Guilty Conscience Research Articles

An inquiry into queer experiences of regimes of morality in Indian schools: a phenomenological institutional ethnography

Previous studies indicate various atrocities against queer individuals in schools globally. However, no in-depth inquiries have been conducted into the experiences of queer individuals in Indian schools. A novel form of ethnography – phenomenological institutional ethnography (PIE) based on Schutz’s phenomenology of life-worlds and Smith’s institutional ethnography was devised to conduct a qualitative inquiry into the experiences of queer individuals. Participants included 19 queer individuals from different regions of India. Findings revealed five forms of disciplinary mechanisms in schools: regimenting through silencing, moral dictation, name-calling, public shaming, and physical abuse, which deleteriously affect the development of self-concept among queer individuals, and leads to experiences of alienation and inauthentic self-expression, guilty conscience and internalized homophobia, and compromised mental health and low self-esteem. Developing inclusive policies to provide a supportive school environment in India for the queer population is suggested.

Burning Alive in a Ruthless Matriarchy: A Critique of “Stench of Kerosene” By Amrita Pritam

This paper critiques Amrita Pritam’s short story “Stench of Kerosene”. It probes into Pritam’s narrative from a literary and psychological perspective. Fundamentally, it semiotically assesses the metaphors engendered by “the mare” that takes Guleri away, “the harvest festival of Chamba” that causes her physical separation from Manak, “the hookah” Manak smokes to overcome his sorrow, “the flute” Manak gives Guleri as an assurance of his fidelity, “the bride price” Guleri’s father declines to mean that his daughter is not a child-bearing machine for sale, “the baby” born to Manak’s second wife as the posthumous replacement of Guleri, “the kerosene stench” that suggests the fire in which Guleri died, and later the agent of the olfactory hallucination that tortures him psychotically. Moreover, it discusses the social, cultural, psychological, and moral implications of the significant developments in the storyline under eight sub-topics: 1) Invitation from Guleri’s Parents; 2) Manak’s Reaction to the Invitation; 3) Guleri’s Immaturity as a Juvenile; 4) Manak as a Subject of his Mother’s Matriarchy; 4) Manak’s Guilty Conscience; 5) Manak’s Destiny in His Second Marriage; 6) Guleri-Manak Relationship; 7) Pritam’s Application of Irony; and 8) Pritam’s Attainments in “Stench of Kerosene”. Overall, the paper strives to expose how the regimentally implemented conditions of a matriarchy maintained in an irrational society suppress fundamental human values. The focal point it attempts to foreground in Pritam’s message is that women are not child-bearing machines and any resort to treat them as disposable items based on their obstetric complications is humanistically despicable.

Standardized patients’ experience of participating in medical students’ education: a qualitative content analysis

BackgroundStandardized patients are considered a significant educational method in medical sciences and have been successfully employed for many years. This study was conducted with the aim of explaining the experience of standardized patients participating in the education of medical student.MethodA qualitative content analysis approach was used. This study was conducted at Standardized Patient Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran, May to February 2022. Fifteen standard patients were selected through purposive sampling with maximum variation. Semi-structured, in-depth, face-to-face interviews were conducted with standard patients. The average duration of the interviews was 60 to 90 min. Data were transcribed and analyzed using the Graneheim and Lundman approach.ResultsA passport for the future and duality of feelings were the two main themes identified in this study with six subthemes. One of the main themes was passport for the future with subthemes creative, participation in educating future generation, reflection and another theme was duality of feeling with subthemes feeling of value, guilty conscience, and fear of judgment by others.ConclusionThe participants expressed having mixed feelings about their role as standard patients. They felt conflicted because they were compensated for their participation, which made them worry about being judged by others and feel guilty about taking the fee. Therefore, it is recommended to conduct further studies in this area.

