Sociology 3363F/G Chapter Notes - Chapter S #10: Conventional Warfare, Guerrilla Warfare, Counter-Terrorism
27 May 2018
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The Geometry of Terrorism
The Pure Sociology of Violence
- Pure Sociology explains human behaviour with its social geometry – its multidimensional
location and direction in social space
o Ignores human thoughts and feelings and free of psychology
o Ignores human goals or ends, whether of persons or groups and is free of
teleology
o Ignores human in human behaviour and instead addresses the behaviour of
social life in the strict sense such as behaviours of law, science, art or
supernatural
o It explains these phenomena with their social geometry such as social distances
they span, their social evaluation and their direction from one social location to
the next
- Social space has various dimensions
o Horizontal – intimacy and integration
o Vertical - inequality
o Cultural- language and religion
o Corporate - involvement of groups
o Normative – social control
- Social geometry of conflicts explains litigiousness and punitiveness and the social geo of
ideas explains their scientist and success
- Violence is the use of force and most violence is social control
o It defines and responds to deviant behaviour
o Much is self-help: handling grievances with aggression
o Violent self-help includes everything from pushing or slapping an individual to
bombing a city
- Violence partially resembles law
o Weapons (use and lethalness) is a function of social geometry being relational
and cultural
o Other dimensions of social geo are relevant to the occurrence of nature of
violence as well as grievances being downward (against inferiority), upward
(against a superior), lateral (against an equal), collective (by or against a group)
outward (against a marginal) or inward (against someone more integrated)
- Violence might appear unpredictable will not be explained by looking at collectives –
collectives do not exist
o No individual or collective is violent in all settings at all times and neither
individualistic nor collectivistic theories predict and explain precisely when and
how violence occurs
- Violence occurs when the social geometry of a conflict- the conflict structure is violent
o Structures kill – not individuals or collectives
Pure Terrorism
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- Pure terrorism is self-help by organized civilians who covertly inflict mass violence on
other civilians
o Max Weber calls this an ideal type – a specification of something in its purest
sense
- Pure terrorism also includes
o Foiled plans, attempts and threats
o Contrasts terrorism as terrorism can be done against governments or by
unorganized civilians
- Pure violence is social control
o Belongs to same family as law, gossip, ostracism, ridicule and other processes
that define and respond to deviant behaviour
o It is self-help
o Terrorism is collective violence (ie protests, vigilante, rioting) and entails
collective liability: vulnerability attaches to social location either than to
wrongful conduct by those attacked
- Pure terrorism is recurrent, a series of episodes overtime
o Terrorism kills large numbers of people – mass violence and unilateral
- Pure terrorism is not only collective but well organized
o Vigilantism is similarly unilateral, recurrent and organized – it targets those
deemed guilty of a particular offense rather than any member of a social location
o Terrorist operate underground
- Pure terrorism is more war-like than most collective violence, including killings by
organized groups or mass killings by unorganized individuals
o Its typically interethnic and sometimes international character is war-like as well
o Pure terrorism is not true warfare – its quasi-warfare
- Because terrorism uses lethal weapons killing masses it is more regarded of
conventional warfare
o Unlike conventional war – terrorism is unilateral and covert rather than bilateral
and overt and targets civilians rather than the military
▪ Lacks game like elements of some warfare – rules of war, such as the
wearing of uniforms, nonviolence by and toward those who surrender,
and the exclusion of weapons regarded as inhumane or unfair
o Conventional war commonly has well-defined starts and ends, and former
enemies may resume normal relations when it ends
▪ Terrorist rarely take prisoners and often kill those they do take
- Pure terrorism operates on small scale with hit and run like tactics akin to guerilla war
o While pure terrorism has civilian targets both terrorism and pure terrorism may
lu the lies he egagig i eah othes paties
The Logic of Destruction
- Some people said that 9/11 was an act of terror
o But that suggests criminological explanations
o Terrorism is highly moralistic, so it belongs to law and social control
o It says its criminal obscures its sociological identity/understandings
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Pure sociology explains human behaviour with its social geometry its multidimensional location and direction in social space. Ignores human thoughts and feelings and free of psychology. Ignores human goals or ends, whether of persons or groups and is free of teleology. Ignores human in human behaviour and instead addresses the behaviour of social life in the strict sense such as behaviours of law, science, art or supernatural. It explains these phenomena with their social geometry such as social distances they span, their social evaluation and their direction from one social location to the next. Social space has various dimensions: horizontal intimacy and integration, vertical - inequality, cultural- language and religion, corporate - involvement of groups, normative social control. Social geometry of conflicts explains litigiousness and punitiveness and the social geo of ideas explains their scientist and success. Violence is the use of force and most violence is social control.
