Inequalities and interrelations: The sociology of disasters at a new crossroads

While the sociology of disasters was slow to incorporate the study of inequality in analyses, recent research in the field has centered the study of inequality. Powered by changing empirical terrain in the form of climate change and by theoretically engagement with other sociological subfields, our article showcases how this research analyzes inequality by tracing three research motifs of scale, time, and feedbacks. Using a data set of nearly 200 articles published in the field including all 57 articles published in 10 generalist sociology journals from 2008 to 2020, we relate this perspective on scale, time, and feedbacks to eight primary areas of work in the sociology of disasters: (1) community, social capital, and resilience; (2) migration and displacement; (3) race; (4) gender; (5) intersectionality; (6) health and wellness; (7) governance and policy; and (8) environment and climate change. Our discussion champions future research on feedbacks by providing a theoretical backing with social theory on relational inequality as well as by substantiating it empirically with the eight areas of research.