Structural Factors in the Ilinimization of Role Conflict : A Re-Examination of' the Significance of Multiple Group limbership in Disaster It is a standard sociological view that hman beingss play multiple roles. possibility that a person may simultaneously be called upon to manWest two conflicting or competing roles, of role conflict is established, SmpliciZ, in the idea of multi-role enactment is the
The discussion here focuses on the organized response to financial crises which occurred
during the 1980’s in the United States. In particular, the Continental Illinois Bank Crises, the
Ohio Savings and Loan Crises, and the Stock Market Crises of 1987 are examined. The case
studies allows the consideration of those events in the context of expanding disaster theory to a
wider range of events. It will also allow the examination of how financial crises are similar to or
different fiom more conventional notions of disaster.
Early cross-cultural studies of disaster responses are summarized to provide a context for recent collaborative efforts. Many of these have been initiated by researchers from the United States who have joined colleagues in numerous other countries to standardize measurement instruments and assess aspects of the public response. These efforts have highlighted definitional, theoretical, and methodological difficulties which are being addressed in current studies. Finally, current policy developments we described that may encourage future research that is cross-societal in focus and collaborative in implementation.
Over the course of the next several days, we will have the opportunity to conceptualize a research agenda which will be appropriate for a region as well as significant for the sciences. This is an unusual opportunity since research problems for the scientists are usually a part of some one else's agenda, either governmental policy agencies or by implications derived from other scientific endeavors. For example, meteorological agencies have often asked the question Why do people ignore our warnings? but are seldom content to listen to distinctions which point out the difference between meteorological forecasts and warning messages. Nor do they formulate the question How can meteorological agencies issue messages in such a way in which people will give attention to them? In other agendas, questions are often phrased so tat they imply technological answers, rather than social solutions. For
example, the question of what can be done to prevent flooding? usually evokes answers about building more dams and levees when part of the answer might emerge if the question were raised what is the most efficient and rational use a society can made of flood prone lands?
Community emergencies provide an opportunity to observe within a short span of time both the development and the results of interorganizational
relations. Recovery from a disaster requires intense activity on the part of many different organizations and brings together many that have had little contact wlth each other before the event. The disaster not only destroys or weakens the normal system of community decision making, but it also makes urgent the establishment of a new basis for unity.