TY  - GEN
AU  - Wong, Guan Jie
Y2  - 2019/10/17
Y1  - 2017
UR  - http://hdl.handle.net/11343/230592
AB  - There remains a lack of serious theoretical treatment in the residential fire literature for the socioeconomic inequalities in fire risk, vulnerability and preparedness. Implementation of previous work in this field continues to ignore the findings of researchers working on other types of disaster - that constructive engagement with the community is crucial to the success of safety interventions. By taking inspiration from the use of Marxist class analysis in health inequality research, we take a tentative first step into the application of class theory to the question of unequal fire preparedness. 

We investigate the relationship between socioeconomic status and preparedness in the suburb of Kensington, Melbourne, making use of a quantitative survey instrument followed by semi-structured interviews with a sample subset. The conclusions verify the presence of inequality in preparedness in Kensington, and enable us to confirm that middle-class, homeowning residents possess significant advantages over working class residents in terms of preparedness and access to support networks. They also suggest that elevated class position confers unconscious safety benefits. Possibilities and limitations for community education efforts moving forward are outlined.
T1  - Class and disaster risk: a Kensington case study
L1  - /bitstream/handle/11343/230592/WONG%2c%20Guan%20Jie%20Honours%20Thesis.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=n
ER  -