Dependent Development and Disaster: Linking the Literatures

• In Event: 286 - Section on Sociology of Development Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Paper Session: Table 06. Theory

Abstract

Disaster is a growing global concern. Climate change threatens to make weather systems increasingly volatile and severe. Growing global urbanization coupled with population growth is concentrating larger and larger portions of the world population in smaller, coastal areas. And while death from disasters is declining globally, the number of people left injured, homeless and lacking access to basic necessities has been growing steadily, as has the resulting monetary damages. At the same time, international economic interconnectedness means that the impact of every disaster creates a ripple effect that has the potential to negatively impact the global economy. Vulnerability studies, disaster research that focuses on the types of social-structures that make certain groups within society more or less vulnerable to the effects of disaster based on their socio-political and socio-economic status, is ideologically related to the Marxist concept of dependent development. Few disaster studies explicitly link the two, however. This review identifies the similarities and suggests further study that advances disaster knowledge by exploring a country’s place within the larger global economic system, and the effects of international development policies.

Author

• Rose Sayre, State University of New York-Stony Brook