Sociological research is especially important with respect to public policy debates. How would this understanding of the terrorist individual affect the drafting of public policy and public responses to terrorism? They were ordinary individuals caught up in extraordinary circumstances. In the case of the 462 suicide bombers Pape studied, not only were the suicide bombers relatively well educated and affluent, but as other studies of suicide bombers in general confirm, they were not mentally imbalanced per se, not blindly motivated by religious zeal, and not unaffected by the moral ambivalence of their proposed acts. However, in the research of Robert Pape (2005) a different picture of the terrorist emerges. The film Paradise Now (2005) tells the story of two friends who are recruited for a suicide bombing mission in Israel (Courtesy of דוד שי/Wikimedia Commons) Therefore, sociological analysis is not only futile in the former Prime Minister’s opinion but also, for the same reasons, contrary to the “utter determination through our laws and through our activities to do everything we can to prevent and counter ” (Cohen, 2013). In this framework, the terrorist is a kind of person who is beyond reason and morality. Behind the political and moral rhetoric of Stephen Harper’s statement are a number of densely solidified beliefs about the nature of a “terrorist” individual - “people who have agendas of violence that are deep and abiding, are a threat to all the values that our society stands for” (Cohen, 2013). In his position, there is a disjunction between taking a strong political and moral stance on violence on one hand and working towards a deeper, evidence-based understanding of the social causes of acts of violence on the other. In an unfortunate comment following the Boston Marathon bombing in April 2013, the then Prime Minister Stephen Harper said “this is not a time to commit sociology.” He implied that the “utter condemnation of this kind of violence” precluded drawing on sociological research into the causes of political violence (Cohen, 2013). Define value neutrality, and outline some of the issues of value neutrality in sociology.Demonstrate awareness of the Canadian Sociological Association’s Code of Ethics.Understand why ethical standards exist.Understand why certain topics are better suited to different research approaches.Differentiate between four kinds of research methods: surveys, experiments, field research, and secondary data or textual analysis.Define what reliability and validity mean in a research study.Understand the difference between positivist and interpretive approaches to the scientific method in sociology.Explain how the scientific method is used in sociological research.Define and describe the scientific method.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |