Erikson, Kai, 1931-

A new species of trouble : explorations in disaster, trauma, and community / Kai Erikson.

1st ed.

New York : W.W. Norton & Co., ©1994.

263 pages ; 22 cm

As we move into a new technological age, disasters which are caused by human beings and involve radiation or some other form of toxicity are becoming more and more common. These disturbances are quite unlike all the floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, and other natural catastrophes that have buffeted humankind from the beginning. They contaminate persons and landscapes - indeed, human society itself - in new and special ways, and they add appreciably to the levels of distrust with which people face life. They are a new species of trouble, the author argues in this elegantly written volume. Kai Erikson, professor of sociology and American studies at Yale, has spent twenty years exploring such modern disasters. Using vivid descriptions and people's own words, he describes several communities visited by disaster: an Ojibwa Indian band in northwestern Ontario, damaged by a mercury spill; a migrant worker camp in south Florida, where Haitian farmhands learned that they had lost their life savings; a suburban community in Colorado, made toxic by an underground gasoline leak; the neighborhoods adjacent to the Three Mile Island nuclear plant near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. In the stories and feelings of the victims of these disasters, the author finds striking similarities. Fear, self-doubt, the erosion of a sense of security - the author finds these too among people who have suffered prolonged homelessness. These human experiences, the author says, add up to a form of trauma extending not just to individuals but to whole communities. In final chapters on the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the current debate about how to store America's growing inventory of high-level nuclear waste, the author shows how risks to individuals and the social fabric have heightened in the modern age. The seven gripping accounts in this book are his impassioned plea that we recognize this new species of trouble and do more to protect people from it.

0393035948
9780393035940

Disasters Social aspects United States Case studies.
Disaster victims United States Psychology Case studies.
Catastrophes Aspect social États-Unis Cas, Études de.
Victimes de catastrophes États-Unis Psychologie Cas, Études de.
Catastrophes Aspect social États-Unis Études de cas.
Victimes de catastrophes États-Unis Psychologie Études de cas.
71.79 social problems and social conflicts: other.
Disaster victims Psychology
Disasters Social aspects
katastrophē
Soziologie
Rampen.
Slachtoffers.
Lokale gemeenschappen.
Catastrophes États-Unis Aspect social Cas, Études de.
English River Indian Reserve No. 21 (Ont.)
English River no 21 (Ont. : Réserve indienne)
Hiroshima (Japon) Histoire Bombardement, 1945.
Ontario English River Indian Reserve No. 21
United States
USA
Grassy Narrows Indian reservation (Ont.)
Hiroshima (Japon) Bombardement (1945)
Three mile island, accident nucléaire de (1979)
Disasters Personal adjustment

Case studies.
Case studies (form)
Études de cas.

Location: Library main 292684
Call No.: BIB 237073
Status: Available