Philosophical underpinnings of disaster risk reduction research: The case for social constructivism

Abstract

In response to the growing interdisciplinarity of disaster research, this paper explores the philosophical underpinnings of disaster research to a) elucidate the methodological choices that disaster researchers make b) reflect on how these different choices and philosophical approaches consider disaster risk, and c) provide arguments in favor of the application of social constructivism for improving the results of disaster research. It investigates the epistemological and ontological underpinnings of social constructivism and objectivism and reflects on how they are applied in disaster research through a review of the literature. For ease and to avoid repetitive duplication of the references, the endnote reference manager was used in this study, with all references employed in this study managed using the endnote library. APA 6th reference style is followed to manage and harmonized the bibliographic section. Its findings indicate that the objectivist approaches that dominated the field until the 1980s emphasized the role of science and technology in reducing disaster risk focused on the physical and natural elements of different disasters, and therefore lack certain applicability. As a counter, this paper argues that a discursive, social constructivist approach that considers disasters as socially framed, rooted, and constructed may provide more fruitful applications of disaster research.