After Tragedy Strikes: Why Claims of Trauma and Loss Promote Public Outrage and Encourage Political Polarization...

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Thomas D. Beamish

After Tragedy Strikes

Why Claims of Trauma and Loss Promote Public Outrage and Encourage Political Polarization

Thomas D. Beamish

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English

University of California Press
31 May 2024

Sociology & anthropology; Pressure groups & lobbying

While trauma and loss can occur anywhere, most suffering is experienced as personal tragedy. Yet some tragedies transcend everyday life's sad but inevitable traumas to become notorious public events: de facto ""public"" tragedies. In these crises, suffering is made publicly visible and lamentable. Such tragedies are defined by public accusations, social blame, outpourings of grief and anger, spontaneous memorialization, and collective action. These, in turn, generate a comparable set of political reactions, including denial, denunciation, counterclaims, blame avoidance, and a competition to control memories of the event.

Disasters and crises are no more or less common today than in the past, but public tragedies now seem ubiquitous. After Tragedy Strikes argues that they are now epochal—public tragedies have become the day's definitive social and political events. Thomas D. Beamish deftly explores this phenomenon by developing the historical context within which these events occur and the role that political elites, the media, and an emergent ideology of victimhood have played in cultivating their ascendence.

By: Thomas D. Beamish
Imprint: University of California Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm, Spine: 18mm
Weight: 363g
ISBN: 9780520401075
ISBN 10: 0520401077
Pages: 272
Publication Date: 31 May 2024
Audience: College/higher education , Further / Higher Education
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Thomas D. Beamish is Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Davis, and author of Silent Spill: The Organization of an Industrial Crisis and Community at Risk: Biodefense and the Collective Search for Security.