Abstract
This chapter focuses upon the construct of the deserving victim, as seen in the context of natural and man-made disasters, as well as in other social welfare contexts. This concept is applied at the community scale as well, with the onus being placed upon the community to prove its deservedness. The chapter seeks to integrate findings from fields such as psychology and sociology relative to individual and cultural discomfort with the notion of allowing individuals to “cheat,” with the literature around disaster recovery. In other words, the chapter interrogates the underpinnings of the extensive focus on fraud that has characterized post-disaster assistance and aid dating back to the creation of those mechanisms and contrasts it with the assumption of corporate deservedness—as shown by the typical failure to question high corporate profit models and the unwillingness to hold corporations to account for anything less than the most egregious violations.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
A more robust description of the various programs and policies will be provided in Chap. 4.
- 2.
These biases are seen in media portrayals of protest as well, with people of color advocating for justice in the face of events such as police violence or environmental injustice (such as the indigenous protests of pipelines), portrayed as criminals, and their actions shown as meriting a militarized response.
- 3.
Documentation of ownership is required at the time of the damage inspection, a necessary step in order to access FEMA disaster assistance (FEMA 2018).
- 4.
An additional challenge was in the ability to verify identity, which is typically done through social security numbers. When social security numbers cannot be verified via an automated public records request, additional documentation is required (FEMA 2018).
- 5.
Although many Latino workers did not experience harms directly from the hurricane, they did experience several adverse impacts during their role in disaster recovery, including long-term health impacts. It can therefore be argued that they constitute disaster victims as well.
References
Adams, V. (2013). Markets of Sorrow, Labors of Faith: New Orleans in the Wake of Katrina. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Brunsma, D., Overfelt, D., Picou, S. J., Bankston, C. L., III, Barnshaw, J., Bevc, C., et al. (2010). The Sociology of Katrina: Perspectives on a Modern Catastrophe. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
Calhoun, C. (2006). The Privatization of Risk. Public Culture, 18(2), 257–263.
Cuthbertson, B., & Nigg, J. (1987). Technological Disaster and the Nontherapeutic Community: “A Question of True Victimization”. Environment and Behavior, 19(4), 462–483.
Dupuy, B. (2017, December 14). Hurricane Harvey Hit Black People the Hardest but They Are Still Waiting for Aid. Newsweek.
Escaleras, M., & Register, C. (2016). Public Sector Corruption and Natural Hazards. Public Finance Review, 44(6), 746–768.
Federal Emergency Management Agency. (2018). Individual Assistance Program and Policy Guide (IAPPG). FEMA (Guidance Document).
Fehr, E., & Gächter, S. (2002). Altruistic Punishment in Humans. Nature, 415(6868), 137–140.
Fine, J., Mareschal, P., Hersh, D., & Leach, K. (2016). Contracting, Performance Management, and Accountability: Political Symbolism Versus Good Governance. Journal of Strategic Contracting and Negotiation, 2(4), 294–312.
Flavelle, C., Malik, N. S., & Smith, M. (2017, October 26). FEMA Probings $300 Million No Bid Contract for Puerto Rico Grid. Bloomberg.
Florido, A. (2018, March 22). Feds and Puerto Rico Reach Deal Allowing Disaster Recovery Loans to Start Following. NPR.
Freudenburg, W. (1997). Contamination, Corrosion and the Social Order: An Overview. Current Sociology, 45(3), 19–39.
Frontline. (2016, May 24). Who Profits When Disaster Strikes?—PBS Documentary.
Gotham, K. F. (2010). Disaster, Inc.: Privatization, Marketization, and Post-Katrina Rebuilding. Perspectives on Politics, 10(3), 633–646.
Hammer, D. (2015, August 23). Examining Post-Katrina Road Home Program: “It’s More Than the Money, It’s the Hoops We Had to Jump Through to Do It.” The Advocate.
Horowitz, A. (2014, November). Hurricane Betsy and the Politics of Disaster in New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward, 1965–1967. The Journal of Southern History, LXXX(4), 893–934.
Ibañez, G. E., Khatchikian, N., Buck, C. A., Weisshaar, D. L., Abush-Kirsh, T., Lavizzo, E. A., et al. (2003). Qualitative Analysis of Social Support and Conflict Among Mexican and Mexican-American Disaster Survivors. Journal of Community Psychology, 31(1), 1–23.
