Year: 2019
Type: article
Abstract: Based on field research on Kumamoto earthquake disaster, in this paper we focus on sociological problems around management of evacuation shelters. The key concept is social capital that captures dynamism of the social structure as the basic sociological scope for disaster. At first, by focusing on conditions for autonomous （successful in a sense） shelter management, we find four social capital elements and discuss importance of their combined effects to strengthen community resilience. The elements include volunteer among victims who are ordinary free riding on community management. Why free riders cooperate in emergency, in other words, why ‘disaster community’ appears? We answer this question in terms of two mechanisms within rational choice framework. At first, there is the overt urgent demand for solidarity at the time of disaster, which motivates everyday free riders to become volunteers. Secondly, standing on the view of divided supply of public goods, most free riders are ‘quasi-free riders’ whose levels of threshold for cooperation are relatively low. Thus, the free rider can be incorporated into the mechanism of social capital that strengthens community resilience against disaster.
DOI: 10.15017/2203076
Authors: Misumi, Kazuto, 三隅, 一人
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7143721458