CONCEPTUALIZING RESPONSES TO EXTREME EVENTS: THE PROBLEM OF PANIC AND FAILING GRACEFULLY

Abstract

Disaster and calamity are extreme events that can be used to glean general lessons about how society works. I use the problem of panic to develop several ideas. Panic, we know from years of disaster research, is quite rare at least in the United States. I consider the implication of this for theories of social behavior and human nature. I also suggest the idea of “failing gracefully” as a systems-level notion that highlights the social context of behavior rather than individual panic. I reconsider findings concerning “altruistic” and “corrosive” communities. I critically evaluate the idea of “moral panic,” and end with a consideration of the rhetoric functions of “panic.”

Citation

Clarke, L. (2003), "CONCEPTUALIZING RESPONSES TO EXTREME EVENTS: THE PROBLEM OF PANIC AND FAILING GRACEFULLY", Clarke, L. (Ed.) Terrorism and Disaster: New Threats, New Ideas (Research in Social Problems and Public Policy, Vol. 11), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 123-141. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0196-1152(03)11008-3