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Disaster Research and the Second Environmental Crisis pp 243–259Cite as

Categories of Success: How Do We Make Who Listen?

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Abstract

Definitions of risk vary widely from person to person and from group to group. How then can disaster researchers prescribe effective actions and relevant information sources for all who seek to avert risk and disaster? Traditional strategies for matching particular “types of people” and/or “types of groups” to information they might find relevant to themselves have included, but are not limited to age, race, gender, and socioeconomic status. This chapter challenges the traditional group categories used to assess who will find what information relevant, the manner in which information is presented, and the places the information can be found by those seeking it. We propose that the four cultures presented by social anthropologist Mary Douglas can not only shed light on the failures to deliver salient information on averting risk and disaster to those who seek such information, but also help shape (1) which information is pertinent to whom, (2) how the information can be shaped to prompt action, and (3) where to post such information so that it reaches those who are interested. These four cultures are described as “Hierarchist,” “Individualist,” “Fatalist,” and “Egalitarian.”

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Fire Science, University of New Haven, West Haven, CT, USA

    Rachel Dowty Beech

  2. Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, USA

    William Wallace

Authors
  1. Rachel Dowty Beech
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  2. William Wallace
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Correspondence to William Wallace .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Disaster Research Center and Joseph R. Biden, Jr. School of Public Policy and Administration, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, USA

    James Kendra

  2. Department of History, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Scott G. Knowles

  3. Disaster Research Center and Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, USA

    Tricia Wachtendorf

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Dowty Beech, R., Wallace, W. (2019). Categories of Success: How Do We Make Who Listen?. In: Kendra, J., Knowles, S., Wachtendorf, T. (eds) Disaster Research and the Second Environmental Crisis. Environmental Hazards. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04691-0_12

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