The Social Construction of Terrorism Through Political Discourse in the United States

Download or read book The Social Construction of Terrorism Through Political Discourse in the United States written by Ibrahim Mese and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 104 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study explores the social construction of terrorism in the United States. Specific attention is paid to the role "political language" plays in the social construction of terrorism. I begin by reviewing the literature in defining and constructing crime and deviance in general. Following, the speeches delivered by President George W. Bush are examined in detail to identify patterns within the political language that socially construct terrorism in the U.S. In order to make sense of the political discourse in the social constructionist framework, six rehtorical themes or patterns were identified with regard to terrorism: terrorism as functional, being inherently good, the nature of the enemy, terrorism as a global phenomenon, "war on terror" as a different war, and inherent contradictions in the political discourse. This study revealed that political language contributes to and perpetuates the social construction of terrorism in the United States.