Different disciplines offer different perspectives of analyzing world events and activities and their impact on people. Sociology helps in understanding the social concepts underlying human behavior as well as the influence of the society to human behavior (Nath, 2018). According to Mills (1959), the sociological perspective in the approach to understanding the human behavior and its connection to the broader society. It is the intersection between people and the societal structures they reside in. Mills (1959), further describes it as the relationship between a person and the historical social factors that influence him/her. Importantly, the sociological perspective makes people to analyze their surroundings in a fresh and different. Seeing the new look of the of the world we live in and examining its social environment and personal experiences leads us to understand societal areas, social order and interconnected components that we constantly ignore (Mills, 1959).
There are three theoretical perspectives employed, today, to uniquely conceptualize the society, people’s behavior, and social forces. Namely; the symbolic interactionism which uses different symbols and their meaning to understand human behavior. The second is functionalism which explains the interdependence of different parts of the society and how the society adapts towards them. The third is the conflict theory which focuses on the ever-changing nature of the society which leads to a competition for scarce resources, consequently, making the elites control the weak and poor in the society (Inderbitzin, Bates, " Gainey, 2017).
The hurricane Katrina’s occurrence and damage has different perspectives which are mostly true and complement each other. A politician or political analyst would view the effects of Katrina as a form of negligence on the part of both the state and federal government in instituting proper rescue mechanisms. A geologist’s perspective would be the inevitable fury of nature due to environmental destruction. and engineer's perspective may be based on the structural weakness of the levees. However, all these do not factor in the societal role in natural disasters
Hurricane Katrina, for instance, made visible some of the social problems existing in the societies affected. The wealthy and the elites could easily evacuate leaving those without the financial ability to languish in the menace. unequal distribution was evident as different people sought to survive with. Despite being a Natural disaster, it explicitly portrayed the neoclassical economics perspective whereby the affected individuals had no room for the much-needed solidarity and joint decision making but instead, rescue missions were led by self-interest and utility maximization (Waters, 2016). Moreover, racial inequality has also, for a long time, been evident in New Orleans and most evident during hurricane Katrina. The African Americans lived in lowlands and undesirable neighborhoods (Brym, 2009). Brym (2009), Further highlights the use of fuels as some of the social actions that brewed the storms by causing global warming.
As Inderbitzin, Bates, " Gainey (2017) puts it, the sociological perspective is of great importance in handling repetitive natural disasters by allowing us to see the dysfunctional parts of the society that increase our vulnerability. Mills (1959) adds that sociological imagination through our limited experiences helps us in retracing the connectivity between our experiences and the trends or patterns of the society. In this case, applying the sociological perspective as a means of mitigating the impact of natural disasters is possible. For instance, Cuba, having organized their rescue and evacuation operations into a neighborhood operations aided by their civil defense network have an average of just 3 hurricane-related deaths. Other, more developed countries such as the United considerably higher number of deaths owing to their lack of solidarity and social coordination (Brym, 2009). Cuba is an amazing example of a communist country that utilizes its social strength to mitigate disasters. However, in the US this might be difficult citing the fact that the US is a capitalistic country in which personal gain outweighs societal gain.
While it was the government’s responsibility to ensure the safety, evacuation, and restoration of the victim’s, it worsened the situation by unwarranted delays and orders. Moreover, the blacks and the poor were less likely to recover any faster than the whites and the elites who had the financial ability (Brym, 2009). Berger (1971), claims that in such instances, sociology should used as a tool of liberation to both individuals and the society as a whole. He claims that sociology debunks the socially established interpretations of reality and how they do not rhyme with the official view of the same situation. Evidently, the best disaster management actions could not come from external help but from the solidarity of the affected victims oblivious of their socioeconomic class, race or color.
In a different perspective of human behavior, Emile Durkheim highlighted three aspects that shape the human behavior. The first is the individual state of consciousness to act or react to produce any unique state. Which explains the elites’ actions of individualistic self-interest during hurricane Katrina. The second is the impulse to conform to societal customs and practices in the society which similarly explains the continued lack of solidarity during the occurrence of natural disasters in any capitalistic society. The third is the automatic reproduction of actions just because something has happened in our presence (Brym, 2009). In explaining suicide as a human behavior, Durkheim psychology and religion as some of the causes to different human behaviors (Brym, 2009).
Applying the sociological perspective or imagination in our societies is as simple as our day-to-day actions such as taking lunch but, in this case, “lunch” having a symbolic societal value. For instance, having a small group meet over lunch in a common place to have a business or social chat. This act has both economic and social advantages. Similarly, this can be practiced on a societal level, having the community embracing public issues as their responsibility and linking their actions to the values of the society (Mills, 1959). Additionally, Mills (1959), insists on fruitful distinction between public issues and personal issues. In this case, hurricane Katrina was a public or rather a societal issue whose impact could have been mitigated through societal solidarity.
in conclusion, Natural disasters might be inevitable, however, the impact of their wrath can be mitigated. while there are different perspectives that can explain the causes of the events and even the reasons for increased damage, most lack the sociological aspect in which the society’s role in solving their own problems is fundamental. The sociological perspective insists on how the dysfunctional parts of the society can be stabilized to enhance a more collective and harmonious way of tackling the societies problems and disasters. The Cuban example proves the impact of a harmonious disaster management community that expects less external help but instead utilizes their own societal systems.
References
Berger, P. L. (1971). Sociology and Freedom. The American Sociologist, 1-5.
Brym, R. J. (2009). Sociology as a life or death issue. Belomont: Wadsworth.
Inderbitzin, M., Bates, K. A., " Gainey, R. R. (2017). Deviance and social control: a sociological perspective. Melbourne: Sage.
Jones, R. A. (1993). Emile Durkheim: an introduction to four major works. Calif: Sage Publications.
Mills, C. W. (1959). The Promise of the Sociological Imagination. The Sociological Imagination.
Nath, S. (2018). A Sociological Perspective on “Institutional Coordination” for Disaster Risk Reduction in India. Disaster Risk Reduction, 157-172.
Waters, M. C. (2016). Life after Hurricane Katrina: The Resilience in Survivors of Katrina (RISK) Project. Sociological Forum, 750-769.
