5SOC3202 Contemporary Sociological Theory

Term Paper

Question: Among the events that throw society into disarray are natural and other

catastrophes; the natural world, we might say, “breaks into” society in unpredictable

ways. Choose two events in the natural world – for instance, disease epidemics,

earthquakes, tsunamis – and discuss their impact on societies.

Abstract

This paper presents the impacts of the Hong Kong SARS outbreak and the Hurricane

Katrina in the United States to the respective societies. Before the impact-parts, the

paper first clarifies the meanings of some terms that are important to the

understanding of the later parts.

Events

Events are unique happenings and are unpredictable. They seemed not an appropriate

subject for the field of social sciences, which mainly focuses on the studies of social

structure and social laws. In the past, the studies of events mainly appeared in the

field of history, which specialized in recounting the past. Social scientists believed

that there was a contrast between ‘structure’ and ‘events’. It was that contrast that

distinguished social sciences from history and impeded the development of the

theoretical approach to events in the field of social sciences.1

The structure-event contrast was later abandoned by an American anthropologist,

Marshall Shalins. He formulated a more balanced and equal relation between

structure and events. “Events, in Shalins’ reformulation, are transformations of

1
Sewell, William H. (2005). “A theory of the event,” Logics of History. Social Theory and Social
Transformation:199. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
structure, and structure is the cumulative outcome of past events” (Sewell Jr,

2005:199). There is a great link between the recognition of events and the cultural

structures in societies. An event is regarded as an ‘event’ (instead of an ordinary

happening) because it is unexpected, and that expectation is produced within the

cultural structures. Besides, the interpretation of the consequences of events is also

culturally structured. Cultural structures in societies shape and define events, events

also re-shape and re-define cultural structures.2 Events are not only historical

moments. Events can also greatly affect the formation of the social structure and the

cultural patterns in societies.

There are several ways of describing how events affect societies. The one description

that is particularly related to this paper is that, an event can be a disturbance within or

from outside a sub-system of society. An event can be caused externally, like

earthquakes, or internally, like civil wars.

Invasive Life

Invasive life refers to non-human living beings such as animals, microbes or plants

that invade and proliferate in a given geographical territory. There are two key

2
Everts, J. (2015) “Invasive Life, Communities of Practice and Communities of Fate”, Geografiska
Annaler: Series B, Human Geography 97 (2):200.
features of the relationship between the invaders (newcomers) and the locals (natives).

First, the natives must have inhabited in the territory for a longer time than the

newcomers have. The second feature concerns the impacts, which are brought by the

newcomers, on the natives. The invasive life could disturb or damage the native life in

numerous ways, such as spreading disease.3

According to Everts, “invasive life has the capacity to produce human communities”

(Everts, 2015:195). When the invasive life challenges the native life, the natives in the

territory shall face and cope with the threats collectively, because the natives’ sense of

being threatened leads to the rationale of co-operative and collective counter-actions.

SARS Outbreak in Hong Kong

The SARS outbreak in Hong Kong in 2003 made the international economic hub

become a state of disease and panic. The outbreak was an example of invasive life.

The virus (non-human living beings) proliferated in the Hong Kong territory and

threatened the Hong Kong people’s lives. And in the case of SARS, human beings

actually facilitated the invasion of the invasive life, by carrying the virus from place

to place. SARS was also a disturbance or even intrusion from the ‘outside’, given that

3
Everts, J. (2015) “Invasive Life, Communities of Practice and Communities of Fate”, Geografiska
Annaler: Series B, Human Geography 97 (2):195.
it was first discovered in Guangdong and later spread to Hong Kong. The outbreak

was an event that brought about major social impacts by forming a community of fate

in Hong Kong.

