Doctoral Dissertation Research: Terrorism Discourse and the Rise of the Terrorism Expert, 1972-2002

ann SwidlerLisa stampnitzy加州大学伯克利分校这个博士论文改进项目调查了过去三十年来美国恐怖主义研究专业领域的起源和发展。关键问题是，“恐怖主义专业知识”是如何定义的：谁的专业知识被认为是合法的，为什么？本项目利用各种资源，以形成形成恐怖主义专业领域的力量的全面图景，包括恐怖主义会议记录、恐怖主义专业期刊的内容分析、恐怖主义专家的国会证词、关于恐怖主义研究的资金来源和模式的信息，以及对恐怖主义专家的采访。尽管自9/11事件以来，恐怖主义引起了社会科学家越来越大的兴趣，但目前还没有任何关于恐怖主义研究如何成为一个调查领域，以及影响什么样的人可以成为这一领域专家的社会力量的全面研究。这项研究预计将有助于社会学领域的更大问题，涉及专家知识的创造，以及政治家、公众和其他官员如何决定哪些专家值得倾听的问题。这种关于恐怖主义的知识将塑造一个国家对其面临的危险的看法，以及在制定应对措施时在概念上可供选择的范围。更广泛的影响。专家提供的知识可能会对反恐政策以及公众对恐怖主义的理解产生重大影响。通过更好地理解专家知识在政策制定中所起的作用，以及构成专家权威授权的因素，我们也许能够在未来更有意识地生产和使用这些知识。

SES-0526144Ann SwidlerLisa StampnitzkyUniversity of California, BerkeleyThis doctoral dissertation improvementn project investigates the origins and development of a specialized field of terrorism studies in the United States over the past thirty years. The key question is, how has 'terrorism expertise' has been defined: whose expertise is considered legitimate, and why? This project draws on a variety of sources in order to assemble a comprehensive picture of the forces shaping the area of terrorism expertise, including records of conferences on terrorism, a content analysis of specialized journals on terrorism, congressional testimony by terrorism experts, information on sources and patterns of funding for the study of terrorism, and interviews with terrorism experts. Although terrorism has elicited growing interest among social scientists since 9/11, there have not yet been any comprehensive studies of how terrorism studies emerged as a field of inquiry, and the social forces affecting what sorts of people could become experts in this field. This study is expected to contribute to larger questions in the field of sociology relating to the creation of expert knowledge and the questions of how politicians, the public, and other officials decide which experts are worth listening to. The sort of knowledge produced about terrorism will frame a nation's perceptions of the dangers it faces and the range of options conceptually available to it as it formulates its response. Broader Impacts. The type of knowledge that experts dispense is likely to have a significant effect upon counterterrorism policies, as well as public understandings of terrorism. By better understanding the role that expert knowledge has played in the creation of policy, and the factors structuring the delegation of expert authority, we may be able to move forward more consciously in the production and use of such knowledge in the future.