Stigma and self-stigma among women within the context of the german “zero alcohol during pregnancy” recommendation: A qualitative analysis of online forums and blogs

BackgroundIn many countries, including Germany, it is recommended to abstain from alcohol during pregnancy to avoid harm to the baby. In this qualitative research study, analysis of online forums was conducted to explore women's perception of the German “zero alcohol during pregnancy” recommendation with regard to stigma and self-stigma. MethodsWe used a grounded theory approach to analyze online forum discussions on alcohol use during pregnancy. Data consisted of 9 discussion threads from 5 different forums and blogs involving 115 participants in total. We used key concepts developed during analysis and the theory of stigma to interpret the posts. ResultsWe identified five key themes: (1) Low alcohol health literacy as a breeding ground for stigmatization; (2) The widespread assumption that maternal abstinence is a prerequisite for being considered a “good mother”; (3) Interpersonal role conflicts and a guilty conscience as a result of stigmatization or self-stigmatization; (4) Paying little attention to the role of psychosocial factors in alcohol consumption, especially regarding partner responsibility during pregnancy.; (5) Understanding the “zero alcohol during pregnancy” recommendation as a complete ban, associated with loss of autonomy. ConclusionThe current method of communicating the “zero alcohol during pregnancy” recommendation may have unintended consequences. Specifically, misconceptions about the harm associated with low alcohol consumption and setting high expectations of motherhood are factors that can contribute to stigma or self-stigma and potentially undermine self-efficacy, help-seeking behavior, and overcoming the barriers to alcohol health literacy.

“I Thought They Would at Least Love Me”: The Gay Experiences of Heteronormative Regimentation in Indian Families, a Phenomenological Ethnography

This paper inquires into the heteronormative regimes of sexual morality, focusing on the experiences of gay and queer men within the locus of family. Drawing upon a phenomenological ethnography involving interviews with the Indian gay community, this study demonstrates the disciplinary power of sexual morality over queer lives. It examines the varied strategies of moral regimentation within the locus of family, including regimenting through silencing, moral dictation, and penalizing. These strategies reflect the prevailing conservative and sex-negative attitudes in Indian society, particularly patriarchal expectations toward men and the pressure for marriage, which augments familial and social burdens on gay men, resulting in emotional distress. The cumulative effects lead to gay men living double lives, presenting a socially accepted façade while repressing their authentic queer selves, indicating a guilty conscience and internalized homophobia. These experiences correlate with risky sexual behavior, substance abuse, and overall compromised mental health. This phenomenological inquiry highlights the role of the family as a locus of moral control of queer individuals and contributes to the sociological understanding of morality as a power-relation.

Psychological motivators of bystanders to help people injured in traffic Accidents: A qualitative content analysis

BackgroundIn many countries, the necessary support for bystanders is not provided. Despite the problems and complications caused by participation with the help of bystanders, psychological motivations and internal drivers will help them participate. The present study was conducted in order to identify the psychological motivators of bystanders to help in traffic accidents. MethodsThis qualitative study is part of a larger study, a doctoral dissertation in nursing. study was conducted using the qualitative description method in Iran in 2022. Sampling was purposeful and then theoretical. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews with 15 participants, including 10 male and 5 female participants. The data was analyzed using a conventional content analysis approach and constant comparison simultaneously, as recommended by Corbin and Strauss (2015). Using these two approaches at the same time helps to code the data, determine subcategories and categories, identify patterns and themes, understand the complexity of the human experience, develop new hypotheses and theories, enhance validity and reliability, and facilitate communication and collaboration with colleagues, stakeholders, and non-experts. MAXQDA 2010 software was used to assist in data analysis. ResultsSix concepts—feeling of responsibility, spiritual beliefs, feeling of pity, self-sacrificing, prevention of guilty conscience, and the feeling of becoming a hero—were identified as the subcategory of psychological motivators and the most important psychological motivators among the bystanders. ConclusionBystanders will not help until they feel responsible. A feeling of responsibility can cause bystanders to self-sacrifice to prevent a guilty conscience. Having spiritual beliefs, a feeling of responsibility, and a sense of heroism can increase the feeling of responsibility and motivation of bystanders to help. It is suggested that ways of increasing the feeling of responsibility and other psychological motivators and the role of education, skill, experience, and legal obstacles in bystanders should be investigated in future studies.

