> At 01:38 PM 7/16/2005, James Heartfield wrote:
>>Sociology can explain social trends, but the London bombings are too
>>unique an event to yield to a sociological explanation. In statistical
>>terms, Britain's Muslims are not bombers. Any sociological investigation
>>would have to explain their overwhelmingly peaceable and law-abiding
>>nature.
One of the classic texts in Sociology is Durkheim's SUICIDE which explains variations in sucide rates specifically not through individual psychology but through comparisons of social groups and their characterists-- and their propensity to commit suicide.
People overwhelmingly don't commit suicide, yet different groups have a statistically significant variation in what small percentage of their populations do take their own lives.
Sociology never purports to explain why any particular person would commit suicide or become a bomber, but the point is to understand why any seemingly individualistic action is more likely to be taken under one situation or social group than another.
Nathan Newman