Suchergebnisse

The purpose of this article is to discuss some of the contributions the new and relatively undeveloped Katastrophensoziologie has been able to make to the sociology of disaster. The paper begins by reviewing the German criticism of some of the major figures in the sociology of disaster. The second section of the paper presents some of the possible contributions to be found in recent work within Katastrophensoziologie. Finally, the conclusion of the paper points to the scientific value of an international dialogue between scholars with different perspectives on the problem of disaster in societies.

This article reviews the study of mass behavior (known as collective behavior in America) in Germany. The historical scope of this review is approximately one hundred years beginning with a discussion of the works of Marx, Weber, Tönnies and Simmel. This discussion is followed by an analysis of how the study of mass behavior dealt with the rise and aftermatch of National Socialism. Finally the collective behavior research which has been done in the post war period is reviewed ending with a brief description of the work being done in the subspeciality of the Sociology of Disasters.

This paper examines the long-term psychological effects of the nuclear accident at Three Mile Island (TMI) on a community situated almost entirely within five miles of the reactor. Data, were collected in October-November, 1979 (Time I) from 391 residents 25 years of age and older and in October-November, 1980 (Time II) from a subsample of these subjects. The findings of the study indicate that: 1) the community can be characterized as distressed at Time I and at Time II; and 2) in general, perceived threat to physical health is more highly associated with distress than personal or demographic characteristics. The relationship of these findings to previous research findings regarding long-term psychosocial effects following other types of disasters is discussed.