Sociological structure of terrorism and analysis in the framework of criminal sociology theories

ABSTRACT Sociological Structure of Terrorism and Analysis in the Framework of Criminal Sociology Theories Terrorism, as a sociological phenomenon, has occupied the national and world agenda for decades. Its damage goes beyond just loss of life and property, it also causes social polarization, economic losses, political tensions, international tensions and conflicts, civil wars and conflicts, migration and refugee problems, etc. can transform. In this respect, terrorism research has gained importance. Since the research is generally political, economic, security and international based, there is a lack of sociological perspective in the field. This research was based on the aim of filling this gap. It aims to structure the sociological structure of terrorism within the framework of the concepts and theories of sociology. It also tests how useful crime sociology theories can be in explaining terrorism. Thus, it is tries to make terrorism more understandable. In this study, corporate reports on terrorism, scientific articles, books written on the subject, internet and social media data, and corporate statistics were researched using the "systematic review" method. Face-to-face interviews were also held. In the light of the data obtained here, the sociological structure of terrorism has been shaped within the framework of structural functionalism. The concepts of "social role", "social division of labor", "social status" and "social relationship", which are the basic concepts in social stratification studies, have been taken as basis in structuring terrorism. The findings obtained in the study showed that the phenomenon of terrorism goes beyond criminal organizations consisting only of armed units. Political, ideological, economic, pedagogical, gender, new social movements, international relations and intelligence, etc. has shown that it has many contexts. Therefore, it seems that many contexts are missing today in the fight against terrorism and its understanding. These contexts were analyzed in the study within the framework of anomie, labeling, neutralization and belief theories from the sociology of crime. It has been seen that anomie and belief theory contribute to explaining terrorism in the macro plan, neutralization theory in the micro plan, and labeling theory in the meso plan. As a result of the analysis, it was concluded that the problems arising from these contexts continue and that terrorism may continue its vitality for many years. Keywords: Sociology of crime, terror, terrorism, social structure, political violence