CONTENTS

Introduction
PAGE
The “catastrophe” in sociological literature[13]
The “catastrophic view” vs. progress in evolution[14]
Factors in social change[15]
The stimuli factors[16]
What crises mean[16]
Communities and great vicissitudes[19]
Causes of immobility[19]
Catastrophe and progress[21]
Historic cases suggested for study[23]
CHAPTER I
Catastrophe and Social Disintegration
The City of Halifax[25]
Terrific nature of the explosion[26]
Destruction of life and property[26]
The subsequent fire and storms[29]
Annihilation of homes[31]
Arresting of business[31]
Disintegration of the social order[32]
CHAPTER II
Catastrophe and Social Psychology
Shock reaction[36]
Hallucination[37]
Primitive instincts[39]
Crowd psychology[41]
Phenomena of emotion[44]
How men react when bereft completely[47]
Post-catastrophic phenomena[48]
Human nature in the absence of repression by conventionality, customand law[49]
Fatigue and the human will[52]
The stimuli of heroism[55]
Mutual aid[56]
CHAPTER III
Catastrophe and Social Organization
The organization of relief[59]
The disaster protocracy[60]
The transition from chaos through leadership[61]
Utility of association[62]
Vital place of communication[62]
Imitation[63]
Social pressure[63]
Consciousness of kind[63]
Discussion[64]
Circumstantial pressure[64]
Climate[65]
Geographic determinants[67]
Classification of factors[67]
CHAPTER IV
Catastrophe and Social Organization (Continued)
The reorganization of the civil social order[69]
Division of labor[69]
Resumption of normal activities[70]
State and voluntary associations[71]
Order of reëstablishment[71]
Effects of environmental change[75]
The play of imitation[77]
The stimulus of lookers-on[78]
Social conservation[79]
CHAPTER V
Catastrophe and Social Economy
The contribution of social service[80]
Its four-fold character[83]
The principles of relief[85]
Rehabilitation[86]
Phases of application[87]
Criticisms[92]
A new principle[95]
Social results[96]
Summary for future guidance[97]
CHAPTER VI
Catastrophe and Social Legislation
Governmental agencies in catastrophe[102]
What seems to be expected of governments[103]
What they actually do[103]
Social legislation[104]
A permanent contribution[109]
CHAPTER VII
Catastrophe and Social Surplus
Mill's explanation of the rapidity with which communities recoverfrom disaster[111]
The case of San Francisco[111]
The case of Halifax[112]
Social surplus[112]
The equipmental factors[113]
Correlation of tragedy in catastrophe with generosity of public response[114]
Catastrophe insurance[116]
A practical step[117]
CHAPTER VIII
Catastrophe and Social Change
The unchanging Halifax of the years[118]
The causes of social immobility[119]
The new birthday[122]
The indications of change—appearance, expansion of business,population, political action, city-planning, housing, health, education,recreation, community spirit[123]
Carsten's prophecy[140]
CHAPTER IX
Conclusion
Recapitulation[141]
The various steps in the study presented in propositional form[142]
The rôle of catastrophe[145]
Index[147]

“This awful catastrophe is not the end but the beginning. History does not end so. It is the way its chapters open.”—St. Augustine.

INTRODUCTION

The “catastrophe” in sociological literature—The “catastrophic view” vs. progress in evolution—Factors in social change—The stimuli factors—What crises mean—Communities and great vicissitudes—Causes of immobility—Catastrophe and progress—Historic cases suggested for study.

There are many virgin fields in Sociology. This is one of the attractions the subject has for the scientific mind. But of all such fields none is more interesting than the factor of catastrophe in social change.

And strangely enough, if there are but few references to the problem in all our rapidly-growing literature, it is not because catastrophies are few. Indeed it would seem that with the advent of the industrial age, disasters grow more frequent every year.[1] Many are small, no doubt, touching but the life of a village or a borough—a broken dyke, a bridge swept out by ice, a caved-in mine. Others again write themselves on the pages of History—an Ohio flood, an Omaha tornado, a Chicago fire, a San Francisco earthquake, a Halifax explosion. Each in its own way inscribes its records of social change—some to be effaced in a twelve-month—some to outlast a generation. Records they are, for the most part unread. How to read them is the problem. And it may be that when readers have grown in number and the script is better known, we shall be able to seize the moment of catastrophe and multiply immeasurably its power for social good.

To define the term catastrophe is scarcely necessary. The dictionary calls catastrophe “an event producing a subversion of the order or system of things,” and such as “may or may not be a cause of misery to man.”[2] It is desirable however to limit the use of the term, in primary investigations at least, to those disasters which affect communities rather than states or nations, for restricted areas are more amenable to study. National cataclysms, such as war, famine, and financial panic are too general in character, and function on too grand a scale for satisfactory treatment, at least until the ground is cleared. It is necessary also to limit this investigation to those social changes which follow upon catastrophies, rather than precede them. For there are social effects which result from living in anticipation of disaster, such as are observable among communities in volcanic areas. Interesting as a broad study might be, it would be likely to lead the investigator too far afield into the realm of speculation. Nevertheless a general point of view is necessary to give meaning to even a limited treatment of the theme. For this purpose there may be contrasted the catastrophic view of history, as illustrated by that of the Hebrew peoples, and the modern conception of progress through evolution. The former looks upon history as a series of vicissitudes mercifully ending one day in final cataclysm. The spirit of apocalyptic expectancy prevails. Social conditions rest hopelessly static. Faith is pinned to a spiritual kingdom which can grow and can endure. Against this has been set an optimistic evolution, pictured like an escalade with resident forces lifting the world to better days. Progress becomes a smooth continuous growth. On the other hand the newer philosophy sees in history not necessarily the operation of progressive evolution but also of retrogressive evolution and cataclysm.[3] There are great stretches of smooth and even current in the stream, but always along the course are seen the rapid and the water-fall, the eddy and reversing tide. The latter is the general subject of this dissertation, and its thesis is the place of the water-fall. Only a very small, and specialized treatment is attempted; the great Niagaras must be left to abler hands.

The conception of social change as used in this monograph also needs definition. By social change is meant those rapid mutations which accompany sudden interferences with the equilibrium of society, break up the status-quo, dissipate mental inertia and overturn other tendencies resistant to structural modification. The various forces which initiate such disturbances are factors in social change. These factors may be intra-social,—within the group—such factors as operate in the regular social process, imitation and adaptation, for example; or they may be extra-social, “stimuli” factors—from without the group—such as, accidental, extraneous or dramatic events. Of the latter conquest may be one, or the sudden intrusion of a foreign element, or rapid changes of environment.[4]

These sudden changes are fully worthy of careful study by scientific method. However important the accumulation of impulses toward social transformation may be, there is often a single “precipitating factor” which acts as the “igniting spark” or “the knocking away of the stay-block,” or “the turning of a lever.”[5] It is among such extra-social or “stimuli” factors that catastrophe falls as a precipitating agent in social change.