Terrorism as a Social Construct , Indian Context
| Is terrorism a social construct? | With reference to India | | Radhika Dhingra | 12/7/2012 |
My assignment focusses on how terrorism is a social construct. With special reference to India I have tried to accentuate factors that seem to reiterate on the above. |
Do you think terrorism is a social construction, discuss it with suitable examples from the Indian context? Probably
INTRODUCTION
“The most significant contribution of sociological thinking to our understanding of terrorism is the realization that it is a social construction” (Turk,2004:271). The sociologists like to believe that terrorism is a social construction. ‘Terrorism is not a ‘given’ in the real world; it is instead an interpretation of events and their presumed causes.’ (Yehuda, 1993) .There lies importance in the fact that how is terrorism being interpreted by the state or by the individual .There is a quote that seems to have caught attention of many sociologists i.e. ‘One person’s terrorist is another person’s freedom fighter’ (Janani Krishnaswamy,2012 :1). ‘The meaning of ‘terrorism’ varies depending on the context, available cultural resources, and combinations of people involved.’ (Stump, 2009) Terrorism does not exist outside our subjective understandings. According to the International Terrorism and Security Research, ‘there have been 3 perspectives of terrorism a)the terrorist’s b)the victim’s c) general public’. According to the terrorists, they necessarily do not see themselves as evil however those sympathetic towards terrorist cause suggest that for them violence is the only option available to them to draw attention to the aggrieved. However, all these comments re-endorse the point that terrorism is a social construct.
TERRORISM- A SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION
‘The sociological imagination’ by C.Wright Mills emphasises on the point the any terrorists act is not committed in a social vacuum, the reasons that terrorists emerge are out of social processes.
My assignment focusses on how terrorism is a social construct. With special reference to India I have tried to accentuate factors that seem to reiterate on the above. |
Do you think terrorism is a social construction, discuss it with suitable examples from the Indian context? Probably
INTRODUCTION
“The most significant contribution of sociological thinking to our understanding of terrorism is the realization that it is a social construction” (Turk,2004:271). The sociologists like to believe that terrorism is a social construction. ‘Terrorism is not a ‘given’ in the real world; it is instead an interpretation of events and their presumed causes.’ (Yehuda, 1993) .There lies importance in the fact that how is terrorism being interpreted by the state or by the individual .There is a quote that seems to have caught attention of many sociologists i.e. ‘One person’s terrorist is another person’s freedom fighter’ (Janani Krishnaswamy,2012 :1). ‘The meaning of ‘terrorism’ varies depending on the context, available cultural resources, and combinations of people involved.’ (Stump, 2009) Terrorism does not exist outside our subjective understandings. According to the International Terrorism and Security Research, ‘there have been 3 perspectives of terrorism a)the terrorist’s b)the victim’s c) general public’. According to the terrorists, they necessarily do not see themselves as evil however those sympathetic towards terrorist cause suggest that for them violence is the only option available to them to draw attention to the aggrieved. However, all these comments re-endorse the point that terrorism is a social construct.
TERRORISM- A SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION
‘The sociological imagination’ by C.Wright Mills emphasises on the point the any terrorists act is not committed in a social vacuum, the reasons that terrorists emerge are out of social processes.
References: Das, Veena , and Ashish Nandy. "Contributions to Indian Sociology." Violence, Victimhood, and the Language of Silence. cis.sagepub.com (accessed December 5, 2012). Krishnaswamy, Janani. " How Does Terrorism Lend Itself to Constructivist Understanding” http://www.e-ir.info/2012/09/18/how-does-terrorism-lend-itself-to-constructivist-understanding/ (accessed December 7, 2012). Gondane, Ajay . "LESSONS FROM INDIA: CONFRONTING THE SOCIOLOGICAL CAUSES OF TERRORISM." The Henry L. Stimson Center. http//:stimson.org/images/uploads/research-pdfs/GondaneTerrorism.pdf (accessed December 3, 2012). Durkheim, SUICIDE, trans.John A.Spaulding &George Simpson.(London: New fetter lane,2002)