Social Tragedy

In this volume, Baker introduces the concept of social tragedy to examine the circumstances in which social actors are moved to recognize and respond to suffering as a legitimate social concern. There is particular emphasis on the ways in which individuals collectively represent the social significance of tragedy, and how certain incidents assume ethical gravity and coherence while others remain distant or disregarded. Social Tragedy focuses on the power of meaningful narratives to move audiences to feel and think about suffering as a cause for moral action. Baker suggests that understanding how a social tragedy becomes meaningful involves examining the role of myth, ritual, and emotion in the construction and reception of the plot (muthos). She also analyzes the role of communication media in the representation of tragedy, noting how these mediums have developed and the social impact of their emergence.