SOCIAL DIFFERENCES IN NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA, USA EXPOSED BY HURRICANE KATRINA 2005

Abstract

In 2005, Hurricane Katrina devastated most of the Gulf Coast of the U.S., especially the city New Orleans. At that time, not many people could anticipate that disastrous effects on the society caused by the storm could occur in a major country like America. And unsurprisingly, the African-Americans and low-income people were the ones who suffered from damage the most. The question about how social differences between the black, poor residents and others were illustrated through the Katrina stimulated the researcher’s interest to conduct this study. Besides, the researcher points out main factors contributing to expose this issue and examine certain impacts of it on people’s viewpoints. In this paper, content analysis and secondary data analysis are utilized to discover social differences in the aftermath of the catastrophe. The results show that profound social differences actually existed in New Orleans society. However, impacts of this issue on the viewpoints on the differences between black, poor people and other social classes were not really the same. Furthermore, when carrying out this study, the researcher desires to deliver a message that if social differences still remain, poor people will always be the ones coping with devastation caused by natural disasters the most.