‘Would any of them have suffered from a guilty conscience if they had won?’: Rudolf Wiethölter and post‐Second World War German law1

AbstractThis article reads the theory of law of the Frankfurter jurist Rudolf Wiethölter as an ambitious attempt to realize through law the indispensable radical democratization of post‐Second World War German society. The occasion was provided by the resurgence of critical theory and the subsequent and related emergence and affirmation of the student protest movement of 1968 at the Goethe University Frankfurt. Following the thread of the conflict/dialogue at the university with fellow philosopher Jürgen Habermas, the article brings into focus some stages in the evolution of Wiethölter's critical theory of law and of ‘true jurists’.

From colonial celebration to postcolonial performativity: ‘guilty multilingualism’ and ‘performative agency’ in the English Medium Instruction (EMI) context

ABSTRACT This article reports data from a qualitative study conducted within the elitist English-medium schools in three cities of Pakistan to claim that theory building, and English teaching practices are still modeled on monolingual biases inherent in the orthodox notions of linguistic purism and Anglo-normative traditions of the 1990s. Orthodoxy is manifest in schools’ strong emphasis on direct method and communicative language teaching, and essentialist language management where English is enforced as the sole legitimate language of academic and non-academic transactions. Native language use is attached a stigma and viewed as deficiency in the English language. Such Anglo-normative culture invokes guilty conscience in teachers and students as they disapprove native languages even when they know that they can serve as useful meditating tools for effective content transfer. Crucially, amid English gatekeepers’ celebratory attitudes toward English as the sole legitimate language, some teachers still demonstrate deviation from the pervasive linguistic norms. Showing reflexivity and agency, these teachers ideologically oppose the official policy. They discursively generate spaces for negotiating and appropriating the official policies, which signifies that language policy can be a complex multi-layered process rather than a linear, discrete, or top-down phenomenon. Teachers’ agency is interpreted as ‘decolonial performativity’.

Spaceships, an Erotic Amusement Park, and a Time Machine: New Short Fiction in Translation

Spaceships, an Erotic Amusement Park, and a Time MachineNew Short Fiction in Translation The Editors of WLT No Edges: Swahili Stories Trans. Various Two Lines Press ASJA BAKIĆ Sweetlust Trans. Jennifer Zoble Feminist Press SERGEI LEBEDEV A Present Past: Titan and Other Chronicles Trans. Antonina W. Bouis New Vessel Press YURI HERRERA Ten Planets Trans. Lisa Dillman Graywolf Press We're intrigued by these short, often speculative fictions arriving early this year. No Edges: Swahili Stories Trans. Various Two Lines Press In April, Two Lines Press will add another collection to its Calico series, breaking important new ground with the first collection of Swahili fiction in English. The book brings together eight East African voices telling stories of sorcerers and spaceships that blast prisoners into eternity. Seven translators render these Afrofuturistic tales into English. ASJA BAKIĆ Sweetlust Trans. Jennifer Zoble Feminist Press Jennifer Zoble translated these dystopian stories from Bosnian poet and writer Asja Bakić. Like the writers in No Edges, Bakić uses the speculative, with women being "rehabilitated" at an erotic amusement park and a programmer building a time machine. You can also read Bakić's short story "The Talus of Madame Liken," translated by Zobel, in WLT's Winter 2019 issue. SERGEI LEBEDEV A Present Past: Titan and Other Chronicles Trans. Antonina W. Bouis New Vessel Press In these eleven stories translated by Antonina W. Bouis, Moscow-born Sergei Lebedev probes a collective guilty conscience. The voices of things, places, animals, and people seek justice in these stories from the Soviet and post-Soviet world, available in April. YURI HERRERA Ten Planets Trans. Lisa Dillman Graywolf Press Monsters and aliens populate these stories by Mexican author Yuri Herrera, translated by Lisa Dillman, who has translated previous work by Herrera, including "The Objects," a story from WLT's March 2017 issue. An intestinal bacterium gains consciousness and objects can be sentient in this latest collection, available in March. [End Page 28] Copyright © 2023 World Literature Today and the Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma

