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Review of Sociology
503
ited its scope. This is not an exhaustive his?Following these priorities, sociological re?
tory; rather my intention is to show how the search on disasters initially focused on the
study of organized behavior during and im?
concerns of pioneer researchers have shaped
mediately following disaster impact. Rapid
disaster inquiry. I then outline challenges
response studies were undertaken in the late
to classic sociological perspectives, highlight
new developments, and suggest directions 1940sin and early 1950s, mainly by teams from
the University of Chicago's National Opinion
which the field should move, particularly with
respect to needed theoretical advances. Research Center (NORC) and the National
As sections below demonstrate, disaster Academy of Sciences (Fritz & Marks 1954).
research is a field at the crossroads. ShouldThe current status of disaster research in
sociology is a direct reflection of how the core
longstanding practices prevail, this already
marginalized field risks becoming irrelevantresearch cohort developed. The founding of
the Disaster Research Center (DRC) at the
within the broader discipline of sociology. At
the same time, moving disaster research into State University in 1963 marked a sig?
Ohio
nificant milestone. One DRC founder, E. L.
mainstream sociology will require the field to
Quarantelli, who had been trained at NORC,
discard a good deal of historical baggage and
theorize disaster in new ways. was influenced by research traditions in col?
lective behavior and symbolic interaction
ism. The other two founders, Russell Dynes
PIONEERING DISASTER
and J. Eugene Haas, were organizational re?
RESEARCH
searchers. Guided by its own substantive con?
Initiated during the early days of the Coldcerns and by the priorities of funding agen?
War, sociological research on natural disasters
cies, DRC developed a research focus on both
504 Tierney
tered on the ways in which organized behavior society is prevented (Fritz 1961, p. 655).
during riots, characterized as dissensus crises,
differed from behavior following disasters, As discussed below, virtually every aspect
which were categorized as consensus crises. of Fritz's definition?that disasters are events,
For example, although looting had been found that they are concentrated in time and space,
to be extremely rare following disasters, loot?
that physical losses are an essential element in
ing in many ways constituted the essence of disasters, and so on?is problematic and con?
1960s-style urban unrest. At the same time, tested, and yet his conceptualization remains
researchers stressed that organized behavior highly influential (see Bolin & Stanford 1998
in both consensus and dissensus crises is influ? for discussions on this particular aspect of the
enced by normative constraints (Quarantelli field's resistance to change).
& Dynes 1970). Sociological research on disasters was also
Early publications focused on debunking influenced by the natural hazards perspective,
common-sense assumptions and myths con? originally developed by geographer Gilbert
cerning disaster behavior. Classic empirical White. White had conducted research and
work in the field challenged widely held myths advised the federal government on water re?
concerning public panic, postdisaster law? sources, floods, and other environmental is?
lessness, disaster shock, and negative men? sues since the 1930s. Like Quarantelli, White
tal health outcomes. In place of these myths, received his doctorate from the University of
early research stressed positive behaviors and Chicago; prior to his move to the University
outcomes that characterize disaster settings, of Colorado in 1969, he had been a faculty
such as enhanced community morale, declines member and chair of the geography depart?
in crime and other antisocial behavior, re? ment at Chicago. After moving to Colorado,
duction in status differences, suspension of White initiated the National Science Foun?
predisaster conflicts in the interests of com? dation (NSF)-funded assessment of research
munity safety, the development of therapeu? on natural hazards and founded the Natural
tic communities, and organizational adapta? Hazards Center at the University of Colorado
tion and innovation. Similarly, in research on in 1976.
collective violence, sociological studies de? Following the conceptual framework de?
bunked common-sense notions that linked veloped earlier by White, Hazards Center
unrest to behavioral contagion and "mob psy? research focused on human and societal ad?
chology" (Fritz 1961, Barton 1969, Dynes justments to natural hazards. Adjustments in?
1970, Quarantelli & Dynes 1972). clude avoiding hazards entirely, for example
Systems theory was the most frequently through land-use planning and development
used perspective in early disaster research. Ex? restrictions; mitigating the impacts of extreme
treme events were seen as disrupting ongo events through measures such as building
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LITERATURE CITED
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