Doctoral Dissertation Research: Environmental Outcomes in Multiple Spatial Scales

Brown University, Providence RI

Investigators

Abstract

SES-1434022 John Logan Juyoung Lee Brown University This dissertation investigates how a spatialized political economy shapes the distribution of environmental hazards across neighborhoods. Specifically, it examines toxic chemicals released by chemical manufacturing facilities. Previous quantitative studies have focused on the racial and socioeconomic characteristics of neighborhoods to understand environmental inequality. However, one cannot fully understand neighborhood-level variation in environmental hazards without also taking into account social processes and decisions at the city, state, and national levels. This dissertation will analyze information for 2000-2010 from the Toxic Release Inventory Program, U.S. Census, and other data sources, and it will examine how corporations, governments, and environmental movement groups influenced local environmental outcomes in this period. This dissertation will contribute to understanding environmental inequality, and it will enhance the literatures on neighborhood effects, social movements, and organizational behavior. Broader Impact Environmental inequalities reflect underlying social inequities that are typically tied to race and class. At the same time, environmental inequalities generate other types of inequality, such as health disparities, and in this way they reinforce preexisting racial and class differences. The multilevel perspective taken by this dissertation will identify the conditions under which disadvantaged neighborhoods are likely to suffer from environmental hazards. It will have policy implications for governments, environmental organizations, and corporations at the local, regional and national scale, with the goal of improving the quality of life of marginalized social groups in the United States.