Blogs

CALL FOR ARTICLES

RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences

Climate Hazards and Their Social, Political, and Economic Consequences

Max Besbris
University of Wisconsin-Madison

Manuel Pastor
University of Southern California

Anna Rhodes
Rice University

Wolfram Schlenker
Columbia University

Pamela Winston
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Social scientists have shown that exposure to climate-related hazards such as wildfires, hurricanes, coastal and riverine flooding, tornados, extreme heat, sea level rise, and extreme precipitation, can have both short and long-term impacts on individual- and community-level outcomes and behaviors. The changing climate is leading these events to be increasingly severe and destructive in ways that will have significant social, political, and economic consequences. Exposure to disasters and other hazards can cause downward mobility, contribute to lost wages and changes in employment, negatively affect physical and mental health, lead to lost wealth via damage to property, disrupt social networks, and increase economic insecurity. Moreover, vulnerability to hazards is distributed unequally, with less advantaged households and places more likely to be exposed. In addition to directly affecting mortality, climate-related hazards can also alter demographic trends like fertility and mobility. Climate-related hazards can create additional risks, reducing air, water, and food quality and access. Economic disruptions are also common after communities experience climate hazards, with growth slowed in some areas. Finally, responses to hazards, and climate change more broadly, are fundamentally political decisions. Political contexts across geography and across time affect the nature and extent of resources available to address and respond to climate hazards, while at the same time the experience of climate hazards may affect local, state, and national politics and policy priorities.

Understanding the effects of climate hazards is key to understanding patterns of inequality more broadly. As rising global temperatures increase the intensity and scope of climate-related hazards, we need new research that examines the relationships between displacement and mobility, social stratification, political and economic power, climate-related hazards, and policies for mitigation, adaptation, recovery, and resilience.

In this issue, we invite original research contributions pertaining to the social, political, and economic effects of climate-related hazards in the United States, inequalities exacerbated or created by hazards, and how federal, state, local and/or private mitigation, recovery, and resilience policies affect inequalities. We are particularly interested in studies that examine how exposure to and effects from climate-related hazards have changed as average temperatures have risen, and studies that focus on how governmental policies or interventions have mitigated or exacerbated these effects. Additionally, we are interested in work that analyzes differential effects of varied types of acute and slower paced climate-related hazards. For example, insurance markets operate in distinct ways across different types of hazards—flooding and fires may have extreme consequences for individual wealth and mobility or displacement, heat waves impact health in immediate and chronic ways, and rising sea levels affect patterns of community mobilization, migration, and economic activity. In addition, policy responses and mitigation strategies vary depending on the type of hazard.

Please click here for a full description of the topics covered in this call for articles.

Anticipated Timeline

Prospective contributors should submit a CV and an abstract (up to two pages in length, single or double spaced) of their study along with up to two pages of supporting material (e.g., tables, figures, pictures, etc.) no later than 5 PM EST on April 2, 2024, to:

https://rsf.fluxx.io

NOTE that if you wish to submit an abstract and do not yet have an account with us, it can take up to 48 hours to get credentials, so please start your application at least two days before the deadline. All submissions must be original work that has not been previously published in part or in full. Only abstracts submitted to https://rsf.fluxx.io will be considered. Each paper will receive a $1,000 honorarium when the issue is published. All questions regarding this issue should be directed to Suzanne Nichols, Director of Publications, at journal@rsage.org. Do not email the editors of the issue.

A conference will take place at the Russell Sage Foundation in New York City on October 25, 2024. The selected contributors will gather for a one-day workshop to present draft papers (due a month prior to the conference on 9/27/24) and receive feedback from the other contributors and editors. Travel costs, food, and lodging for one author per paper will be covered by the foundation. Papers will be circulated before the conference. After the conference, the authors will submit their revised drafts by 3/1/25. The papers will then be sent out to three additional scholars for formal peer review. Having received feedback from reviewers and the RSF board, authors will revise their papers by 10/14/25. The full and final issue will be published in the spring of 2026. Papers will be published open access on the RSF website as well as in several digital repositories, including JSTOR and UPCC/Muse.

Please click here for a full description of the topics covered in this call for articles.