ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the influence of calamities, upon sociocultural life. When famine overtakes a given society, it becomes the focal point of attention in science and art, religion and morals, and other fields. Science shows unprecedented concern with food problems. Laboratories undertake an elaborate investigation of the best available diets, including food substitutes, and a study of the influence of starvation upon the anatomy, physiology, and psychology of the population. Religious life is likewise profoundly affected. Special prayers, services, ceremonies, and processions are resorted to with a view to curing or alleviating the evil. The chapter describes the diversification and polarization of the effects of a calamity in various parts of the respective society and its culture. The social repercussions of war are all too evident in the present crisis, manifesting themselves in such varied fields as science and philosophy, education, ethics and religion, the fine arts, politics and economics, business advertising, and recreation.
