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Introduction
The scene of an accident is very much a place characterised by social dynamics and social interactions in which people frequently converge to offer assistance to those affected by the accident. In the field of disaster research, there is a tradition of investigating such emergent behaviour in relation to crises and disasters (Stallings and Quarantelli, 1985; Quarantelli, 1995; Kendra et al., 2004; Rodriguez et al., 2006; Voorhees, 2008; Gardner, 2013). To name a few examples, emergent behaviour has been reported associated with disasters such as 9/11 (Kapucu, 2007; Voorhees, 2008), the Indian Tsunami (Killby, 2007) and Hurricane Katrina (Rodriguez et al., 2006; Gardner, 2013) where all three incidents gathered a massive amount of volunteers. Research on emergent behaviour is theoretically inspired by George Herbert Mead’s (1932, 1934) work on emergence, which illuminates how new behaviours, groups and organisations arise through a process of interaction. In disaster research, emergence has been described as new, spontaneous and not-yet-institutionalized groups and behaviours that emerge as responses to disasters or crises (Stallings and Quarantelli, 1985). Moreover, emergent norms and values have been noted as the thing from which these groups and organisations emerge. According to the emergent norm theory, emergent groups and organisations are built on a common ground of emergent norms and values rather than from pre-existing structures and principles (Neal and Phillips, 1995; Quarantelli, 1995; Drabek and McEntire, 2002). However, as research on emergence has taken more of an organisational turn, and has focussed on empirical rather than theoretical aspects of emergent behaviour, these theoretical roots and their connection to Mead have been lost along the way and need to be both updated and further explored.
In this paper I argue that emergent behaviour is not only present at large-scale crises and disasters; it is also present at everyday emergencies such as house fires or road traffic accidents. To some extent, emergence and the presence of spontaneous volunteers (i.e. members of the public offering their assistance in emergencies or disasters) in everyday emergencies have been acknowledged before. For example, in a study on collaboration between emergency personnel and the public at road traffic accidents, Kvarnlöf and Johansson (2014) show how emergent activities are practiced by members of the public. While awaiting emergency personnel...