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Numerous researchers discuss the solidarity-producing effects of crime, natural disasters and mass tragedies; however, there is much we do not understand about the processes involved in the phenomena. We specify the social relationships that "generate" and "sustain" solidarity by building on Hunter's descriptions of the private, parochial and public spheres of community. We argue that event-specific parochial and event-specific public activities "generate" solidarity after heinous crimes. However, general parochial activities, such as attending local organizational meetings and frequenting local businesses, "sustain" solidarity. Using longitudinal data collected after the mass murder of 27 students and 5 faculty members on Virginia Tech's campus in 2007, a repeated measures analysis predicting levels of solidarity 5, 9 and 13 months after the tragedy supports our hypotheses. (Contains 2 tables, 1 figure, and 4 notes.)

A basic premise of a functional theory of crime is that heinous crimes can be a source of solidarity. While anecdotal evidence exists to support this crime-solidarity relationship, no systematic studies have tested this assertion. We compare data from a sample of Virginia Tech students collected in 2006 to data from a sample of students collected five months, nine months, and one year after the mass shootings that occurred on campus in April 2007. The results indicate that solidarity significantly increased after the crime and remained elevated for six months. After six months, solidarity began to decrease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]