Transcript War and Terrorismx

WAR AND TERRORISM
Chapter 14
The Problem in Sociological Perspective
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Why is war common?
Sociologists and anthropologists do not look within
people.
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Conflicts always arise among people living nearby.
 What
is significant are the norms that groups
establish to deal with those conflicts.
 War is just one option, but not all societies offer
this option.
Why do some groups choose war?
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There are three essential conditions of war
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Cultural tradition for war- people have attempted to
resolve conflicts this way in the past
An antagonistic situation in which states confront
incompatible objectives- each country wants the same
thing, such as oil reserves
The “spark” that ignites the war- nations move from
thinking about war to actually engaging in it
Seven “sparks’ that set off war
 Get
revenge
 Dictate one’s will
 Protect or enhance prestige
 Unite rival groups
 Protect or exalt the nation’s leaders
 Satisfy the national aspirations of ethnic groups
 Convert others to different religious and
ideological beliefs
The Scope of the Problem
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The U.S. is one of the most aggressive
nations in the world
 Between
1850 and 1980 we have sent our troops
to other parts of the world over 150 times
Industrialization has increased our capacity
to kill
People continue to fight, despite more
education and a more “advanced” state
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Symbolic Interactionsim
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Perceptions and the arms race
 United States and Soviet Union spent enormous amounts of
money developing weaponry.
 Without valid data each had to guess what the other
intended.
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Guessing game led to an arms race
U.S. officials perceived Soviet plans a certain way
 Entire nuclear arms race based on symbolic interpretations
of what each nation thought the other would do
Symbolic Interactionism
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Perceptions and the “first strike”
 We’d like to think that we always act on facts
alone
 We really act on our perceptions of “facts,” or how
we think things “are”
 Isn’t it scary to think that our lives—and those of
the world—depend on the correct interpretation
of one another’s signals?
Functionalism
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The functions of war
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Extension of territory
Social integration
Social change
Economic gain (see table 14.4)
Other functions
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Ideological
Vengeance or punishment
Increase credibility
Military security
No war serves a single function,
and functions can change
Functionalism
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Functions for individuals
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Soldiers and leaders
Dysfunctions of war
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Defeat
Destruction of cities
Death of troops and citizens
Fatherless or motherless children
Decline in education
Bitterness that can span generations
Victor can grow dependent on the exploitation of subjugated
peoples
Conflict Theory
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Three reasons that nations go to war
1. To control resources
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Conflict theorists claim that central force in human history is struggle
for control over society’s resources
 Bourgeoisie
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2.
3.
(the wealthy)
Uses resources to keep itself in power and exploit less powerful
(the poor, aka the proletariat)
To expand markets in the name of capitalism
The military machine brings prestige and power
to the power elite
Conflict theory and the military
machine
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Conflict theorists stress that today’s military machine
has increased the threat of war.
The military machine, the power elite, and the
globalization of capitalism
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Military has become a permanent institution.
Power elite—top leaders of the military, business, and
politics
Today’s business leaders support a powerful military
because it promotes global capitalism
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A strong military protects worldwide investments
The Military-Industrial Complex
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The Military Industrial Complex
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A term that used to refer to the political alliance
involving the federal government, the military and
the defense industries
The military as an economic force
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Those that specialize in armaments have become a
powerful force in the U.S. Economy. War is profitable.
Profit and employment make it easy to forget that military
industries represent loss of human life.
This week’s film, Why We Fight, is all about the
Military Industrial Complex
Research Findings
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What reduces war?
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Type of religion does not reduce warfare
Type of government does not reduce warfare
Prosperity does not reduce warfare
Shared religion does not reduce warfare between nations
Common language does not reduce warfare
Education does not reduce warfare
Being “neighbors” does not reduce warfare
The Costs of War
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War takes a huge toll on humanity
Material costs: the amount of money the U.S. spends on war is
staggering
Lost alternative purchases
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For price of one aircraft carrier, could build 12,000 high schools
For price of one naval weapons plant, could build twenty-six 160-bed
hospitals
For price of one jet bomber, could provide school lunches for 1 million
children a year
For price of one new prototype bomber, could pay the annual salaries
of 250,000 teachers
What choice is there?
