SOCIAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT IN NATURAL RESOURCE DECISION MAKING: TOWARD A STRUCTURAL PARADIGM

ABSTRACT As social impact assessment continues to mature as an area of professional endeavor, social scientists are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of social structure as a variable requiring analysis in social impact assessment studies. This paper reports the results of research in which community social structure was specifically examined as an independent variable in a regional system of 52 rural communities in Alaska. A macrostructural survey instrument was employed to inventory elements of community social structure provided by key informant interviews and a variety of secondary sources. Communities' were then ranked according to their relative structural differentiation by means of Guttman scale analysis. Multiple regression analysis indicated that structural differentiation possesses greater predictive power than traditional aggregate variables (population level, rate of population increase) in explaining rates of community social pathology (mental health rates and divorce). The utili...