Jerolleman, A. (2013). The Privatization of Hazard Mitigation: A Case Study of the Creation and Implementation of a Federal Program. University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations. Paper 1692. Retrieved from http://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/1692.
Jerolleman, A., Hodges, R., & Belblidia, M. (Forthcoming). Preventing Fraud vs. Preventing Risk Reduction—Are We Focusing Too Much on Making Sure That People Don’t Cheat? In J. Kushma (Ed.), Exploiting the Opportunities for Adaptation and Innovation. Cambridge, MA: Elsevier Press.
Laska, S., Howell, S., & Jerolleman, A. (2018). “Built-In” Structural Violence and Vulnerability: A Common Threat to Resilient Disaster Recovery. In M. J. Zakour, N. B. Mock, & P. Kadetz (Eds.), Creating Katrina, Rebuilding Resilience: Lessons from New Orleans on Vulnerability and Resiliency (pp. 99–130). Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann.
Mayer, B., Running, K., & Bergstrand, K. (2015). Compensation and Community Corrosion: Perceived Inequalities, Social Comparisons, and Competition Following the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. Sociological Forum, 30(2), 369–390.
Nikolova, E., & Marinov, N. (2017). Do Public Fund Windfalls Increase Corruption? Evidence from a Natural Disaster. Comparative Political Studies, 50(11), 1455–1488.
Oxfam Research Report. (2018, March 16). Far from Recovery: Puerto Rico Six Months after Hurricane Maria. Oxfam Research Report.
Peacock, W. G., & Ragsdale, A. K. (2000). Social Systems, Ecological Networks and Disasters: Toward a Socio-Political Ecology of Disasters. In W. G. Peacock, B. H. Morrow, & H. Gladwin (Eds.), Hurricane Andrew: Ethnicity, Gender, and the Sociology of Disasters (pp. 20–35). New York: Routledge.
Picou, J. (2009). Katrina as a Natech Disaster: Toxic Contamination and Long-Term Risks for Residents of New Orleans. Journal of Applied Social Science, 3(2), 39–55.
Reid, M. (2013). Disasters and Social Inequalities. Sociology Compass, 7(11), 984–997.
Scott, S., McSpirit, S., Breheny, P., & Howell, B. (2012). The Long-Term Effects of a Coal Waste Disaster on Social Trust in Appalachian Kentucky. Organization & Environment, 25(4), 402–418.
Sorensen, J. S., & Horrow, H. R. (2018, June 5). How Corruption Slows Disaster Recovery. The Conversation.
Swim, J. K., & Bloodhart, B. (2018). The Intergroup Foundations of Climate Change Justice. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, 21(3), 472–496.
Tierney, K., Bevc, C., & Kuligowski, E. (2006). Metaphors Matter: Disaster Myths, Media Frames, and Their Consequences in Hurricane Katrina. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 604, 57–81.
Trujillo-Pagan, N. (2012). Neoliberal Disasters and Racialisation: The Case of Post-Katrina Latino Labour. Race and Class, 53(4), 54–66.
United States, Office of the Inspector General, OIG-16-01-D. (2015, October 6). FEMA Faces Challenges in Verifying Applicant’s’ Insurance Policies for the Individuals and Households Program.
Voigt, L., & Thornton, W. E. (2015). Disaster-Related Human Rights Violations and Corruption: A 10-Year Review of Post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans. American Behavioral Scientists, 59(10), 1292–1313.
Zakour, M. J., & Grogg, K. (2018). Three Centuries in the Making: Hurricane Katrina from an Historical Perspective. In M. J. Zakour, N. B. Mock, & P. Kadetz (Eds.), Creating Katrina, Rebuilding Resilience: Lessons from New Orleans on Vulnerability and Resiliency (pp. 159–192). Oxford, UK: Butterworth-Heinemann.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Jerolleman, A. (2019). Deserving Victims and Post-Disaster Fraud. In: Disaster Recovery Through the Lens of Justice. Palgrave Pivot, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04795-5_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04795-5_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Pivot, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-04794-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-04795-5
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)