Att teoretisera om mening genom exempel

Theorizing Meaning Through Examples: Ordinary Language Criticism, “Sam-vett” and the Difficulty of Reality In this article I set out to exemplify how one can, from within the tradition of Ordinary Language Criticism (OLC), theorize about literary meaning through concrete interpretative work. I proceed by attending to what I take to be a particular interpretive hard case, namely, the Swedish author and activist Sara Lidman’s (1923-2004) notion of “sam-vett”. Or more precisely: I attend to one specific usage of that word, namely the male protagonist Didrik Mårtensson’s usage of the word in Lidman’s novel Järnkronan (1985). Lidman invented the word “sam-vett” in the early 1980s but never defined it; she simply put it to use in various texts and contexts. By comparing how the problematic nature of “sam-vett” presents itself for Didrik in Järnkronan, with the Wittgensteinian philosopher Cora Diamond’s notion of “the difficulty of reality”, I argue that Lidman’s “sam-vett” – in this specific usage – expresses an experience of encountering something ineffable. In my comparative reading I argue that rather than offering a road to a more-than-human communality and knowledge beyond words, however, Didrik’s usage of “sam-vett” expresses a fantasy of being able to escape a guilty conscience through the letting go of sanity and sense-making altogether. So, while Didrik encounters “a difficulty of reality” that shoulders him out (at least partially) from language his attempt at imagining a non-linguistic pan-species community in the name of “sam-vett” nevertheless fails. Instead, Didrik’s “sam-vett” becomes something of a false idol, a delirious idea that only appears to make sense.

寒微한 士族의 노년기 생활상에 대한 일고찰

In this study, later lives of ‘poor and humble scholars’, their emotions and their responses to reality are examined with the example of Mumyeongja Yun Ki. Yun Ki suffered from diseases including malaria due to senescence during his later life and to make matters worse, he had to endure severe pain from hearing impairment. The bridle of senescence and being from a poor and humble family was a stumbling block for him from the beginning of becoming a public official. He could not get the Cheong'yo-jik(淸要職) post and he was pained by the hard working as a lowest public official. Consequently, he was discontented. The poverty that molested his ancestors was not alleviated even after he became a public official. He expressed his emotions such as frustration, regret, resentment, grievance, self-deprecation, and moan about his later life in his poems in a straightforward way. He preserved his identity as he led a life filled with grumbles in an unjust world. Until the end of his life, he was destitute, which was also the result of his integrity and honesty. Yun Ki had the sense of identity that he was from the scholar family and strived to overcome the reality of being a poor and humble scholar. His integrity worked as an obstacle for his social relations. He had his principle and beliefs, which were not compatible with the world. However, he did not change his values and identity to gain worldly benefits. He was sensitive to calamity of slander, he continuously took precaution against his desire to speak out and its consequence of calamity of slander since his 50s. Furthermore, he declared to keep silence on matters after the long and careful consideration. It was the great decision to reveal his self-esteem and to preserve his family. The desire to reveal his identity was satisfied by his critical writing. His critical writing became the alternative to keeping silence, through which he faced the bitter reality and planned for the future. Yun Ki, expressed anguish, conflicts in his inner world, remorse, guilty conscience, anger and rebuke a lot but he assessed his life in a positive way. That is because he had self-respect that he did not meet the world halfway but preserved his integrity and identity.

