:)

Jack



On 1/28/08, Dr Skip <drskip@gmail.com> wrote:
> 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 =
tie
> between the mindset of EEs and that of extreme Islamic terrorists.
>
> The paper, titled "Engineers of Jihad," was first published by the highly
> accredited university in November and saw some major news outlets begin to
> pick
> it up in January.
>
> "We find that graduates from subjects such as science, engineering, and
> medicine are strongly overrepresented among Islamist movements in the Mus=
lim
> world, though not among the extremist Islamic groups which have emerged in
> Western countries more recently," the paper's abstract reads. "We also fi=
nd
> that engineers alone are strongly over-represented among graduates in
> violent
> 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."
>
> It's not technical skills, however, that draws engineers into terrorist
> groups,
> according to the university research. Rather, the authors of the paper,
> Diego
> Gambetta and Steffen Hertog, hypothesize that engineers have a "mindset"
> that
> makes them a particularly good match for Islamism =96 one that makes engi=
neers
> "more radicalized" than people with other degrees.
>
> ....
>
> The paper argues that engineers have "peculiar cognitive traits and
> dispositions" and that engineers are among some of the most right-leaning
> conservative thinking groups out there and are inclined to take more extr=
eme
> religious positions.
>
> "We could thus hypothesize that personal dispositions and style of thinki=
ng
> among engineers differ from those of students in other subjects in ways t=
hat
> could make them more prone to become involved in violent forms of
> radicalization, not just as willing recruits but as prime movers," 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,
> followed
> by computer-related.
> --
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