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2010/1 Module Catalogue
 Module Code: SOC3023 Module Title: SOCIOLOGY OF TERROR
Module Provider: Sociology Short Name: SOC3023
Level: HE3 Module Co-ordinator: ORTEGA BRETON H Mr (Sociology)
Number of credits: 20 Number of ECTS credits: 10
 
Module Availability
Year
Assessment Pattern
Essay (25%); Poster Presentation and Reflective Exercise (25%); Exam (50%)
Module Overview

This module will investigate the ‘war on terror’.  It will critically examine the social construction of terrorism and counter-terrorism in the context of increased threat perception, public distrust and the prominence of fear in public discourse. It will also consider the theoretical and political questions raised by this social problem. We will critically investigate different approaches to understanding terrorism.  We will also explore the consequences of the surveillance state on the social and political structures of our society – as well as on our social and cultural identities. We will also investigate the role played by emotion and the imagination in the reproduction of the problem of international terrorism and the subject positions it provides.

 
Prerequisites/Co-requisites
Module Aims
Learning Outcomes

Having completed this module, students should be able to:

 

·         understand the complexities of terror and terrorism

 

·         apply their understanding to other social problems constructed through risk averse discourse

 

·         critically analyse the relationships between different key groups in reproducing the discourse of counter-terrorism in a British context

 

·         explain the differences between modern and ‘postmodern’ terrorism

 

·         explain the particular role played by mediatisation in the construction and experience of ‘international’ terrorism

 
Module Content
Methods of Teaching/Learning
Selected Texts/Journals

Altheide, D. L. (2005) Terrorism and the Politics of Fear, Altamira Press: Lanham

 

Baudrillard, J. (2002). The Spirit of Terrorism and other essays (C. Turner, Trans.).

 

London and New York : Verso.

 

Bauman, Z. (2006). Liquid Fear. Cambridge : Polity.

 

Brecher, B. (2007) Torture and the Ticking Bomb, WileyBlackwell: Oxford

 

Furedi, F. (2007) Invitation to Terror: The Expanding Empire of the Unknown. London : Continuum.

 

Amoore & de Goede (eds.). (2008) Risk and the War on Terror. Abingdon: Routledge.

 

Guelke, A. (2006) Terrorism and the Global Disorder, I B Tauris: London

 

Hammond, P. (2007). Media, War and Postmodernity. London and New York :

 

Routledge.

 

Juergensmeyer, M. (2000) Terror in the Mind of God: The Global Rise of Religious Violence, University of California Press: Berkeley .

 

Laidi, Z. (1998). A world without meaning: the crisis of meaning in international

 

politics. London : Routledge.

 

Levinson, S. (2007) Torture: A Collection, Oxford University Press: Oxford

 

Primoratz, I. (2004) Terrorism: The Philosophical Issues, Palgrave: Basingstoke

 

Richards, B. (2007). Emotional Governance: Politics, Media and Terror.

 

Basingstoke and New York : Palgrave Macmillan.

 

Taylor, C. (2007) A Secular Age, Harvard University Press: Massachusetts

 

Zizek, S. (2008) Violence, Profile Books: London

 

 
Last Updated
September 2010