2015 Volume 30 Issue 1 Pages 69-83
Participant observation has revealed the phenomenon of“relay between affected areas,”which means that those who receive help after experiencing a natural disaster support others who are subsequently affected by a different disaster. This behavior is equivalent to a form of“generalized exchange”advanced by C. Lévi-Strauss. However, the presence of this phenomenon has not been substantiated by an empirical analysis. Using nationally representative data on Japanese citizens, this paper investigates whether the volunteering that occurred following the Great East Japan Earthquake had the nature of a generalized exchange.
The main findings of this study are as follows. First, the experience of receiving help positively influences disaster response volunteering. Second, in areas with lower risk of disaster, the association between receiving help and subsequently volunteering in devastated sites strengthens. These results suggest both that the volunteering that occurred after the Earthquake resembles a generalized exchange and that“unexpected kindness (On)”received in regions that rarely experience disasters promotes a generalized exchange.
