Radicals and Reactionaries: The Polarization of Community and Government in the Name of Public Safety and Security

RADICALS AND REACTIONARIES 1
RADICALS AND REACTIONARIES
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RADICALS AND REACTIONARIES 2
RADICALS AND REACTIONARIES: THE POLARIZATION OF COMMUNITY AND GOVERNMENT
IN THE NAME OF PUBLIC SAFETY AND SECURITY
Summary
In recent years, there has been an increase in terrorism, across the globe. As a result,
governments and members of the public have a negative attitude towards terrorism. In the
past, external threats from other countries were taken into consideration but now, internal
threats are being taken into consideration. High profile attacks like the 9/11 and as well as
the 3/11 raised the attention of all countries and superpower nations across the globe. The
United Kingdom has ensured that public security and safety is maintained. It is unfortunate
that governments and security agencies have focused on an ‘evil eye’ on Muslims since
many terrorists claim to be of the religion. This background thus necessitates a study into
how the UK government, especially in London, fosters counterterrorism measures with the
involvement of the public. In addition, the study will focus on how the ‘suspected
community/religion’ has been linked to acts of terrorism, radicalism, marginalization as well
as extremism. In this study, the following factors will be taken into consideration
Social Space
Social space is termed as a virtual or physical space where different people gather so
that they can interact and share views. In recent years, social media and the internet has
been a great weapon in fostering radicalization and terrorism, (Samson, 2019, 10). Research
on the social space will help the research in identifying how this is used to polarize the
communities and the government. Radicalization and polarization have been aided by the
affordability, convenience as well as broad reach of certain social media platforms such as

RADICALS AND REACTIONARIES 3
Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter. These platforms have been used by terrorist groups and
extremists to spread their goals and messages as well as recruiting sympathizers. This
research will be aided by studying social factor and how it associates with the research topic
Habitués Factor:
Personal life experiences of individuals have the capacity to shape one’s skills,
dispositions and habits. This is a concept that was coined by Bourdieau to show how cultural
capital exists in the society. As such, the way people look at the social environment around
them and form reactions towards it is called habitus factor. The social structure is thus
crated by how individuals relate to habits and skills that are around them. In the real
environment, solutions are created so that they can solve certain problems in the society.
This is done without any form of calculation- but with the help of intuitions and feelings for
what is best for the society.
Capital Factor:
The capital factor is an essential factor for any research. For successful research, one
has to take into consideration the available funds so that materials and logistics will be
catered for. In regards to radicals and reactionaries, it is well known that governments and
their agencies spend a lot in trying to detect and deter acts of polarization in the country. A
better understanding of capital factor will be instrumental in making the research
successful.