Social Networks of Help-Seeking in Different Types of Disaster Responses to the 2008 Mississippi River Floods

We conducted thirty-two interviews and four focus groups in Illinois after extensive flooding in 2008 to determine whether people use social networks in different ways when responding to different types of challenges before, during, and after the flood. Using a grounded theory approach to analyze na...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Human organization 2015-12, Vol.74 (4), p.351-361
Main Authors: Casagrande, David G., McIlvaine-Newsad, Heather, Jones, Eric C.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Cultural capital
Disaster recovery
Disasters
Evacuations & rescues
Families & family life
Farms
Floods
Focus groups
Help seeking behavior
Hurricanes
Interviews
Kinship networks
Narratives
Neighbors
Rural areas
Smith, Anthony
Social capital
Social network analysis
Social networks
Social stratification
Socioeconomic factors
Studies
Volunteers
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Summary:We conducted thirty-two interviews and four focus groups in Illinois after extensive flooding in 2008 to determine whether people use social networks in different ways when responding to different types of challenges before, during, and after the flood. Using a grounded theory approach to analyze narratives of interviewees recalling events, we coded sections of text using “social relationship” and “response” as sensitizing concepts. Results showed people relied most on immediate family when securing life. Networks expanded to friends, neighbors, professionals, and volunteers during non-life-threatening preparation and immediate recovery. Immediately before the disaster’s impact, social networks extended outward into weak ties in a spirit of communitas. During long-term recovery, interviewees were most isolated and relied heavily on immediate family and professionals. The concepts of bridging and bonding social capital may be more important for understanding non-vital response, whereas strong and weak ties are more relevant for understanding evacuation and long-term recovery. Strong and weak ties best help explain post-disaster social stratification. Policies aimed at enhancing recovery should recognize that the roles of social networks are constantly changing.
ISSN:0018-7259
1938-3525
DOI:10.17730/0018-7259-74.4.351