Gillette Syndrome is the

social disruption Social disruption is a term used in sociology to describe the alteration, dysfunction or breakdown of social life, often in a community setting. Social disruption implies a radical transformation, in which the old certainties of modern society are ...

that can occur in a community due to rapid population growth. Such disruptions usually include increased crime, degraded

mental health Mental health encompasses emotional, psychological, and social well-being, influencing cognition, perception, and behavior. It likewise determines how an individual handles stress, interpersonal relationships, and decision-making. Mental hea ...

, weakened social and community bonds, abnormally high

costs of living Cost of living is the cost of maintaining a certain standard of living. Changes in the cost of living over time can be operationalized in a cost-of-living index. Cost of living calculations are also used to compare the cost of maintaining a cer ...

, and other

social problems A social issue is a problem that affects many people within a society. It is a group of common problems in present-day society and ones that many people strive to solve. It is often the consequence of factors extending beyond an individual's cont ...

. Gillette Syndrome is most relevant to

boomtown A boomtown is a community that undergoes sudden and rapid population and economic growth, or that is started from scratch. The growth is normally attributed to the nearby discovery of a precious resource such as gold, silver, or oil, although ...

s that are growing rapidly due to nearby natural resource extraction, such as coal mining or

natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbo ...

drilling. Psychologist ElDean Kohrs coined the term "Gillette Syndrome" in an attempt to describe the social impacts of rapid coal mining development on the boomtown of

Gillette, Wyoming Gillette (, '' jih-LET'') is a city in and the county seat of Campbell County, Wyoming, United States. The town was founded in 1891 as a major railway town on the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad. The population was estimated at 32,030 a ...

History

The first use of the term is thought to be in a 1973 article titled "Social Consequences of Technological Change and Energy Development" by ElDean Kohrs in the magazine ''The Wyoming Human Resources Confederation Insight''. It was popularized by the media in Kohrs' 1974 conference paper "Social Consequences of Boom Growth in Wyoming" at the Annual Meeting of the Rocky Mountain American Association for the Advancement of Science.

References

{{Reflist Human settlement Urban economics