Child Bombs

The main discussion of the article I have chosen is that of how terrorists are now using children to carry out bombings. The issue at hand is one that will turn heads around the world since it is a modern moral panic – it poses a profound threat to society's well being.
A sociologist, in applying understanding to any issue, would do so firstly by analyzing a particular social phenomenon. He would then attempt to apply social imagination to it, to grasp the interplay of man and society (C.W.Mills, (1970), pp.10-11). Similarly, the issue here will be analysed by first looking at how, and then further examining why, children are now being used as weapons of terrorism. Terrorism as a form of crime and deviance, its causes, and the family in today's society will be discussed as well.
According to Durkheim's functional approach to deviance (Brym and Lie, (2007), pp. 195-196), terrorism carries the function of deviance, which is to prompt society to identify these actions as unethical or immoral, allowing society to draw the line between right and wrong, thus reinforcing conformity among the rest of society. Looking at the bigger picture, terrorism leads to suffering, but it was largely due to the September 11 attacks that many countries in the world have now come together to counter the threat of terrorism.
The strain theory (Brym and Lie, (2007), p.196) states that due to a lack of opportunities to succeed in a society, minority groups will thrive on deviance so as to succeed. This offers a possible explanation as to how terrorists groups are formed. Similarly, terrorists want to be heard and thus, they commit brutal acts as in the article.
In the article, it is unclear whether the children were themselves terrorists or if they were used as terrorist weapons unwittingly. The control theory (Brym and Lie, (2007), pp. 198-199) states that people naturally are not righteous and to keep people in check, strong bonds, which make deviance costly, are required. The... [continues]

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