Culture, Work and Interpretive Outcomes of Disaster: The BP Oil Spill and Louisiana Shrimp Fishers

• In Event: 413 - Section on Organizations, Occupations and Work Refereed Roundtable Session. Table 01. Culture and Organizations
  In Refereed Roundtable 100min: Table 05. Identity

Abstract

While previous research on technological disasters posits that emotional states are related to chronic stress and/or weakened trust in organizations, few have probed more deeply into the sociocultural contexts that shape how individuals make sense of disasters that threaten their livelihoods. Building from Kroll-Smith and Couch’s ecological-symbolic approach to disasters, I prioritize individuals’ subjective understandings in analyzing disaster responses. Using a case study of Louisiana shrimp fishers, I show how the ways shrimp fishers have made sense of the BP oil spill are fundamentally grounded in the meanings they attach to their work as fishers. Findings indicate that those who made more money from BP-sponsored cleanup efforts tended to express a lower degree of anger or stress than those who felt they were not fairly compensated for their efforts or who did not work for them after the spill. Compensation enabled fishers to maintain economic viability as wells as meaningful occupational identities and the sense of dignity they attach to their work as fishers. This project interrogates the relationship between economics, culture, and work in the aftermath of disaster.

Author

• Jill Ann Harrison, University of Oregon