Looking for Sociology after 11 September

Steve Fuller

Sociological Research Online, 2001, vol. 6, issue 3, 19-24

Abstract: This piece, completed one month after the events of 11 September, examines the sociological presuppositions of the major intellectual and journalistic frameworks used to understand the unfolding ‘war on terrorism’. The major frameworks include sociobiology, theodicy, political realism and ‘the clash of civilizations’. Mainstream sociological theorizing has been largely absent from the debate, and some of its more fashionable claims (e.g. about our ‘informatized world-order’) may even be cast into doubt. In general the discussion has resembled the old ‘Cold War’ rhetoric that was supposedly laid to rest with the fall of the Soviet Union, with ‘terrorism’ and ‘Islam’ replacing the threats previously posed by ‘totalitarianism’ and ‘Communism’. The sociology we teach our students may influence whether this tendency continues.

Keywords: War on terrorism; Theodicy; Political realism; Clash of civilizations; Islam; Communism; Cold War; Information society (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2001
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:socres:v:6:y:2001:i:3:p:19-24

DOI: 10.5153/sro.644

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