Community of Fate

Community of fate is a “temporary social cohesion arising from a mass emergency or

disaster” (Baher, 2008: 140). The word ‘fate’ refers to an unusual yet socially

recognized threat in the society. The word ‘community’ implies the collective actions

of the members in the threatened society take to deal with the challenge. There is a

common alert (among people) to the crisis and a strong sense of unity and

membership in the community of fate.4 The following presents Baehr’s (2008) idea

of the seven factors that produce a community of fate and how SARS produced it in

2003.

1 Danger Recognition5

Danger recognition is the fundamental phase of forming a community of fate.

People have to know the existence of the crisis and understand the emergency

and urgency of it. Otherwise, collective reactions will be impossible.

4 Baehr, P. (2008). “Communities of Fate and the SARS Emergency in Hong Kong,” Caesarism,
Charisma, and Fate:140-141.
5 Baehr, P. (2008). “Communities of Fate and the SARS Emergency in Hong Kong,” Caesarism,

Charisma, and Fate:143.

 Hong Kong people and government are used to being aware of any potential

dangers. In such a modern society, people have access to lots of information and

experts’ opinions everyday. The fact is that the more information you receive, the

more risks you can recognize. True, the over-estimation or wrong estimation of

risks may sometimes occur when people have insufficient or wrong information

or knowledge of an issue, like the salt rush in Hong Kong in 2011.6 People’s

ability of recognizing dangers is still essential to building a community of fate.

The government and the authorities in Hong Kong are also necessarily very

cautious about dealing with risks. For example, in 2009, 300 people were put in

quarantine in a hotel for seven days as the first case of H1N1 Influenza was

discovered there.7 The government’s attitude towards a risk is influential to the

people’s attitudes. The government’s interpretation of risks is therefore also

crucial in the production of a community of fate.

In the case of the SARS outbreak, the danger was well recognized. Thanks to the

advanced communication system, the information (e.g. number of daily cases,

6 Burkitt, L. (2011). Fearing Radiation, Chinese Rush to Buy…Table Salt?. The Wall Street Journal.
Retrieved 20 April 2016, from
http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2011/03/17/fearing-radiation-chinese-rush-to-buy-table-s
alt/.
7 The Swine Flu in Hong Kong. Internations.org. Retrieved 20 April 2016, from

https://www.internations.org/hong-kong-expats/guide/15881-health-insurance/the-flu-in-hon
g-kong-15889/the-swine-flu-in-hong-kong-2.
 WHO travel advisory) of the disease was easily spread. Hong Kong people were

informed and educated, by the experts and authorities, about the danger,

symptoms and ways of prevention of SARS.

2 Moral Density

The formation of a community of fate also requires an “intense feeling of social

interconnectedness” (Baehr, 2008). People should be aware that everyone in the

society is facing the same difficult situation and that everyone wants to survive.

The ‘interconnectedness’ does not require people to sacrifice themselves for

others; it is only a belief that their own fate is closely tied to others’.8

3 Trial

To form a community of fate, the crisis has to be sustained and lasts for a long

period. The crisis has to be formed by trial and successive events over the period,

like the 2008 financial crisis. The crisis that only brings one or a few temporary

shocks to the society, like an earthquake, is not enough for the formation of a

community of fate.8

During the SARS outbreak that lasted for around three months, reports of the

8 Baehr, P. (2008). “Communities of Fate and the SARS Emergency in Hong Kong,” Caesarism,
Charisma, and Fate:144.
 deaths and new infections were released continuously. A series of events, such as

the death of Dr. Tse Yuen Man and the Amoy Gardens infections, kept striking

Hong Kong people.

4 Closure9

A community of fate has to be formed where people are forced to stay within the

territory of their community. The chance for the people to escape is very small.

The community is isolated and is like in exile.

Hong Kong is famous for her international characteristic and has long been the

midway of Asia and the West. A closure in Hong Kong is particularly unusual.

