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Emotions and Terrorism Research: A Case for a Social-Psychological Agenda

NCJ Number
227582
Journal
Journal of Criminal Justice Volume: 37 Issue: 3 Dated: May/June 2009 Pages: 248-255
Author(s)
Stephen K. Rice
Date Published
June 2009
Length
8 pages
Annotation
This article examines the intersection of the social psychological research on emotions and the etiology of terrorism.
Abstract
Research priorities have tended to focus on the structural, sociopolitical, or related issues of terrorism with limited attention paid to the intersection of emotions and the etiology of terrorism. However, criminology and criminal justice are well positioned to frame terrorism's psychological space. The aim of this article is to outline an agenda which transitions discourse related to the "body" of the terrorist, such as his or her historical and social positioning to one focused on intrapsychic and interpersonal emotional processes. Criminology and criminal justice are well suited to assess the expressive byproducts of humiliated fury, contempt, moral outrage, and disgust, and how such emotions may distillate as impulses that form a basis for terror. Figures, notes and references