Looting as a Cascade
On Saturday night, a Nordstrom in Walnut Creek, California was raided by an estimated 80 people, with an unquantified amount of merchandise being stolen. Reportedly with no correlation to the Rittenhouse verdict, the looting was conducted very quickly, with the raid lasting no longer than one minute. The looters were armed with crowbars, ski masks, and some had firearms. These 80 people reportedly entered a total of 25 cars which were blocking the street during the raid to flee the area. While this instance of looting seemed to be conducted with intent and knowledge, it seems that usually the looting is spontaneous, with people joining in while the looting occurs. Even in this instance of looting, however, I am slightly reminded of cascades that we learned about in class. I can’t imagine that 80 people decided together to loot a store, but rather that the idea came about, and as more people agreed to it, friends began to band together in order to loot as a group. It is unlikely that a car would take 3 other random passengers from a looting, but rather arrived and departed with passengers that the driver knew. This scenario makes me think that most likely, people would fear looting a store due to the consequences. However, as more and more people begin to agree to the looting, close friends as well as others may begin to have their feelings change and decide to join the looting. This can be better understood in a spontaneous looting incident, where there are protesters that are seen merely protesting for what they believe is right. These people have no intention of looting, but when other people begin looting, the idea to join them may influence some of the protesters. This is similar to a cascade where a decision is being made based on the previous decisions of others. Looting and being the only person looting is much more dangerous than looting in a group since there are more suspects and targets to apprehend, so as more people begin looting, it is possible that the option to loot becomes more enticing.