UA Studies Social Dynamics in Post-Katrina New Orleans
Gifting during Mardi Gras in New Orleans fostered social cohesion, researchers found in a study.
In the immediate aftermath of a natural disaster, the focus is on physical repair and reestablishment of the market economy.
“But the moral economy – the relationships between people – also needs repair. In the case of Hurricane Katrina, residents’ sense of New Orleans as a connected community was damaged,” said Soldwedel Professor of Marketing Melanie Wallendorf of the University of Arizona Eller College of Management. (more…)