Why in the pre-industrial period were some settlements resilient and stable over the long term while other settlements were vulnerable to crisis? Indeed, what made certain human habitations more prone to decline or even total collapse, than others? All pre-industrial societies had to face certain challenges: exogenous environmental hazards such as earthquakes or plagues, economic or political hazards from ‘outside’ such as warfare or expropriation of property, or hazards of their own-making such as soil erosion or subsistence crises. How then can we explain why some societies were able to overcome or negate these problems, while other societies proved susceptible to failure, as settlements contracted, stagnated, were abandoned, or even disappeared entirely? This book has been stimulated by the questions and hypotheses put forward by a recent ‘disaster studies’ literature - in particular, by placing the intrinsic arrangement of societies at the forefront of the explanatory framework. Essentially it is suggested that the resilience or vulnerability of habitation has less to do with exogenous crises themselves, but on endogenous societal responses which dictate: (a) the extent of destruction caused by crises and the capacity for society to protect itself; and (b) the capacity to create a sufficient recovery. By empirically testing the explanatory framework on a number of societies between the Middle Ages and the nineteenth century in England, the Low Countries, and Italy, it is ultimately argued in this book that rather than the protective functions of the state or the market, or the implementation of technological innovation or capital investment, the most resilient human habitations in the pre-industrial period were those than displayed an equitable distribution of property and a well-balanced distribution of power between social interest groups. Equitable distributions of power and property were the underlying conditions in pre-industrial societies that allowed 'favourable' institutions to emerge with high rates of participation down the social hierarchy, giving people the freedom and room to choose their own fate - not necessarily reliant on one coping strategy but with the capacity to combine many different ones in search of optimum resilience.

Table of contents

Stress and Your Health: From Vulnerability to Resilience presents an evidence-based evaluation of the various effects of stress, along with methods to alleviate distress and stress-related illnesses. Examines myriad stressor effects and proven ways to alleviate stress in our lives Covers a wide range of stressor-related topics including therapeutic strategies to deal with stress and factors that hinder treatment of stress Makes difficult biochemical and immunological concepts accessible to a non-specialist audience Addresses many of the factors that cause individuals to be more vulnerable to the impact of stressors and at increased risk for pathology

Vulnerability and resilience are concepts that have long been treated as individual and contradicting topics. In recent times, we have seen that vulnerabilities and resilience can go hand in hand and that vulnerabilities cannot be conceptualized only in simple terms because intersectionality must be considered as well as social, organizational, and systemic aspects and processes. One example is that women are more vulnerable (higher values in nearly all stress related measures) in the COVID-19 pandemic. This finding has to be analyzed from an intersectional perspective, because socio-economic factors, cultural factors, exposure to COVID-19 and the type of occupation (e.g. healthcare sector, frontline workers) play an important role in how vulnerable or resilient women can be in a given society. The large number of studies on COVID-19 vulnerabilities makes it necessary to take a closer look at the resilience factors that often go hand in hand with potential vulnerabilities. As we see in the literature about pandemics in general and COVID-19, there are some individual, organizational and systemic vulnerabilities that can be found in all pandemics. From that we can assume that there will be resilience factors within the same concepts that may buffer vulnerabilities.

Stress and Your Health: From Vulnerability to Resilience presents an evidence-based evaluation of the various effects of stress, along with methods to alleviate distress and stress-related illnesses. Examines myriad stressor effects and proven ways to alleviate stress in our lives Covers a wide range of stressor-related topics including therapeutic strategies to deal with stress and factors that hinder treatment of stress Makes difficult biochemical and immunological concepts accessible to a non-specialist audience Addresses many of the factors that cause individuals to be more vulnerable to the impact of stressors and at increased risk for pathology