Weber And Dubois View On Terrorism

On September 11, 2001, there was chaos in the streets of New York; screams could be heard for miles as dust and debris flooded the air. The view from above showed towers falling from the sky, an event unlike anyone has seen since. More than two thousand people lost their lives that day in Lower Manhattan, as families were broken. This is what terrorism is, it’s meant to strike fear and disrupt everyday life. It’s meant to attack the innocent without any justified reason. Sociologists would view this attack as a heinous and unprecedented attack on innocent’s lives. Unfortunately, there’s been multiple terrorist’s attacks in human history, but there's common issues that stem from every terrorist attack. This essay will look at how three sociologists, Durkheim, Weber and Du Bois would view not only the nature of terrorism but the aftermath of terrorism; both suicide bombers and …show more content…
Charismatic authority is defined as dominance based on disciples’ trust in and devotion to their leader (Appelrouth and Edles 2012:169). An example of charismatic authority is someone who uses their personality to establish dominance and leadership. With that in mind, think about all the leaders in our history that had led strong attacks against humanity, leaders such as Adolf Hitler can come to mind. While, Adolf Hitler wasn’t considered a part of a terrorist group, but he did influence people that the Jewish community needed to be eradicated, he’s simply an example of someone who has charismatic authority. In terrorism, there can be multiple leaders, and these leaders have to have charismatic authority, that’s how they receive such a broad amount of followers. Having a form of authority in terrorism can cause people to commit crimes against humanity and end their own life for the cause. Therefore, terrorism has charismatic leaders in the background controlling their