Communication in a Postdisaster Community: The Struggle to Access Social Capital

Type of content
Journal Article
Publisher's DOI/URI
Thesis discipline
Degree name
Publisher
University of Canterbury. School of Language, Social and Political Sciences
University of Canterbury. Media and Communications
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Language
Date
2016
Authors
Matheson, D.
Jones, A.
Abstract

This article conceptualizes social capital in communicative terms to describe the social resources available to members of one suburb in Christchurch, New Zealand, as they seek to recover from a natural disaster. It notes how communicative social capital was distributed unequally and frequently experienced as in deficit or as inaccessible. The idea of community was a powerful focal point for residents, but there was little evidence that social connectedness at this level provided the resources for civic engagement more generally. The idea of the city that arose out of people’s shared ideals and investment in collective civic institutions appeared to be still broken three years on from the initial disaster.

Description
Citation
Matheson, D., Jones, A. (2016) Communication in a Postdisaster Community: The Struggle to Access Social Capital. International Journal of Communication, 10, pp. 1-18.
Keywords
Ngā upoko tukutuku/Māori subject headings
ANZSRC fields of research
Fields of Research::47 - Language, communication and culture::4701 - Communication and media studies::470108 - Organisational, interpersonal and intercultural communication
Fields of Research::44 - Human society::4410 - Sociology::441016 - Urban sociology and community studies
Rights
Copyright © 2016 (Donald Matheson & Annalee Jones). Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives (by-nc-nd). Available at http://ijoc.org.