Lone Actor Terrorism Theory

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Despite numerous high-profile terrorist attacks that have been committed by individuals operating independently from terrorist groups, little attention has been given to explaining how these lone actor terrorists can emotionally perform violent acts against others. Recent studies of violence suggest that micro-level situational factors are essential in emotionally enabling violent action. Perhaps the most critical factor is enabling violence is situational emotional dominance. This dominance is most often established through several group dynamics that include an entrainment with the physical and emotional states of confederates, mutual monitoring (a form of peer pressure), as well as the role of emotionally supportive observers. Indeed, Collins highlights the …show more content…

To do so, this project utilises the microsociology of violence (MoV), a theory developed by the sociologist Randall Collins. This theory has been used to explore many kinds of violence, but it has only seen limited use in studies of terrorism, with no use in the study of lone actor terrorism. To compliment this sociological theory, I also draw upon existing research on lone actor terrorism, as well as observations from the fields of forensic psychology, neurology, physiology, and criminology. By using MoV, this project involves analysing the person-to-person emotional and physiological interactions within a lone actor terrorist attack. The specific analytical focus is on how a situation is emotionally constructed through the interactions of its participants, and how these constructs influence the performance, nature, and intensity of violence. By exploring these situations in detail, it will be possible to map individual lone actor terrorists actively shape the situation to perform violence and manage the emotional burden of performing

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