During the outbreak, Hong Kong people were not welcomed by other countries,

both institutionally and informally. For instance, Hong Kong people’s

participations of foreign events were prohibited. Visits to Hong Kong were also

discouraged by the WHO. People outside Hong Kong tried to as much as they

could to avoid any direct physical contacts with Hong Kong people. At that time,

many of those who tried to leave Hong Kong, “but many to their horror found

they were not welcome abroad, but shunned as bearers of disease and forced to

9 Baehr, P. (2008). “Communities of Fate and the SARS Emergency in Hong Kong,” Caesarism,
Charisma, and Fate:145-146.
 endure quarantines” (Abraham, 2004). This closure in 2003 made Hong Kong a

community of fate.

5 Material and Organization Resources10

A community of fate relies on the pre-established resources to resist the threat. In

Hong Kong’s case, “the combative media, the citizen support groups for medical

staff” (Baehr, 2008), the institutionalized leadership,11 or the medical technology

and experts, all were essential resources during the outbreak.

6 Axis of Convergence12

The formation of a community of fate requires a cohesive society where the

members have common cultural qualities, such as common language and

ethnicity. The cohesiveness enables the society to function as a whole, in which

different people co-operate with (instead of blame) one another even they are

facing a collective crisis.

The ethnic homogeneity in Hong Kong enabled the formation of a community of

fate during the SARS outbreak. Most Hong Kong people are ethnic Chinese and

10 Baehr, P. (2008). “Communities of Fate and the SARS Emergency in Hong Kong,” Caesarism,
Charisma, and Fate:147.
11 Everts, J. (2015) “Invasive Life, Communities of Practice and Communities of Fate”, Geografiska

Annaler: Series B, Human Geography 97 (2):199.

12 Baehr, P. (2008). “Communities of Fate and the SARS Emergency in Hong Kong,” Caesarism,

Charisma, and Fate:147-148.

 Cantonese speakers. Besides, Hong Kong people usually hold a strong sense of

the Hongkonger identity, as a rejection of the Chinese identity and Chinese

government. This cultural identity helps unite Hong Kong people, especially in

the hard times like SARS.

7 Social Ritual13

In the community of fate, social ritual acts as “providing a specific crisis identity”

and separating people “both from normal life and from the world of the

unaffected” (Baehr, 2008). During the SARS outbreak, the act of wearing a mask

is was a social ritual. It symbolized the crisis and the abnormal life.

The SARS outbreak resulted in serious economic and political crisis in Hong Kong.

And Hong Kong people’s lives were greatly affected and threatened. From a

sociological point of view, the impact of the SARS outbreak was the formation of a

community of fate in Hong Kong. The formation of the community of fate also

showed how invasive life can produce human communities. Everyone at that time had

the same goal which was to defeat SARS. People’s common enemy (SARS)

unintentionally built a strong solidarity in the Hong Kong society.

13Baehr, P. (2008). “Communities of Fate and the SARS Emergency in Hong Kong,” Caesarism,
Charisma, and Fate:148.
Hurricane Katrina

Hurricane Katrina was one of the deadliest hurricanes ever in the United States. It

caused more than 1,800 deaths and thousands of homes were destroyed.14 Katrina is

not an invasive life because of its non-living characteristic, but it is a disaster resulted

in a long-lasting trauma among the victims.

Cultural Trauma15

Cultural trauma occurs when a devastating event strikes a society and a collective

anxiety and fear is produced in the society. Moreover, the disaster “leaves indelible

marks” (Alexander, 2012:5) on the victims’ consciousness, which make their

memories forever and change their future identity or behaviours.

In the case of Hurricane Katrina, cultural trauma was produced in the affected regions.

In the year following the hurricane, the victims suffered from various problems: the

suicide rates rose in New Orleans; health problems, like stress disorders and the

‘Katrina cough’16, increased; Katrina-related mental illness, such as depression and

14 (2008). “ANNUAL SUMMARY: Atlantic Hurricane Season of 2005”, Monthly Weather

Review:1140.
15
Alexander, J. (2012). “Cultural Trauma: A Social Theory”, Trauma: A Social Theory:5. Cambridge,
UK: Polity.
16
Katrina cough is “a result of the fine, often contaminated dust from the mud that covered everything
for three weeks, dust that circulated pervasively throughout New Orleans and surrounding parishes
even three years later” (Adams, V, Van Hattum, T and English, D, 2009:7).
anxiety disorders, were pervasive.17

Besides the physical problems, the victims also faced lots of social difficulties, such

as collapsed social infrastructures, housing shortages and shattered communities.