A deontic perspective on organizational citizenship behavior toward the environment: The contribution of anticipated guilt

AbstractThis study draws on deontic justice theory to examine an unexplored socioemotional micro‐foundation of corporate social responsibility (CSR), namely anticipated guilt, in an effort to improve our understanding of employees’ moral reactions to their organization’s CSR. We empirically investigate whether environmental CSR induces anticipated guilt (i.e., concerns about future guilt for not contributing to organizational CSR) leading to organizational environmental citizenship behavior. We also consider two boundary conditions related to the social nature of anticipated guilt: line manager support for the environment and negative environmental group norms. To test our hypotheses, we analyzed data from a convenience sample of 503 managers working in Mexican organizations, using Latent Moderated Structural equation modeling. Overall, our results support the deontic argument that employees care about CSR because CSR embodies moral concerns. Specifically, our findings show that efforts to avoid a guilty conscience increase when the line manager provides increased resources and control to act for the environment, and when group members do not care for the environment, suggesting that employees feel they have to compensate for their group’s moral failure.

Serial Shakespeare: An Infinite Variety of Appropriations in American TV Drama by Elisabeth Bronfen

Reviewed by: Serial Shakespeare: An Infinite Variety of Appropriations in American TV Drama by Elisabeth Bronfen Sarah Hatchuel Serial Shakespeare: An Infinite Variety of Appropriations in American TV Drama. By Elisabeth Bronfen. Manchester: Manchester University Press. 2020. 256 pp. £80. ISBN 978–1–5261–4231–3. Serial Shakespeare is a timely addition in a series of recent books, such as Kinga Földváry's Cowboy Hamlets and Zombie Romeos (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2020), which explore audiovisual fictions with loose and implicit links to Shakespeare. Elisabeth Bronfen cogently analyses the aesthetic and political stakes of appropriations in serial TV dramas that use Shakespeare as a 'point of reference', turning him into something very different and affecting the way we then perceive Shakespeare's plays and characters. Via a methodology of 'crossmapping' (p. 9), Bronfen apprehends the seriality both sets of texts share, identifying the connection between a set of 'pathos formulas' (p. 16) and working through the consequences of this relation. The dialogue between Shakespeare and TV series is sometimes explicitly prompted by quotations or encouraged by common plot structures, themes, or dramatic devices such as interrelated narrative arcs, multiple perspectives, and open endings. The idea is then to look back at the early modern plays through the lens of their subsequent appropriations. Chapter 1 examines Westworld (HBO, 2016–), in which androids reach self-awareness through the quoting of The Tempest, King Lear, and Romeo and Juliet. The show, which reactivates the convention of seeing the world as a stage, reveals how these three plays are serially linked by one theme—the resistance of daughters against paternal sovereignty. Tyrannical Dr Ford appears as a new Prospero, controlling and surveilling his small heterotopia, facing Dolores and the other androids' rebellion and eventually abdicating his power at the end of season one, but only to trigger a new regime in which violence will prevail once more. The spectral reiterability of the android hosts offers a self-reflexive comment on Shakespeare's revitalization and on the format of serial TV itself. Chapter 2 revisits The Wire (HBO, 2002–08) in the light of the first tetralogy (the three parts of Henry VI and Richard III). Just as Shakespeare's history plays transform the chronicles of the Wars of the Roses, showrunner David Simon has tapped into news and his own documentaries on Baltimore. The chess game which is used to explain the rules of the drug dealers becomes the metaphor shared by the plays and the TV series. In both cases, the pawn, having arrived at the other end of the chessboard, can proclaim itself royalty. The Wire's serial structure echoes the first tetralogy's in its inclusion of us-and-them battles but also us-versus-us division and rivalries of dynastic conflict, in an environment where everyone plays a part: knowing they are being surveilled, the gangsters self-reflexively put on a show for the police. Chapter 3 explores House of Cards (Showtime, 2013–18), in which Claire Underwood cannot decide whether she is Lady Macbeth or Macbeth. She first, like Lady Macbeth, encourages her husband Frank to rise to power through bloody machinations. Frank regularly breaks the fourth wall by looking at the viewers and making them his accomplices. In the last season, Claire goes from First Lady to President and starts looking at us too, making us understand that she had her own [End Page 484] agenda all along. Claire is a Lady Macbeth who, having survived all self-doubt and guilty conscience, is ready to overtake and replace her husband. This first female president's hands get dirty even as she attempts to escape male control. Just as Shakespeare's plays implicitly raised the issue of Elizabeth I being a female ruler, House of Cards both debunks and reasserts the demonization of female political power, revealing how the idea of the first female president remains so distressful that US culture has to address it serially in different TV shows. Precisely, Chapter 4 sees Veep (HBO, 2012–19), Homeland (Showtime, 2011–20), and Scandal (ABC, 2012–18) as series in which the figure of the rogue queen Cleopatra resurfaces, challenging the dominant patriarchal power of...

