"What Actions Were Possible?" Was a Better Question than "Why Did They Stay?" in Katrina-Ravaged New Orleans

Some psychologists conduct a scientific study of the motivations of Katrina victims who did not evacuate and suggest that middle class observers may approach the problem from an incorrect premise:

Most stayers were lacking in resources, not resourcefulness. Thus, “they needed to adjust to the constraints of their contexts by enacting a different model of agency – one that involved connecting to others, being strong, and maintaining faith in God. …What is clear is that stayers’ agency diverged markedly from the … model of agency that is pervasive in middle-class white contexts.”