Human Costs of War
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Human costs: dehumanization- this refers to seeing
people as objects, not human beings
 Characteristics of dehumanization
 Increased
emotional distance from others
 An emphasis on following procedures
 Diminished personal responsibility
 Consciences
become so numbed that people can
dissociate killing—even torture—from their
“normal self”
Human costs of war
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Human costs: combat fatigue and PTSD
Combat stress reaction or shell shock
 Term used to describe the emotional and physical
reaction a soldier faces immediately after combat
 Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
 Describes the long-term emotional distress a soldier
experiences after combat
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According to the US Department of Veteran Affairs, approximately
29% of Vietnam veterans, 11% of Gulf War veterans, and 14% of
Iraq War veterans have experienced PTSD
The Possibility of Accidental War
What are the chances? How might it happen?
 Computer failure or human error- the threat of nuclear attack comes
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not only from dictators and terrorists. There’s the possibility missiles will be
unleashed accidentally
Nuclear accidents- the unintended detonation of a nuclear weapon could
signal the end of human civilization.
Nuclear sabotage- the U.S. Government has assured us and the world that
a missile cannot be launched without proper authorization. Is this foolproof?
A growing danger
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Availability of nuclear weapons in the hands of a single
individual or a small group
Nuclear proliferation increases likelihood of nuclear weapons
use
Terrorism
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Terrorism involves the use of threats of war—
intimidation, coercion, and violence—to achieve
objectives
Revolutionary terrorism- enemies of the state (country) use
terrorism in an attempt to overthrow the government
Causes of revolutionary terrorism
 Existence of a segregated, ethnic, cultural, or religious minority
 Perceptions of being deprived or oppressed
 Higher-than-average unemployment or inflation
 External encouragement
 A historical “them”
 Frustrated elites who provide leadership and justify ideological
violence
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Goals of revolutionary terrorism
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Publicize the group and its grievances
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Demonstrate the government’s vulnerability
Force political and social change
Political theater- to attract media attention, such as with 9/11
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September 11
Targets of terrorist attacks were selected carefully
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World trade center symbolizes the US dominance in global capitalism
Pentagon symbolizes the US military
A sense of morality
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Using neutralization techniques, terrorists, such as al-Queda, appeal to a
higher morality in justifying their actions.
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Read Why They Hate us on pages 486-487
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Repressive terrorism is waged by a government against its
own citizens
 In the late 1970’s the Khmer Rouge (Cambodia) killed over 2
million of it’s own citizens
 Communist Russia was also known to practice repressive
terrorism
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State-sponsored terrorism
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A government finances, trains, and arms terrorists, as in Libya
under Gadhafi
Criminal terrorism
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Criminals use terrorism to attain their objectives; i.e. the Mafia
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Nuclear and biological terrorism
Nuclear terrorism
 212 tons of plutonium currently missing from U.S. nuclear facilities
 Safeguards remain inadequate
 Because damage from nuclear attack would be unimaginably
destructive, nuclear terrorists could hold major governments,
including the U.S., captive
 Biological terrorism
 Greater threat
 Components for anthrax, smallpox, and plague are cheaper to
obtain than nuclear weapons
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Social Policy
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Political Terrorism
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The overarching principle in social policy:
“Don’t give in to their demands, for this encourages further terrorism.”
 Giving in to terrorists’ demands only escalates terrorism
Ten basic policies
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Promise anything during negotiations
Make no distinction between terrorists and their state sponsors
Use economic and political sanctions
Treat terrorists as war criminals
Discourage media coverage
Establish international extradition and prosecution agreements
Develop an international organization to combat terrorism
Offer large rewards
Cut the funding of terrorist organizations
Infiltrate terrorist organizations
Social Policy
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Application of social policies
 Consistently
viewing others as potential terrorists is
controversial
 Targeted killings
 Responsible or suspected terrorists placed on “hit
list” and marked for assassination
Nuclear Warfare and the Elusive Path
to Peace
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Mutual deterrence
 Threats
and the fear of mutual destruction
prevents “the other” from striking first
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Three potential policies for peace
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Disarmament- eliminating nuclear, chemical and biological
weapons
Developing interlocking networks of mutual interest- the more
we depend on one another-in a global economy- the less likely
we’ll be to destroy one another
International law, that countries adhere to, would promote
world peace
The Future of the Problem
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Troubling as it is, it appears that war and
terrorism will continue
 We
must promote social policies that prevent or limit
the use of “weapons of mass destruction”
 We must question WHY we are going to war and find
alternatives
 We must be informed and vote for politicians that
support our views!