The Emergent Organization: Improvisation and Order in Gulf Coast Disaster Relief

This article employs the interactionist concept of emergence to explore volunteer behavior in organizational settings after natural disasters. Through a several‐year ethnographic study of volunteer relief groups in the Post‐hurricane Gulf Coast, I examine how emergent social groups navigate situations where interactional norms, practices, and procedures are ambiguous, unclear, or in continual flux. Grassroots volunteer groups improvised organizational decision‐making and leadership structures to develop timely and appropriate responses to the post‐disaster environment. In particular, I focus on two distinct groups of volunteers whose response to these emergent interactional structures: improvisers embraced the ambiguity of group norms as an opportunity to innovate and express their creativity, whereas ritualists rejected the lack of structure and order characterized by the volunteer organizations.     

近代化的视窗：国民政府时期（1927-1937）救灾信息传递之考察

国民政府时期针对灾荒频仍的现实,制定了有利于救灾信息传递的法规——《振务电报规则》,对办赈所发电报提供免费优惠。但政策在执行中有很多不便,影响了其应有之效。灾情信息大致通过官方和民间两条渠道,以电报、电话及新式媒介—报刊、杂志和纪实图片的放映和宣传等方式进行传递,其传递方式和渠道在传统基础上体现出明显的近代特色。     

我国灾害防减基本法的框架设计

本文认为,灾害防减基本法的立法宗旨是及时发现突变征兆、尽量减慢量的积累以及全力弥补突变损耗;并以实证研究与比较分析的方法探求灾害防减立法框架,指出该框架应包括常设双重多级防灾组织体系、多元定期直列防灾方案系统、临时应急联动统筹指挥机制等,其重点应放在明确各级政府与国内企业的社会责任,保障灾害防减行动特别牺牲者的合法利益,从而形成国家统一领导、综合协调、分类管理、分级负责以及属地管理为主的灾害管理体制。     

对“年”兽故事的精神分析

＂年＂兽故事在中国已经流传了上千年时间,但是近些年才有学者开始对其进行研究,而且这些研究主要是从民俗学的角度对其进行阐释。到目前为止,还没有学者从精神分析的角度对其进行过分析。该文试图用弗洛伊德后期的理论,通过比较几个不同版本的＂年＂兽故事,来分析以过年仪式为背景的＂年＂兽故事产生流传的本质原因——俗民通过自然灾害的替代＂年＂兽来释放焦虑,获得心灵的安宁与愉悦。     

A Quiet Suffering: Some Notes on the Sociology of Suffering1

Despite a recent increase in attention within the social sciences, suffering remains for the most part outside of the purview of sociologists. In this essay, I explore the possibilities for a sociology of suffering by briefly interrogating suffering in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in the Lower Ninth Ward, the epicenter of the hurricane and the federal levee failures.     

Lessons Unlearned—Planning Disaster and Community Anomie

This article critically reviews the Hong Kong Government's ‘new town’ policy. It argues that the case of Tin Shui Wai illustrates the ‘planning disasters’ where casualties are resulted from poor government planning; a lesson that should have been learned from its predecessor, Tuen Mun, in the early 1980s. The analysis shows how rigid bureaucratic administration led to inadequate community facilities and services; the physical remoteness and the homogeneity of the populations stalled economic development; and large numbers of new immigrants, ethnic minorities, and people of low socioeconomic status concentrated in a virtually deserted community that was characterized by various social problems. The article concludes with the recommendation to make community development efforts to nurture social capital in anomic communities.     

城市气象灾害监测的现状与发展探析

对我国城市气象防灾减灾的一个重要和基础部分——城市气象灾害监测的发展现状进行了阐述,并结合未来城市可持续发展的需求简要分析了我国城市气象灾害监测系统尚存在的问题和发展趋势。     

灾害的人类学研究述评

本文从理论、研究重点、学术流派和发展趋向等方面对灾害的人类学研究进行了详细梳理和研讨。灾害不仅是一种自然事件,还是一种社会和文化事件。灾害的发生是环境脆弱性和人类群体脆弱性相结合的结果,即生态系统中潜在的破坏性因素与处在较为落后社会经济条件下的人口状况是其产生条件。灾害的人类学研究,内容广泛,形成了多种解释方式及理论流派,核心是对灾害进行文化构建,与其他学科共享研究的问题及调查方法是其总的趋向。     

灾害经济学方法论初探——基于马克思两种关系再生产理论

马克思、恩格斯早在一百多年前就从人与自然、人与人的关系中研究过资本主义生产方式下的灾害现象,这对于灾害经济学研究具有重要的方法论意义.人类社会所发生的灾害既是一个自然问题,又是一个社会经济问题,具有自然和社会经济双重属性.因此,灾害经济研究应坚持马克思主义唯物辩证法,按照马克思主义政治经济学方法论原则,从人与自然、人与人关系再生产以及社会经济可持续发展角度研究灾害经济关系.     

关于泥石流灾害的人类学研究——以云南省哀牢山泥石流为个案

本文通过对云南哀牢山泥石流的研究,认为自然灾害的发生和治理过程不是一个纯自然的过程,它与人类社会的行为和文化密切联系.灾害能够导致人类文化的变迁,而人类文化也能够回应灾害并形成应急机制和预防手段.灾害后果、救灾过程和预防方法能够改变村民的生活方式和居住条件,改变原来的族群关系,使人类重新思考人与自然环境的关系,反思乡村发展模式.