These problems could not be solved in a short time and thus lasted for several years

after the hurricane.18

Even after a significant length of time, the effects of Hurricane Katrina were still

present and were ongoing. This led to a chronic trauma to the people in New Orleans.

Families and communities fell apart and were displaced. People were not in the phase

of ‘recovery’; they were instead under the effects of the chronic displacement brought

by the ongoing disaster.19 The response of one of the victims of Hurricane Katrina

sums up how Katrina created trauma to New Orleans: “I’ll probably never be

recovered from Katrina. Fully, never. This’ll affect me until the day I die.”20

Conclusion

Both the SARS outbreak and Hurricane Karina were a tragedy. This paper focuses on

different sociology concepts regarding each event, that ‘community of fate’ for the

17
Adams, V, Van Hattum, T and English, D. (2009). “Chronic disaster syndrome: Displacement,
disaster capitalism, and the eviction of the poor from New Orleans”, American Ethnologist:7.
18 Adams, V, Van Hattum, T and English, D. (2009). “Chronic disaster syndrome: Displacement,

disaster capitalism, and the eviction of the poor from New Orleans”, American Ethnologist:8.
19 Adams, V, Van Hattum, T and English, D. (2009). “Chronic disaster syndrome: Displacement,

disaster capitalism, and the eviction of the poor from New Orleans”, American Ethnologist:13.
20 Adams, V, Van Hattum, T and English, D. (2009). “Chronic disaster syndrome: Displacement,

disaster capitalism, and the eviction of the poor from New Orleans”, American Ethnologist:26.
SARS outbreak and ‘cultural trauma’ for Hurricane Katrina. In fact, the two concepts

are correlated in some sense and can actually be applied to the other disaster at the

same time. The outbreak also produced a trauma in the Hong Kong society. It

triggered collective anxiety and fear. Most importantly, it is in Hong Kong’s people’s

memories forever. Whenever there is another outbreak of an epidemic disease, Hong

Kong people worry that it could be another ‘SARS’. Hurricane Karina also met some

of the conditions to form a community of fate, that the danger of Katrina was well

recognized; the effects were ongoing; resources were sufficient in the United States.
Bibliography

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Hong Kong University Press.

Adams, V, Van Hattum, T and English, D. (2009). “Chronic disaster syndrome:

Displacement, disaster capitalism, and the eviction of the poor from New Orleans”,
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Cambridge, UK: Polity.

Baehr, P. (2008). “Communities of Fate and the SARS Emergency in Hong Kong,”
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Burkitt, L. (2011). Fearing Radiation, Chinese Rush to Buy…Table Salt?. The Wall
Street Journal. Retrieved 20 April 2016, from
http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2011/03/17/fearing-radiation-chinese-rush-to-buy-
table-salt/.

Everts, J. (2015) “Invasive Life, Communities of Practice and Communities of Fate”,

Geografiska Annaler: Series B, Human Geography 97 (2):195-208.

Sewell, William H. (2005). “A theory of the event” and “Historical events as

transformations of structures: invention revolution at the Bastille,” Logics of History.
Social Theory and Social Transformation:197-270. Chicago: University of Chicago
Press.

The Swine Flu in Hong Kong. Internations.org. Retrieved 20 April 2016, from
https://www.internations.org/hong-kong-expats/guide/15881-health-insurance/the-flu-
in-hong-kong-15889/the-swine-flu-in-hong-kong-2.

(2008). “ANNUAL SUMMARY: Atlantic Hurricane Season of 2005”, Monthly

Weather Review:1140.