Catastrophe and Social Change, Based Upon a Sociological Study of the Halifax Disaster

About this book

The Halifax Disaster in 1917 was the greatest man-made explosion prior to the atomic bomb. "The following pages [are] the result of an observational study of the social phenomena attendant upon one of the greatest catastrophes in history—the Halifax Disaster. "[This book is not] a history of the disaster. It is rather, as the title suggests, an intensive study of two social orders, between which stands a great catastrophe, and its thesis is the place of catastrophe in social change. "The account deals first with the shock and disintegration as the writer observed it. Individual and group reactions are next examined in the light of sociological theory. The chapters on Social Organization are an effort to picture that process as it actually occurred. "The writer has also tried faithfully to record any important contribution which Social Economy was able to make in the direction of systematic rehabilitation. Special reference is made to private initiative and governmental control in emergency relief. This monograph is in no sense, however, a relief survey. Its chief value to the literature of relief will lie in its bearing upon predictable social movements in great emergencies. "[The author believes this] to be the first attempt to present a purely scientific and sociological treatment of any great disaster." - Summary by TriciaG and the Preface