Looting

Early Sociological Models of Looting

In 1968, sociologists Enrico (Henry) Quarantelli and Russell Dynes recognized that there is [Page 576]a difference between the causes and patterns of looting in disasters and civil disturbances. Over the following two years, they elaborated models of looting with particular reference to situations in which it has been prevalent, most of which were riots and few of which were natural disasters. Indeed, with regard to the latter, there probably have to be specific preconditions of instability in the social fabric for looting to be a factor at all. Thus, after the 1999 earthquake in the city of Armenia, Colombia, residents looted food stores and supermarkets. This was both a protest at the inefficiency of the Colombian government's relief effort and a move to satisfy a basic need for sustenance. It was not a set of random acts of vandalism. Moreover, it probably stemmed from preexisting instabilities in society, such as lack of faith in the role of government as the true and responsive embodiment of the common will. Similarly, although looting was reported to be widespread after Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans in late August 2005, a significant proportion of it turned out to be foraging for basic supplies of food and water when nothing was forthcoming from relief agencies.

According to Quarantelli and Dynes, looting in disasters tends to be stealthy (although it clearly was nothing of the kind in the Colombian city of Armenia). In civil disturbances, it tends to follow a more open and complex model. In this, the first stage is marked by attacks on symbols of authority, and there then follows the mass redefinition of property rights. The looting that occurs after this is a collective, participatory action in which pillaging tends to be more important than acquisition of goods: property norms are in the process of being redefined.

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