An Analytical Theoretical Study of Terrorism According to the Social Action Theory of ‘Talcott Parsons’ as an Instance of Sociological Theories

Abstract

The main focus of sociology is presenting the social life of people and their behaviours, whether in groups or societies. Sociology, usually, is defined as a field of research which studies the social interaction between people and their behaviours. Thus the sociological theories and scholars have given great importance to social action concept. In this study, which is an extract from a PhD dissertation, the terrorism has analysed sociologically according to the Talcott Parsons’ theory of social action. Since terrorism is one of the common social phenomena around the world, it has various factors and reasons that vary according to the communities’ nature of life. Terrorism, also, is a concept which used for any violent acts committed by an organization, an individual or a group. It has been experienced by humanity in many different ways throughout different eras. Therefore this study has tried to determine a theoretical framework for analysing and reviewing this phenomenon besides talking about it according to the reality of society and its most important causes and effects on the life of society and individuals. Because the Parsons’ theory serves the study aims and gives us the opportunity of conducting and analysing the study in a more detailed approach, it has been utilised for the current study. The main aim of the study is to analyse the phenomenon of terrorism from the perspective of “Talcott Parsons' theory of social action as a sociological theory”.