Doctoral Dissertation Research: Environmental Outcomes in Multiple Spatial Scales

本文研究了空间化的政治经济如何塑造环境危害在社区中的分布。具体来说，它检查化学制造设施释放的有毒化学物质。以前的定量研究主要集中在社区的种族和社会经济特征上，以理解环境不平等。然而，如果不考虑城市、州和国家层面的社会过程和决策，就不能完全理解环境危害在社区层面的变化。本论文将分析2000-2010年有毒物质排放清单计划、美国人口普查和其他数据来源的信息，并将研究公司、政府和环境运动团体在这一时期如何影响当地的环境结果。本文的研究将有助于理解环境不平等，并将对社区效应、社会运动和组织行为等方面的文献进行扩充。更广泛的影响环境不平等反映了潜在的社会不平等，通常与种族和阶级有关。同时，环境不平等产生其他类型的不平等，例如健康不平等，从而加强了先前存在的种族和阶级差异。本文采用的多层次视角将确定弱势社区可能遭受环境危害的条件。它将对地方、区域和国家层面的政府、环保组织和企业产生政策影响，其目标是改善美国边缘化社会群体的生活质量。

SES-1434022John LoganJuyoung LeeBrown UniversityThis dissertation investigates how a spatialized political economy shapes the distribution of environmental hazards across neighborhoods. Specifically, it examines toxic chemicals released by chemical manufacturing facilities. Previous quantitative studies have focused on the racial and socioeconomic characteristics of neighborhoods to understand environmental inequality. However, one cannot fully understand neighborhood-level variation in environmental hazards without also taking into account social processes and decisions at the city, state, and national levels. This dissertation will analyze information for 2000-2010 from the Toxic Release Inventory Program, U.S. Census, and other data sources, and it will examine how corporations, governments, and environmental movement groups influenced local environmental outcomes in this period. This dissertation will contribute to understanding environmental inequality, and it will enhance the literatures on neighborhood effects, social movements, and organizational behavior. Broader ImpactEnvironmental inequalities reflect underlying social inequities that are typically tied to race and class. At the same time, environmental inequalities generate other types of inequality, such as health disparities, and in this way they reinforce preexisting racial and class differences. The multilevel perspective taken by this dissertation will identify the conditions under which disadvantaged neighborhoods are likely to suffer from environmental hazards. It will have policy implications for governments, environmental organizations, and corporations at the local, regional and national scale, with the goal of improving the quality of life of marginalized social groups in the United States.