ABSTRACT
WHEN CHARLES DICKENS PENNED THE MEMORABLE LINES "IT WAS THE BEST of times, it was the worst of times ... " to begin A Tale of Two Cities, he effectively captured in few words the sense of the great selflessness and rampant selfishness that prevail in the climate of social crisis. Dickens was referring to the frequent appearance of noble, self-sacrificing acts and to the equally frequent instances of mean and egotistical behavior in periods of great stress. In case after case in crisis situations, a form of spontaneous social solidarity emerges that temporarily enables people to put aside self-interest and come together in common effort. And equally recurrent, this solidarity proves fragile and gives way to intense expressions of self-interest. Understandably, Dickens's memorable lines have often been used to characterize the social climate of disasters (see Hoffman, this volume, chapter 7).
