Building Resilience: Social Capital in Post-Disaster Recovery

Want to improve the world? - This book is a must read to everyone working in disaster prevention and recovery.

This book talks about the prospect of social capital in building more resilient communities so that they become proactive in absorbing sudden shocks specially during post-disasters. In this regard, each of the four case studies are well explored and identified social capital to be the single most contributing factor during post-disaster recovery.

Aldrich makes a strong case for the primacy of social relationships in recovery from man-made and natural disasters. He brings the analysis home with his own experience of Katrina alongside quantitative models and several extensively researched case studies. Required reading for any who underestimate or trivialize the strength in social networks.

Daniel Aldrich offers a compelling argument for the need to address disaster recovery in a new way. The book is rich with qualitative and quantitative evidence that demonstrates the need to consider social capital during disaster recovery, rather than primarily focusing on physical reconstruction. Aldrich explains how "social resources, at least as much as material ones, prove to be the foundation for resilience and recovery."Aldrich thoughtfully emphasizes the complexity of post-disaster recovery. Rather than dismiss the need for material-based assistance, he stresses the need to broaden the lens to include the social aspects of disaster recovery.The term social capital is tricky as it can be overused and misinterpreted, but Aldrich is careful to describe and distinguish bonding, bridging and linking social capital. He further illustrates its "double-edged sword" by facilitating recovery for those in need, while excluding disenfranchised groups from obtaining support. He gives poignant examples of how those already on the outskirts of a society are more likely to suffer from a disaster because of their socioeconomic status, age, and gender. Then, after a disaster, these same groups can be systematically excluded from obtaining disaster recovery assistance due to their low levels of social capital.Aldrich doesn't stop with these explanations though. My favorite parts of this book are when he clearly and logically defines what to do given this knowledge. There are important social and political implications here that are more than a little timely. Large-scale disasters seem to not only be on the rise, but increasingly devastating. Aldrich offers an entire chapter of discussion and ideas about how to support affected people and communities, particularly given the economic crunch many nations now face. At least one lesson learned from after the New Orleans disaster is that throwing money at disaster recovery is not guaranteed to solve any problems.There are no easy or quick answers for communities facing these large-scale disasters, but Aldrich is on to something here and his argument of the importance of social capital in disaster recovery deserves closer attention.

It was just ok

Unlike the 2-star reviewer below, I didn't expect to pick up this book and find out what social capital is - for this, I can rely on any article or book by Ron Burt. In fact, I'm not sure what I was expecting - I just wanted to learn about resilience as a dimension of quality, and all the different ways resilience can be expressed in a community or organization. I was also hoping to find out about whether there were pitfalls associated with resilience. The book delivered on BOTH of these unspoken expectations. For companies and organizations experiencing high environmental dynamism (which is pretty much most of them, these days) I feel that cultivating resilience is one missing link that can also stimulate innovation. Because think about it... when your whole world is destroyed by a natural disaster, it's going to require not only innovative thinking, but innovative *doing*... to get the systems required for ordinary life back in working order. This book helped me learn about and understand the concept of resilience in a way I'd never considered it before.What I found in Daniel's book was one of the most refreshing examples of academic literature I've seen in years. In addition to learning about resilience, I was captivated by the stories of natural disasters in different social and historical contexts. The book reminded me of John McPhee's geology books... so engaging that you forget you're learning about some rather complex concepts and interrelationships. I'd recommend it to ANY business leader or executive who wants to learn about what makes a community resilient, and I'd also recommend it to anyone who enjoys learning about the social context of natural disasters. The last time I had this much fun reading an academic book was Barabasi's "Linked".

'Building Resilience' could more aptly be titled 'is there social capital'. The author is exhaustive in providing background, but doesn't find it easy to actually get to the point.Is there social capital? What is social capital? How does a local government improve social capital options for all residents? Do only those already well-connected benefit?Not an easy read, but the gems of information can be unearthed and polished. I'm still working on the polish.