SOCIETAL STRUCTURE AND REVOLUTIONARY TERRORISM - A PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATION (FROM POLITICS OF TERRORISM, 1979, BY MICHAEL STOHL - SEE NCJ-56208)

• NCJ Number: 56213
• Author(s): H R TARG
• Date Published: 1979
• Length: 25 pages
• Corporate Author: Marcel Dekker, Inc
• Publication Format: Document
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

THE THESIS OF THIS PAPER IS THAT VIOLENCE, TERRORISM, AND POLITICAL ACTION ARE CONDITIONED BY SOCIETAL STRUCTURES. A STRUCTURAL MODEL OF POLITICAL TERRORISM IS DESCRIBED.

Abstract

VIEWING ANTIGOVERNMENTAL TERRORIST ACTS BY REVOLUTIONARY GROUPS OR INDIVIDUALS AS A MANIFESTATION OF THE LACK OF A LARGE AND VIBRANT REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENT, IT IS HYPOTHESIZED THAT TERRORIST ACTS ARE MORE LIKELY TO OCCUR IN PREINDUSTRIAL AND POST INDUSTRIAL SOCIETIES THAN IN INDUSTRIAL SOCIETIES. PREINDUSTRIAL SOCIETIES, AS WELL AS EARLY CAPITALIST SOCIETIES, ARE CHARACTERIZED BY PRIMARY OCCUPATIONS IN AGRICULTURE OR THE EXTRACTION OF NATURAL RESOURCES, ARE DOMINATED DOMESTICALLY BY FEUDAL LORDS, AND ARE EXPLOITED DIRECTLY BY LORDS THROUGH THE APPROPRIATION OF PRIMARY PRODUCE. POSTINDUSTRIAL SOCIETIES INTRODUCE SERVICE OCCUPATIONS, TECHNOCRATIC COMPONENTS TO THE RULING CLASS, PSYCHOLOGICAL MANIPULATION, AND PRIVATIZATION OF LIFE AS MECHANISMS OF CONTROL AND EXPLOITATION, WITH HEDONISM AS THE IDEOLOGICAL PATTERN. THESE STRUCTURAL FEATURES INHIBIT REVOLUTIONARY ORGANIZATION. INDUSTRIAL SOCIETIES HAVE THE POTENTIAL FOR BUILDING MASS-BASED REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENTS FOR CHANGE, AND TERRORISM IS ONLY A SECONDARY MODE OF EXPRESSION BECAUSE MOVEMENTS FOR SOCIAL CHANGE ARE MORE LIKELY TO GROW. TWO ASSUMPTIONS ARE MADE ABOUT REVOLUTIONARY TERRORISM: (1) IT IS MERELY ONE FORM OF BEHAVIOR BY GROUPS OR INDIVIDUALS IN SUPPORT OF FUNDAMENTAL SOCIETAL CHANGE, AND (2) IT IS SOCIAL AND NOT INDIVIDUAL PATHOLOGICAL BEHAVIOR IN THAT IT OCCURS IN SOCIAL STRUCTURES AND HISTORICAL SETTINGS WHERE FORCES FOR SOCIAL CHANGE ARE WEAK. THE STRUCTURAL MODEL OF POLITICAL TERRORISM SUGGESTS SOCIOSTRUCTURAL CONTEXTS IN WHICH ACTS OF TERRORISM ARE LIKELY TO OCCUR, INCLUDING OCCUPATION, RULING CLASS CONTROL OVER PRODUCTION, CHARACTER AND LEVEL OF EXPLOITATION OF THE POPULACE, AND IDEOLOGICAL STRUCTURE OF SOCIETY. INCIDENTS OF TERRORISM ARE NOTED, AND LITERATURE ON THE NATURE OF VIOLENCE, TERRORISM, AND POLITICAL ACTION IS REVIEWED. DATA ON THE FRAMEWORK OF TERRORISM AND ON LINKAGES BETWEEN SOCIAL STRUCTURES, REVOLUTIONARY ORGANIZATIONS, AND POLITICAL TERRORISM ARE TABULATED. ILLUSTRATIONS OF POLITICAL TERRORISM IN PREINDUSTRIAL, INDUSTRIAL, AND POSTINDUSTRIAL SOCIETIES ARE INCLUDED. NOTES AND REFERENCES ARE CITED. (DEP)