Can Sociology Make Any Sense of Such a Senseless Tragedy?

Teachers may feel that the young people in their care would benefit from an opportunity to discuss this tragic event. The following notes are offered as a reminder of the many sociological theories and concepts they have learned in Year 2 which could be applied to such crimes.

1. You may choose to begin with a minute of silent reflection in respect for the families of the five people killed in this attack.
2. Facilitate a whole-class introductory discussion on their thoughts and feelings about the events, setting a tone of tolerance and respect. Hold back on the sociology for now.
3. What happened, officially? Show Theresa May’s statement
4. In small groups, students come up with a range of possible explanations for why they think a crime such as this might have happened.
5. Introduce the printed resource. Groups scan the resource and highlight any areas that are directly linked to the explanations they came up with. Add pace by splitting this up so that individuals scan different parts of the resource and feed back to their group. Teacher spends time with each group discussing their findings.
6. Conclude with a whole-class discussion, which could include the following: Analysis: Where there any similarities between the explanations each group gave? Evaluation: How thorough an explanation of religious fundamentalist terrorism can sociology offer (should we also consider psychological explanations, or the debate surrounding sociology and social policy).

To download the full lesson plan, click here.