{"id":42,"date":"2020-11-05T09:24:23","date_gmt":"2020-11-05T14:24:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/history-2203-fall-2020-kmoyniha\/?page_id=42"},"modified":"2020-12-15T15:10:24","modified_gmt":"2020-12-15T20:10:24","slug":"reflection","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/history-2203-fall-2020-kmoyniha\/reflection\/","title":{"rendered":"Disproportionate Devastation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Differential Effects of the Disaster<\/strong><\/p>\n

Differential effects are present in every disaster, and the Titanic<\/em> was not exempt from its own share of disproportionate burdens placed on certain groups of individuals.\u00a0 Socioeconomic status, for example, plays a key role in the outcome of several disasters, including in the Titanic. <\/em>Whether it be that those with more socioeconomic power can afford to build their homes on more stable land to protect against earthquakes, or that they can afford to escape a flood zone in the wake of a tsunami or hurricane, or the fact that they simply have access to better care and priority in rebuilding processes, it is no secret that class has clear implications in times of crisis.\u00a0 Since everyone onboard the Titanic<\/em> was physically in the same location, the nature of differential effects was different than other disasters where certain people are able to escape the catastrophe.\u00a0 This is not to say, however, that differential effects did not exist, but rather that they prevailed in terms of chances of survival, access to information and lifeboats, and even in the collection of bodies in the aftermath.\u00a0 This had implications most obviously in survival rates, but also in terms of social norms and movements in the Titanic<\/em>\u2019s wake. \u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Likelihoods of Survival<\/u><\/p>\n

There is no doubt that class, gender, and age played a huge role in passengers\u2019 likelihood of survival.\u00a0 Table 1 illustrates the survival rates from the Titanic <\/em>disaster as a function of class and gender\/age.\u00a0 First class passengers had the highest survival rate at 62 percent, followed by second class at 41 percent, and third class at 25 percent.\u00a0 Women and children survived at rates of about 75 percent and 50 percent respectively, while only 20 percent of men survived (Takis, 1999).\u00a0 The role of class such that first-class passengers had the best chance of survival, followed by second- and third-class passengers was not necessarily surprising.<\/p>\n

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Table 1. Likelihood of survival based on class and gender. Raw data from Takis, Sandra L. “Titanic: A Statistical Exploration,” 1999.<\/p><\/div>\n

Information and Lifeboat Access<\/u><\/p>\n

Socioeconomic status on the Titanic<\/em> created critical boundaries between first-, second-, and third-class passengers.\u00a0 In terms of the physical space that was occupied by each class of passengers, first- and second- class cabins were much closer to the boat deck (where the lifeboats were located) than third class passengers (see Figure 1) (Frey, 2011, 2015). \u00a0First- and second-class cabins were primarily separated by purely social barriers whereas physical gates separated the third-class quarters from other areas of the ship (Levinson, 2012, 151). This of course, made accessing lifeboats much easier for first- and second-class passengers, as time is of the essence on a sinking ship.\u00a0 However, access to lifeboats was not the only type of access that favored upper classes.\u00a0 Access to information was widely dispersed, but information access tended to be separated along class lines.\u00a0 Since lifeboats were in close proximity to upper-class cabins, these passengers were better able to see firsthand the severity of the situation.\u00a0 Those in first class also were advantaged in the sense that they had more connections to crew members (many of whom congregated for an elegant dinner amongst first-class elites and top crew members just a few hours prior to the collision) and they were able to gain access to information through these connections (Frey, 2011, 215).<\/p>\n

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Figure 1. Cabin locations and access to lifeboats based on class. Woolley, Joe. \u201cClass segregation on board RMS Titanic.\u201d Digital Image. Encyclopedia Titanica.<\/p><\/div>\n

Pervasiveness of Inequality<\/u><\/p>\n

Differential effects on the Titanic<\/em> did not cease to exist after her final plunge.\u00a0 After the ship sank, the Mackay-Bennett<\/em> sailed around the scene, to pick up floating corpses.\u00a0 The bodies of first-class passengers that were recovered were placed in coffins on the main deck, while the bodies of second- and third-class passengers were put on ice in the hold in sewn-up canvas bags (Levinson, 2012, 151). \u00a0This is similar to the aftermath of many disasters, in which effects of socioeconomic status persist even after the loss of life, which is not to say it makes it any easier to comprehend.<\/p>\n

Social Norms and Movements<\/u><\/p>\n

Rather than spatial location and access to information, the differential outcomes in terms of gender and age could be widely attributed to the social norms that were strictly followed on the night of the Titanic<\/em> disaster, all the way through its very last moments.\u00a0 In situations of life and death, a widespread social norm is that the safety of women and children should be prioritized (Frey, 2011, 216).\u00a0 On the Titanic,<\/em> Captain E.J Smith gave specific “women and children first” orders to the first and second officers (each of whom was responsible for filling lifeboats).\u00a0 Officer Lightoller, on the port side of the ship, took this order to mean women and children only, resulting in lifeboats being lowered prior to reaching full capacity.\u00a0 On the starboard side of the ship, Officer Murdoch interpreted the orders as they were stated, meaning that men were offered seats on lifeboats so long as there were no women and children waiting to board (Levinson, 2012, 149). \u00a0In either case, established social norms that defined women and children as vulnerable, weak, and in need of protection were honored by most men even when faced with imminent death.\u00a0 Thus, the pervasiveness of these norms was a driving factor behind the disproportionate number of deaths suffered across age and gender.\u00a0 As a consequence of how social norms played out in disasters such as the Titanic<\/em>, fighting for women\u2019s rights during the suffrage movement was even more difficult.\u00a0 As women fought for independence and voting rights, their voices seemed less legitimate when most women accepted the \u201cwomen and children first\u201d rule without question when onboard the Titanic<\/em> (Levinson, 2012, 149).<\/p>\n

In Conclusion <\/u><\/p>\n

The sinking of the Titanic<\/em> was similar to many disasters in the sense that certain groups were disproportionately burdened with the tragedy.\u00a0 A striking and direct link between class and gender to the likelihood of survival in the Titanic<\/em> disaster, however, was fundamental to the outcome of the event, so much so that people\u2019s lives quite literally depended on these two characteristics.\u00a0 Several factors and decisions accounted for these differential effects including unequal access to information, social norms, as well as the division of cabin locations along class lines.\u00a0 While \u201cdifferential effects\u201d in the case of the Titanic<\/em> really just came down to who was given the choice of survival or not, they did go on to have consequences in later movements, such as in the United States\u2019 and Britain\u2019s women\u2019s suffrage movements less than a decade later.<\/p>\n

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Differential Effects of the Disaster Differential effects are present in every disaster, and the Titanic was not exempt from its own share of disproportionate burdens placed on certain groups of individuals.\u00a0 Socioeconomic status, for example, plays a key role in the outcome of several disasters, including in the Titanic. Whether it be that those with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-42","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/history-2203-fall-2020-kmoyniha\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/42","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/history-2203-fall-2020-kmoyniha\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/history-2203-fall-2020-kmoyniha\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/history-2203-fall-2020-kmoyniha\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/history-2203-fall-2020-kmoyniha\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/history-2203-fall-2020-kmoyniha\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/42\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/history-2203-fall-2020-kmoyniha\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}