Sociological Perspectives On Terrorism

Terrorism and counterterrorism are reasonably accredited areas to study because of all of the terrorism in the world (Roberts 2014). Terrorism can be examined from many different perspectives. To build on that point terrorism can be studied from a sociological perspective. Turk (2004) argues that sociology is a social construction. When society labels certain events as terrorism the government will begin to apply these labels (Turk 2004). If a powerful government, like the United States of America, starts to use labels like ‘terrorism’ or ‘terrorist,’ the it will have more influence on society to use these words; however, as a juxtaposition, if a less powerful government, like Luxembourg, labels people as terrorists then it will not have as
Furthermore, terrorism is associated with a relatively affluent lifestyle (Turk 2004). Terrorism is not linked to economic distress, but rather differing political beliefs (Turk 2004). Terrorist use religion to justify their horrible acts (Turk 2004). “Islamist fundamentalism, in particular, seems to depend on radicalization through formal education consisting mostly of religious indoctrination” (Turk 2004: 279). Terrorism is linked to a person with liberal leanings and an openness towards violence as an option; however, most people do not become radical, and most radicals do not become terrorists (Turk 2004). However, exposure to such ideologies seems to be linked to inappropriate radical behaviors (Turk 2004). Interestingly, suicide bombers are generally respected members of society; furthermore, they tend to have a stable family life and when their community learns of their violent act of terror and their death the community in which they lived in is usually surprised and they also tend to honor them (Turk
Janbek and Williams (2014) believe that “terrorism, motivated by religious or political principles, is a tool used to instill fear in the enemy and to attract media attention to publicize a cause” (Janbek and Williams 2014: 297). Many terrorist organizations use the internet to spread their hate and recruit people that have similar ideologies (Janbek and Williams 2014). However, the internet is both helpful to the terrorists and counterterrorism because these terrorist websites, when found, they are monitored and these potential terrorist are able to be captured more easily (Janbek and Williams 2014). These websites are setup by terrorists to spread hate and share their violent ideologies (Janbek and Williams 2014). Nevertheless, the internet makes life easier for both terrorists and counterterrorism (Jenbek and Williams