A study of the psychological effect

The lady Mac-Beth effect is a condition in which an individual urge to risen their hands or body when they have a feeling that they have done something wrong i.e., which is inappropriate in order to clean their conscience. So, this study is to find how much people clean themselves or wash their hands indeed because of their guilty conscience. People are always not having a tendency of washing hands or bathing in can be a cause and effect of their remorseful morality. It not always having a physical cleanliness there can be an alternative for purifying their mortified morality. Studies have exhibited that people keep themselves clean indeed for cleaning their sins. Famous study of Zhong and Liljenquist (2006) was replicated but didn’t found the evidence of Macbeth effect. In further findings, observed about physical purity as an attainment of moral purity could show a sign of Macbeth effect. In addition, few studied have also showed the brain areas which are involved in the guiltiness due to immoral deed.

The Ethical Dilemma of Non-Human Primate Use in Biomedical Research

The Ethical Dilemma of Non-Human Primate Use in Biomedical Research

Stress of conscience and affecting factors in midwives in the delivery room

Context: Midwives who perform the act of child delivery, which is one of the most sensitive and private occasions for women, can face the stress of conscience when they fail to perform their duties in this process for any reason or cannot decide what to do. There is very little information about the stress of conscience levels of delivery room midwives.Aim: This study aims to determine the stress of conscience and related factors in midwives who deliver a baby actively in the delivery room.Settings and Design: This descriptive and cross-sectional study was performed in April 2021 at six public hospitals in Kocaeli, Turkey.Materials and Methods: The study was conducted with 67 midwives who worked in delivery rooms through the census method. The data were collected using a “Demographic Information Form” and the “Stress of Conscience Questionnaire.”Statistical Analysis Used: Descriptive statistics, including frequency, mean, and standard deviation, and analytic statistics, including Mann–Whitney U- and Kruskal–Wallis tests, were used.Results: Among the participants, 61.2% stated that they experienced a guilty conscience while working in the delivery room, and they stated that the biggest (28.4%) reason for a guilty conscience was problems related to mother–infant health. The ethics training of the midwives was a factor that increased their stress of conscience scale internal factors subscale scores (P = 0.01). In addition, being married was a factor that increased their internal factor subscale scores (P = 0.008), and having worked in the delivery room for more than 6 years was a factor that increased their external factor subscale scores (P = 0.02).Conclusions: The results of the present study, the married midwives, those who had worked in the delivery room for longer than 6 years, and those who had received ethics training were found to have high stress of conscience levels. Sharing the results of such studies with managers can be a guide in solving problems.

