Essay on Social Issue: Applying Sociological Perspectives

I am studying the impact of the fight against terrorism in the lives of Muslims around the world. I choose this topic because I want to know the plight of other Muslims who have nothing to do with terrorism. There has been a lot of history relating to the fight against terrorism with examples from the US. Terrorists have caused havoc in the US such as the bombing of twins tower and the federal government retaliated by sending troops to fight suspected terrorist militia or sympathizers (Soohoo et al., 2009).

The fight against terrorism has seen an emergence of the phrase, not all Muslims are terrorists. This phrase presents a situation of an unfortunate social problem that some Muslims face in our societies. It is evident that the problem has been in existence for over 20 years. The main social issue at stake is that all terrorists are believed to be Muslims, and this is not a proven fact. Muslim is just a religion that has innocent believers like other religions around the world.

Interpretation of the issue

From the social conflict interpretation perspective, the social problem at hand has a social order that has led to the notion that all terrorists are Muslims and that any Muslim has the potential to be radicalized. It is evident that such positions lack consensus as well as conformity and only exist due to the effects of domination. From the structural functionalist point of view, it is evident that the US federal government through President Trump has attempted to magnify the social issue by imposing a travel ban. This comes despite the numerous efforts by the state to send troops to fight suspected Islamic militia on foreign soil. The presidency is a strong element in the society whose inputs in policy formation cannot be underestimated.

From a symbolic interactionist point of view, it is critical to consider the interactive relationship among human beings from other religions and Muslim religion (Henslin et al., 2015). Most people from other religions have developed a subjective understanding of the issue based on social interactions. This expresses how people construct meaning on a specific statement such as all terrorists are Muslims. It is also paramount to note that this perspective of reasoning assumes; symbolism which presents meaning surrounds human beings. These symbols are constructed from social processes, and different societies exhibit tendencies of sharing such issues.

Policy implication

A policy can be established to help reduce the impact of this social issue. Policy makers should develop policies that take into consideration the aspect of religion. For instance, President Trumps executive orders that imposed travel ban overlooked this social issue (BBC, 2017). The ban affected Muslims who had traveled to other countries despite previous recognition as American citizens. Any policy aimed at combating terrorism should not target the innocent. Policy makers should target the root of the problem and not the effects of the problem. Also, policy makers should adopt a bottom up criteria of developing policies to allow constructive inputs or criticism on current policies. Policy makers should also dwell enhancing intelligence to combat terrorism rather than creating a situation of structural functionalism as discussed before.

These perspectives will help in reducing the impact of the social problem by ensuring the victims are integrated into the society. Policies that originate from the people are more likely to be effective as compared to the top-down policies.

References

BBC. (2017). Trump's executive order: Who does travel ban affect? BBC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-38781302

Henslin, J. M., Possamai, A. M., Possamai-Inesedy, A. L., Marjoribanks, T., & Elder, K. (2015). Sociology: A Down to Earth Approach. London: Pearson Higher Education AU.

Soohoo, C., Albisa, C., & Davis, M. F. (2009). Bringing Human Rights Home: A History of Human Rights in the United States. Pennsylvania: University of Pennsylvania Press.