The first decade of the 21st century saw a remarkable number of
large-scale disasters. Earthquakes in Haiti and Sumatra underscored the
serious economic consequences that catastrophic events can have on
developing countries, while 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina showed that first
world nations remain vulnerable.
The Social Roots of Risk argues against the widespread notion that
cataclysmic occurrences are singular events, driven by forces beyond our
control. Instead, Kathleen Tierney contends that disasters of all
types--be they natural, technological, or economic--are rooted in common
social and institutional sources. Put another way, risks and disasters
are produced by the social order itself--by governing bodies,
organizations, and groups that push for economic growth, oppose
risk-reducing regulation, and escape responsibility for tremendous
losses when they occur.
Considering a wide range of historical and looming events--from a
potential mega-earthquake in Tokyo that would cause devastation far
greater than what we saw in 2011, to BP's accident history prior to the
2010 blowout--Tierney illustrates trends in our behavior, connecting
what seem like one-off events to illuminate historical patterns.
Like risk, human resilience also emerges from the social order, and this
book makes a powerful case that we already have a significant capacity
to reduce the losses that disasters produce. A provocative rethinking of
the way that we approach and remedy disasters, The Social Roots of
Risk leaves readers with a better understanding of how our own actions
make us vulnerable to the next big crisis--and what we can do to prevent
it.
