Terror Groups, Media, and Social Learning Theory
Table of Contents
Abstract 3
Introduction 4
Discussion 4
Future Implications 7
References 9
Abstract
Terror groups are thriving thanks in no small part to the rise of social media, which allows these groups to propagate their message instantly and universally. Impressionable young people are often recruited via social media because their own real-world society offers them nothing of any significance to believe in or to embrace. The radical ideologies of terror groups become far more attractive because they fill a hole in the lives of the young and because these groups are capable of forming relationships with them. This paper examines how social learning theory explains the issue of terrorisms spread in the modern world.
Keywords: terror groups, social media, social learning theory
Introduction
The main idea of social learning theory is that individuals or socialized to embrace or believe in the values and standards of their society (Grusec, 2006). As Bandura (2018) points out, the main ways in which socialization occurs is by way of interaction with peers, groups and media. The main assumptions of social learning theory can be used to explain why different societies and groups develop and thrive in a given environment. This paper will examine and explain how terror groups have been able to thrive in modern day society by applying the principles of social learning theory to the topic.
Discussion
Terror groups are growing rapidly around the world, with extremist organizations developing networks and cells using an informal structure and social media campaigns to advance their causes and increase their visibility (DeCook, 2018). Groups like Antifa and Proud Boys are just two examples of domestic groups that have been linked to terrorist activities by the US government, but there are many other groups, such as ISIS, that have used technology to propagate their aims and attract attention from young people who have no direction in their own lives (Vitolo-Haddad, 2019).
Social learning theory provides an explanation for how these groups have been able to grow and thrive in the modern world (Mills, Freilich, Chermak, Holt & LaFree, 2019). One of the ways that researchers have found terrorists use to lure individuals into their groups is social media (Chatfield, Reddick & Brajawidagda, 2015; Costello & Hawdon, 2018). Social media is a particularly useful way for information to be spread across the world, and it allows terror cells to attract lone wolves who might otherwise never really find a group to call their own. However, social media amplifies the presence and existence of groups, from domestic terror groups to foreign terror groups (Klein, 2019). It gives people a way to identify messages and messengers and develop a sense of identity based on the things they are seeing said on social media platforms to which they belong.
Extremist views, either to the left or to the right, tend to be the proximal mode by which ones environment is transformed. First, one is exposed to such views via media, peers and groups, as Bandura (2018) shows. Then one becomes radicalized and willing to join a group so as to serve that group and its ideology. That is essentially the process by which terror groups thrive, and social media plays a big part in the process because it serves as the platform for interaction, cultivation and recruitment. Without social media it would be a lot harder for terror groups to get out their message and connect with potential new recruits (Chatfield ete al., 2015).
The essence of social learning theory applied to this understanding is that individuals learn to embrace extremist views because they are living in a radicalized world where extremist ideologies can permeate all environments...
…makes it possible.
Future Implications
The future implications of these findings suggests that unless some intervention is proposed, implemented and enforced in the West, terror groups will continue to thrive on the support they garner from young impressionable and socially-isolated people in the West. In the Middle East and in other states where terror groups persist, the main cause of their growth is the impact of violence from continued warfare. In some places in Africa, there has been progress in the reduction of certain terror groups through targeted militaristic action and through coordinated efforts by state governments to make amendments to their government in acts of appeasement. However, the continuation of wars in the Middle East will likely serve to continue to give cause to individuals there for joining terror groups, as this serves for some as the only meaningful alternative to life in a world that has been devastated by war.
In the West, there needs to be more attention given to the vulnerable young population, as this is where terror groups set their sights for purposes of recruitment. If social media companies are not going to be more diligent in banning these groups from their sites, then Western society at large must give more focus to helping young people have more meaning in their own lives and to be more invested in their own communities so that the values they learn are from their own real-world society as opposed to the virtual society that they cultivate with the members of terror groups. The missing link between the young population and their own real-world communities is the opportunity for relationship; young people need to be given that opportunity, which means they need to receive more attention from real-world peers, groups and media so as to be able to develop values and beliefs that…
