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From Individual to Community: The "Framing" of 4-16 and the Display of Social Solidarity

Department of Sociology, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia

James Hawdon

Department of Sociology, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, hawdonj{at}vt.edu

On April 16, 2007, a lone gunman killed 32 people at Virginia Tech. In this essay, we discuss what we personally experienced on 4-16 and what we did as faculty members of the sociology department in the first few weeks after 4-16. We place these events in the context of framing theory and the social construction of reality. We then offer insights regarding the surge in community spirit we witnessed immediately after the event. We discuss the well-documented relationship between tragedies and social solidarity. Although the surge in solidarity witnessed at Virginia Tech after the shootings often occurs after tragedies, we argue that social solidarity does not automatically follow tragedy. Instead, the tragedy must meet at least four specific conditions that allow individual interpretations of the event to blend with collective interpretations in a manner that produces a synergistic effect.

Key Words: mass trauma • school violence • mass media • community • disaster recovery

Traumatology, Vol. 14, No. 1, 43-51 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/1534765607312686


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