Terrorism: Social capital, social construction, and constructive society?

Abstract

Whether an establishment elite or a group countering the ideology and power of such an elite, terrorists engage in public relations activities aimed to acquire and apply social capital in the battle to manage issues and influence the trajectory of change (or in some cases to resist change). Such groups work to influence the dynamics of control and uncertainty of cost/reward ratios as power moves. In the search for social capital, they are required to achieve visibility for themselves and their cause, to prove that as an organization of change they are viable, and to demonstrate that they are legitimate brokers of social capital. Because it entails discourse processes and socially constructed meanings, terrorism can play a role in shaping citizens’ views on important matters. If, by that logic, terrorism and public relations are companions, one might ask, What social capital is gained and lost through the enactment of or resistance to terrorism? How and in what way is society made more fully functioning, more resilient, and a better place to live in the social capital tug of war of crisis and risk that is inherent to terrorism? In raising those questions, this article acknowledges that such analysis is most viable when terrorism is understood for its discursive elements of identity, identification, power, and narrative advocacy as statements on theme and variation.