Durkheim Explains Modern Terrorism

The depressing news of a suicide bomber attack in Iraq today should prompt sociology students to think back to Durkheim. As Durkheim explained, way back in the nineteenth century, it’s all to do with social integration. Criticisms have been made of Durkheim’s methodology, but even if we accept some of those criticisms, it doesn’t follow that the concept of social integration can be dismissed as irrelevant.

Using Durkheim’s theory, it can be argued that suicide bombers are the product of a society which has too much social integration; they are an example of what Durkheim called ‘altruistic suicide’. It might be argued that modern day Iraq is in fact a chaotic and a society which is disintegrating. But in the small, tightly-knit and -as they would undoubtedly see themselves - besieged, communities, which suicide bombers are recruited from, individuals will be strongly united by their shared norms and values and will define themselves in opposition to those groups which they see as oppressing them.

Of course, another avenue of criticism is to point out that this is a functionalist concept. It therefore assumes that societies are bound by shared norms and values, and of course, it neglects the role of economic factors.

So how could an alternative explanation of suicide bombers be developed from a Marxist perspective and what key concept or concepts could be drawn upon?

Over to you.