neighborhoods are quite different. The researcher will examine the social processes through which race and class shape whether and how residents strike close and informal connections with disaster responders. The research in particular focuses on how the type and quality of relationships formed, affects sharing of non-official disaster support and information. This focus on these newly formed connections is particularly important in this environment, where people's usual social connections were severely compromised. The research adopts a theory of network resources, social capital, which expects that assistance in the form of information or resources are informally and indirectly accessed through these interpersonal connections and that social position of one's connections and the quality of their relationship matter in this process. The co-PI will conduct fieldwork in disaster relief and warming centers and surrounding devastated areas of two urban neighborhoods that are proximate to each other. Beginning only ten days after the hurricane and through 8 subsequent visits to the field site over the course of several months, the researcher interviewed 120 participants, including impacted residents, local community and out-of-town responders and volunteers. The data for this project is collected in three ways: (1) in-depth unstructured interviews, (2) semi-structured follow-up interviews, (3) and ethnographic participant observation. These are substantiated with documentary evidence of material culture including video and photographs of devastation, signs, flyers, and other print informational materials at relief sites. Through interviews and observations, the research will examine how cross-race and cross-class interactions, and community racial and class dynamics, impact the extent and kind of disaster support residents receive. Observations and inquiry will be used to first identify, then explain the relationships among (1) the types and strength of relationships forged among impacted-residents and disaster responders and volunteers; (2) the types of disaster-related information and resources shared across these connections; (3) the racial and class content of resident and volunteer conversations, accounts and interactions and (4) the aspects of local disaster response that structure interpersonal relations and resident participation.Ultimately, the project contributes to four fields of sociological research: social capital theory, race relations, poverty, and disaster research. The unique design of the study allows for distinguishing the mechanisms linking the entire process of social capital to pinpoint at what stage (creation, access, activation and returns) social capital inequality occurs in the non-routine context of disaster. This emphasis differs from current research in this tradition, which explores one leg (e.g. activation) of the process in routine contexts such as job-finding. The research also addresses a key substantive debate on how urban poor Blacks and other minorities end up in the "wrong networks" whether it is through choice or opportunity. Or as explored here, to what extent is this phenomenon a network level process?Broader Impacts: Beyond its theoretical contribution of examining social capital and social inequality outside routine contexts, this research has tremendous social significance as it informs practitioners of the interracial and inter-class dynamics of "networking" in devastated neighborhoods and the consequence for accessing available resources. This project will also enable a minority female qualitative researcher to establish and organize a substantial qualitative dataset and launch an independent-research agenda on racial-ethnic social capital inequalities within diverse populations in non-routine contexts. The qualitative dataset, will be used to train both undergraduate and graduate students in qualitative analytical methods, race and class inequalities, and the consequence of disasters for vulnerable populations. Findings from this project will be published in peer reviewed journals, and presented at academic and public conferences. The insights gained from this project, will also spur extension of similar analyses to other environments that are racially and socioeconomically diverse.

SES-1434602南林，南三岔梅德温特杜克大学本论文研究是一个创新的多方法定性实地研究的两个灾后社区在纽约市，飓风桑迪后。虽然这些社区同样受到自然灾害的影响，并通过大型NGO（非政府组织）和FEMA（联邦紧急事务管理局）获得类似类型的援助，但这些社区的种族和经济特征截然不同。 研究人员将研究种族和阶级塑造居民是否以及如何与灾害响应者建立密切和非正式联系的社会过程。 该研究特别关注所形成的关系的类型和质量如何影响非官方灾难支持和信息的共享。在这种环境下，人们通常的社会关系受到严重损害，对这些新形成的联系的关注尤为重要。 本研究采用了网络资源理论，社会资本，它预计，信息或资源的形式的援助是非正式和间接地通过这些人际关系，一个人的社会地位的连接和他们的关系的质量在这个过程中的事项。联合PI将在救灾和变暖中心以及两个相邻的城市社区的周围受灾地区进行实地调查。从飓风发生后仅10天开始，在随后的几个月里，研究人员对现场进行了8次访问，采访了120名参与者，包括受影响的居民、当地社区和外地的救援人员和志愿者。本研究的数据收集方式有三种：（1）深度非结构化访谈，（2）半结构化随访访谈，（3）民族志参与者观察。这些都有物质文化的书面证据，包括破坏的录像和照片、标志、传单和救济地点的其他印刷信息材料。通过访谈和观察，研究将探讨如何跨种族和跨阶级的互动，以及社区种族和阶级的动态，影响的程度和种类的灾难支持居民收到。 观察和调查将首先用于确定，然后解释（1）受影响的居民和救灾人员和志愿者之间建立的关系的类型和强度;（2）这些联系之间共享的灾害相关信息和资源的类型;（3）居民和志愿者谈话的种族和阶级内容，（4）构建人际关系和居民参与的地方灾害应对方面。最终，该项目有助于社会学研究的四个领域：社会资本理论，种族关系，贫困和灾害研究。这项研究的独特设计可以区分连接社会资本整个过程的机制，以确定在非常规灾害背景下社会资本不平等发生在哪个阶段（创造、获得、激活和回报）。这一重点不同于目前的研究在这一传统，探索一个腿（例如激活）的过程中，在日常的情况下，如找工作。这项研究还解决了一个关键的实质性辩论，即城市贫困黑人和其他少数民族如何最终进入“错误的网络”，无论是通过选择还是机会。或者正如这里所探讨的，这种现象在多大程度上是一个网络层面的过程？更广泛的影响：除了在常规环境之外研究社会资本和社会不平等的理论贡献之外，这项研究具有巨大的社会意义，因为它告知从业者在被破坏的社区中“网络”的跨种族和跨阶级动态以及获取可用资源的后果。该项目还将使一名少数民族女性定性研究人员能够建立和组织一个实质性的定性数据集，并启动一个关于非常规背景下不同人群中种族-族裔社会资本不平等的独立研究议程。定性数据集将用于对本科生和研究生进行定性分析方法、种族和阶级不平等以及灾害对弱势群体的后果方面的培训。该项目的研究结果将发表在同行评审的期刊上，并在学术和公共会议上发表。从这个项目中获得的见解，也将刺激类似的分析扩展到其他种族和社会经济多样化的环境。