Urban Preppers and the Pandemic in New York City

Class, Resilience and Sheltering in Place

Anna Maria Bounds

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2024
• ISBN:
  9781040115114
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Urban Sociology
• Index: Social Sciences

Drawing on urban and community resilience literature, Urban Preppers and the Pandemic in New York City: Class, Resilience and Sheltering in Place offers a detailed qualitative analysis of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on New York City and on the philosophy and practices of the city's urban prepper subculture.

With a special focus on the height of the pandemic in New York, this book considers the city's unique position as the pandemic's first epicenter in the United States. It also explores the lived experience of enduring the pandemic as reflections of class division, considering key themes, including the exodus of the wealthy, sheltering in place for the middle class, the inability to leave high-risk neighborhoods for the poor, and sheltering-in-place practices and community resilience efforts by New York preppers. It analyzes the importance of good government and an engaged citizenry in developing an agenda for the city's continued recovery and its future, underscoring the need for cities to develop disaster management approaches that expand traditional "command and control" models to make space for local knowledge and resources.

At its core, Urban Preppers and the Pandemic in New York City: Class, Resilience and Sheltering in Place is about understanding New York City's pandemic experience and how self-reliance evolves into community resilience outside of institutions. It is vital reading for scholars and students of sociology, anthropology, geography and urban studies with interests in subcultures, ethnography and the sociology of disasters.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Endorsements
• Half Title
• Series
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• 1 Preparing for Survival versus Trying to Survive
• 2 History of Contagions and Chaos in the City
• 3 Escape from New York: When the Rich Left the City
• 4 Setting Up: Prepper Closets
• 5 Settling In and Settling Down: Life During Lockdown
• 6 Fostering Resilience: The New York City Prepper’s Network
• 7 Prepper Advice for Post-Pandemic New York
• 8 Resiliency and a Way Forward for the City
• Index