PIClist users beware...

The paper:
http://www.nuff.ox.ac.uk/users/gambetta/Engineers%20of%20Jihad.pdf

The EDN article:
http://www.edn.com/blog/1750000175/post/1030020903.html

Quote from the article in EDN:

Monday, January 28, 2008
EEs have terrorist mindset, Oxford University paper suggests

A sociology paper from the University of Oxford has suggested there is a ti=
e =

between the mindset of EEs and that of extreme Islamic terrorists.

The paper, titled =93Engineers of Jihad,=94 was first published by the high=
ly =

accredited university in November and saw some major news outlets begin to =
pick =

it up in January.

=93We find that graduates from subjects such as science, engineering, and =

medicine are strongly overrepresented among Islamist movements in the Musli=
m =

world, though not among the extremist Islamic groups which have emerged in =

Western countries more recently,=94 the paper=92s abstract reads. =93We als=
o find =

that engineers alone are strongly over-represented among graduates in viole=
nt =

groups in both realms. This is all the more puzzling for engineers are =

virtually absent from left-wing violent extremists and only present rather =
than =

over-represented among right-wing extremists.=94

It=92s not technical skills, however, that draws engineers into terrorist g=
roups, =

according to the university research. Rather, the authors of the paper, Die=
go =

Gambetta and Steffen Hertog, hypothesize that engineers have a =93mindset=
=94 that =

makes them a particularly good match for Islamism =96 one that makes engine=
ers =

=93more radicalized=94 than people with other degrees.

....

The paper argues that engineers have =93peculiar cognitive traits and =

dispositions=94 and that engineers are among some of the most right-leaning =

conservative thinking groups out there and are inclined to take more extrem=
e =

religious positions.

=93We could thus hypothesize that personal dispositions and style of thinki=
ng =

among engineers differ from those of students in other subjects in ways tha=
t =

could make them more prone to become involved in violent forms of =

radicalization, not just as willing recruits but as prime movers,=94 the pa=
per =

states, adding that its findings are not proof of its mindset theory.

...

Of the engineers the paper studies, electrical were the most common, follow=
ed =

by computer-related.
-- =

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