ABSTRACT
Shaffer describes community reactions to the loss of economic stability in the same way that individuals react to personal loss: through the successive stages of denial, anger and blame, depression and withdrawal, and finally, acceptance and hope. In the initial phase-denial-Shaffer maintains that community leaders may believe that “things will work out.” Disruptions in the local economy may, in this phase, be regarded as temporary or cyclical, not motivating the local leadership into any formal response. Thus, the underlying causes of the decline may go unexamined. Shaffer further suggests that the anger/blame phase is characterized by “finger-pointing” as local officials may look for those who are at fault for allowing the problem to occur rather than seeking to correct the underlying causes. In the ensuing stage of depression and withdrawal, communities may stagnate and remain inactive. It is only after the community accepts the situation that it is typically motivated to respond, plan, react, and begin to recover.1
