Thomas Beamish
Thomas D. Beamish has studied social and organizational response to environmental change and disaster; how and why community movements mobilize and respond as they do to “risk” and “risky” developments; and economic, organizational, and innovation processes in the commercial construction industry. What ties these diverse projects together is his theoretical fascination with the intersection of institutions, social organization, and interpretive work.
In essence, Beamish’s focus has been the collective bases for “local rationalities;” how memberships of different kinds—the places people live, the formal and informal groups and organizations that people belong to, and the social categories and identities people are given or that they self-identify with—influence and at times even structure interpretations, expectations, and with them preferences. Attention to issues and aspects of “membership,” Beamish has found, provides insights into the actions (and inactions) of many kinds of associations from small groups and communities to economic networks and formal organizations with implications for understanding important outcomes from innovation to response to environmental change. Beamish's interest in these and related topics has resulted in a book, “Silent Spill: The Organization of an Industrial Crisis” (MIT Press), and articles in the Journal Social Problems, Annual Review of Sociology, American Behavioral Scientist, and Organization and Environment, among others.
Related Resources from Speaker
Alliance Building across Social Movements: Bridging Difference in a Peace and Justice Coalition
With Amy J. Luebbers
Social Problems, 2009
Environmental Hazard and Institutional Betrayal
Organization & Environment, March 2001
