SOCI 357
Week 1 – January 20, 2022
What is a Disaster?
- catastrophic event/process causing unit of organization’s disruption of norms
- disaster vs catastrophe
- negative effects on societal norms
parade vs riot
- occurrence of death/injury
measure impact of disaster
- sudden and unexpected damage
- mass destruction
Examples
Quebec – freight train carrying crude oil brake failure, derails, destroys downtown
- loss of life, environmental concern, property/business destruction
- long term damage
- exposure to toxic materials
- psychological stress to community
Nevada – nine killed in van crash
- scale doesn’t qualify disaster
relative scale
- frequency of similar events
- control/preventability
Challenger Launch Explosion
- symbolic disaster = basis on cultural significance
- institutional effects > scale
Capital Invasion
- human intervention
- premeditation
- crisis event with cultural significance
- consensus vs conflict event
Financial/ Market Crash
- loss of a figurative process
- financial destruction loss of business, jobs, normalcy
- long term emotional distress/damage > physical
Sinking of the Titanic
- structured destruction
- men more likely to die > women/children
- first class passengers prioritized on lifeboats more lived
