Date of Award
Spring 6-2018
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department/Program
Criminal Justice
Language
English
First Advisor or Mentor
Heath Grant
Second Reader
Maria Haberfeld
Third Advisor
Jeffery Mellow
Abstract
This exploratory study focuses on identifying motivations for religious terrorism and Islamic terrorism in the United States in particular. Terrorism is a crime of extreme violence with the end purpose of political influence. This crime is challenging to encounter for its multi-faced characteristics, the unusual motivations of its actors, and their semi-militant conduct. The hypothesis of this study asserts that religious terrorists are radicalized by passing from fundamental to extreme devout agendas, caused by isolation from the dominant society, and resulted in high potential to impose those agendas by extreme violence. Under the theoretical framework of subculture in criminology, this study measures how religious fundamentalism is associated with social isolation of Muslims in the United States. The findings of this study show a significant relation between religious fundamentalism and social isolationism. Using a secondary dataset from the DAAS 2003 survey, it is found out that 45% of Muslim males’ social isolationism in the U.S. can be predicted by the level of their religious fundamentalism. Indicators such as ‘Dawah’ (Islamic identity and missionary), piety, culture, country of origin, and strain are among the most significant predictors of social isolationism. Furthermore, the Islamic terror incidents in the U.S. are relatively low compared with other western countries (i.e. Europe and Israel). That is an indication that the mild social isolation and positive assimilation of Muslims, despite 9/11, serve as a defense mechanism against extremization.
Recommended Citation
Shiran, Shay, "Islamic Terrorism in the United States – the association of religious fundamentalism with social isolation & paths leading to extreme violence through processes of radicalization." (2018). CUNY Academic Works.
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/jj_etds/54
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