그림책에 등장하는 아동의 이혼 적응 과정에 대한 분석

This study selected picture books which use divorce as their subject matter, and analyzed how child characters of those picture books respond emotionally to it and cope with it. This study selected 14 divorce-related picture books for children. To analyze data, this study made thematic analysis of those picture books based on the divorce step model of Sprenkle and Storm (1983). Data analysis showed the followings. In the step of ‘pre-divorce decision-making’, child characters of picture books expressed negative emotions such as fear for possibility of being deserted, guilty conscience, and betrayal, etc. Many picture books under the step of ‘restructuring after divorce’ portrayed children who feel a sense of loss and miss the parent who does not live with them, as well as emotions of bewilderment, loneliness, and shrinking in the face of the new reality. In the step of ‘recovery after divorce’, character children were described as reestablishing their relationships with parents, and adjusting themselves with single-parent situations based on supportive relations with those around them. In particular, instead of showing strong emotional response as they do in previous steps, children in this step of recovery cognitively cope with the situations. Due to the characteristics of creative works called picture books, healthy adjustment of children was emphasized. Picture books described that those children can manage to understand divorce of their parents through their cognitive development levels, accept the realities instead of wishing unrealistic things, and grow adjusting to changed environments.

The Pale Criminal, the Guilty Conscience, and the Constitution of Crime: Nietzsche Reading “Raskolnikov”

Friedrich Nietzsche’s classic Thus Spoke Zarathustra contains a short chapter entitled “On the Pale Criminal.” The chapter provides rich insights into the psychology of the criminal by examining what Nietzsche calls the image of the deed. This article argues that “On the Pale Criminal” is well situated to reveal insights about the meaning of crime. The article subjects Nietzsche’s “On the Pale Criminal” to a detailed exegetical reading to unearth the possibility of theorizing crime anew. To aid in this endeavor, the article reads “On the Pale Criminal” alongside and against Fyodor Dostoevsky’s influential Crime and Punishment, focusing, again exegetically, on the psychological turmoil of Rodion Raskolnikov, the protagonist of the novel, who gives vivid color to, and brings to life, Nietzsche’s pale criminal. After explicating the essence of the pale criminal, the article explores what this might reveal about the meaning of crime. The pale criminal, the article contends, reveals the way guilt (in the legal sense) and the guilty conscience (in the psychological sense) precede thought and deed, and shows that crime is constituted not by thought and deed, but by an already present, ex ante, guilt which feeds the requisite culpability of crime, including the very birth of crime itself. Guilt, this article contends, precedes crime, not the other way around.

Escaping Atonement in Sunni Islam: Death by Jihad for Deliverance

In the Islamic hadith corpus and Quran, the way to atone for sins is called tawba (or tawbah), which requires one to complete a series of steps to receive forgiveness from Allah (God). Jihadist terrorist organizations use primarily Quranic scripture to recruit and employ suicide bombers who may have a guilty conscience for their past sins. It is said that martyrdom, or istishadi, will automatically save Muslims from hell and grant access to paradise no matter the sin committed. One of the understudied reasons for istishadi suicide bombings in jihadist groups is the concept of atonement. This article answers the following research questions: What role does guilt in Islam play in the motivations for male and female Sunni jihadist suicide bombers, and why is tawba not utilized?

Digilantism, discrimination, and punitive attitudes: A digital vigilantism model

In this article, I propose and apply a digital vigilantism model to a specific incident that occurred in Mexico, where the death of two innocent people was filmed through Facebook Live. Using a mixed methods approach and content analysis, I analyzed digilante Facebook posts ( N = 942) coding gender, digital vigilantism categories, discriminatory comments, and punitive attitudes aimed at the perpetrators and the inciter of the lynching. The categories include investigating, blaming, or rebuking, while the discriminatory comments include classism, racism, homophobia, and body-shaming. I coded the punitive attitudes distinguishing four categories: non-physical punishment (calling for God’s wrath and the guilty conscience of the targets), legal sanction, death, and other punishment. The findings reveal the key role gender played in digilantism: females tend to conduct more investigations and low level attacks (blaming) than males, but males tend to perpetrate more harsh attacks (rebuking) than females. The most popular punitive attitude is calling for the death of targets, revealing tensions between legal sanctions and digilantes’ desired punishment. This study suggests the presence of different expressions of discrimination and reasons to engage in digilantism, encompassing both legal and illegal behavior deployed in a mainstream social media platform such as Facebook.