Citation

Schrauf RW, de Victoria Rodríguez PCL. Disasters 2023; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2023, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/disa.12593

PMID

37227427

Abstract

Liminal periods of disaster solidarity in the aftermath of disaster are a common experience for many survivors. These periods have a specifically ethical component in that people spontaneously engage in collective, altruistic action and magnanimously expand their ethical focus beyond normative social distinctions and hierarchies. Inevitably, however, such solidarity seems to wane, and people return to pre-disaster patterns of interaction. Nevertheless, some individuals move beyond opportune acts of assistance to more extensive re-organizations of their lives during the recovery period and re-shape their ethical commitments in new and durable directions. Based on observational and interview data collected after Hurricane Maria (2017) in a mountainous Puerto Rican municipio and employing the framework of virtue ethics, we examine the differential effects of disaster solidarity on survivors' ethical responses and the different contributions these make to society.

Language: en

Keywords

Puerto Rico; disaster ethics; disaster social capital; disaster solidarity; hurricanes; liminal period; survivor ethics; virtue ethics