Domenico Tosini
Biographic Data
| ID | 295062 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Domenico Tosini |
| GIVEN NAMES | Domenico |
| FAMILY NAME | Tosini |
| SIGNATURE | TOSINI D |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Trento |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-2298-8158 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 18 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 25 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 18 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2005 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2023 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Gianfranco Poggi (1934-2023)
Con la scomparsa di Gianfranco Poggi il 13 luglio 2023, ci lascia uno degli studiosi che negli ultimi cinquant’anni hanno maggiormente contribuito all’interpretazione dei classici della sociologia e allo sviluppo della sociologia politica. Dopo la laurea in giurisprudenza nel 1956 presso l’Università di Padova, Poggi si trasferì per alcuni anni negli Stati Uniti, dove nel 1963 ottenne il dottorato in Sociologia presso l’Università della Californi…
Violence from the perspective of social immunology: A contribution to social systems theory
This paper analyzes violence from the peculiar perspective of a “social immunology”, defined as the area of social systems theory concerned primarily, even though not exclusively, with those processes by which social systems as communication systems deal with tensions, termed ecological tensions, that involve the intersection between social systems and their human environment and that endanger the maintenance of social autopoiesis. Individuals’ v…
The suicide support group as a signifying agent and emotion transformer: A contribution from a micro-sociological perspective
We examined social mechanisms of suicide support groups based on evidence from an Italian postvention program. Our data comprise field notes from 47 meetings of a peer group and interviews with 20 suicide survivors. Group meetings unfolded as interaction rituals with elements including the survivors' focus on their trauma, their common emotions, and their perception of boundaries to outsiders. Meanings relative to these elements were expressed by…
Social immunology: A theory of the immune processes of social systems
This article adds to the literature on system research by providing a comprehensive analysis of the immune processes for the social system of society, focusing on conflicts and law as the main components. Social systems are conceptualized as self‐reproducing units based on communication, with individuals constituting separate entities, namely, the human environment of society. Processes of social immunization concern individuals' perception of th…
Like climbing a glass wall”: Suicide survivors in an Italian province
The study contributed to understanding suicide grief by focusing on suicide survivors' subjective experience combined with attention to social settings that influenced their interpretations. We interviewed 25 survivors and analyzed field notes from 47 meetings of a suicide support group. We documented the unfolding of typical forms of meaning reconstructions that helped survivors redefine their situation. These forms included searching for reconc…
The suicide bomber as a medium of terrorist communication: A contribution from social systems theory
This paper examines how suicide bombers are framed in terrorist communication, focusing on the empirical case of al-Qaeda’s suicide campaigns. Relying on the concept of media of communication in social systems theory, three main communicative levels of terrorist propaganda underlying the representation of suicide bombers are identified. First, on the level of power, armed organizations aim to coerce and deter their enemy by staging a complex set …
Why Communication: On the theoretical principles and consequences of Luhmann’s systems theory
This article analyzes the main theoretical principles underlying Niklas Luhmann’s contribution to social systems theory. First, the reasons behind the attempt to adopt certain developments within the general theory of systems in sociological theory are clarified. Following this approach, social systems are conceptualized as entities differentiated from their environment on the basis of the specific operation of communication. Second, the internal…
Ben Fincham, Susanne Langer, Jonathan Scourfield, Michael Shiner, 2011, Understanding Suicide: A Sociological Autopsy, New York, Palgrave MacMillan, 216 p
With Understanding Suicide : A Sociological Autopsy, Ben Fincham, Susanne Langer, Johathan Scourfield, and Michael Shiner make an impressive contribution to the analysis of suicide thanks to groundbreaking research resorting to a method called “sociological autopsy”. The empirical part of the book is preceded by a critical overview of the major classical works in the study of suicide (Chapter 2) – Émile Durkheim, Ruth S. Caravan, Jack D. Douglas,…
The autonomy of law in the war on terror: A contribution from social systems theory
Agents and Mechanisms of Terrorist Campaigns: A contribution to a general theory of rationality
L’article offre un apercu theorique des plus importants processus qui engendrent les campagnes terroristes. Il se concentre sur les rapports entre les niveaux macro et micro concernant une pluralite d’agents, les plus importants etant les groupes armes, leurs collaborateurs et leurs combattants et, en meme temps, trois types de mecanismes causaux ou sociaux. Ces derniers sont : les mecanismes situationnels, qui identifient les contraintes et les …
Calculated, Passionate, Pious Extremism: Beyond a Rational Choice Theory of Suicide Terrorism
Al-Qaeda’s Strategic Gamble: The Sociology of Suicide Bombings in Iraq
The article analyzes the suicide campaign conducted by the Iraqi insurgency since the 2003 US-led invasion. It offers a theoretical framework to identify the factors that explain why only certain armed organizations – in particular Al-Qaeda and its allies – have mounted a terrorist campaign and indiscriminately targeted civilians, in particular the Shiite population instead of the occupying forces, by perpetrating suicide attacks instead of using…
A Sociological Understanding of Suicide Attacks
Over the last 25 years, suicide attacks have become an alarming threat. They are a political tool which has been adopted by several organizations in Sri Lanka, Palestine and the Occupied Territories, Turkey, Chechnya, Afghanistan, Pakistan and, in particular, by the Al-Qaeda-led insurgency in Iraq in its struggle against the US and its allies. Recent analyses have traced back the use of suicide terrorism to its 'strategic logic': organizations an…
Teaching & Learning Guide for: Sociology of Terrorism and Counterterrorism: A Social Science Understanding of Terrorist Threat
1. Introduction Over the last decade, increased attention has been paid to terrorism, particularly to the new wave of terrorist groups, fundamentalist movements, and extremist organisations such as Al‐Qaeda. September 11 marked the beginning of a turbulent phase in which states face a new kind of threat made up of a complex network of insidious revolutionary and nationalist forces. Such transformations have given rise to an unprecedented number o…
Sociology of Terrorism and Counterterrorism: A Social Science Understanding of Terrorist Threat
The purpose of this article is to outline a social science understanding of terrorist threat, with special reference to political violence of new terrorist groups, fundamentalist movements and extremist organisations such as Al‐Qaeda. Four main terrorism topics will be examined: (i) Definition of terrorism . We will make explicit the political and moral implications of the word ‘terrorism’ by tracing a brief history of terrorism; at the same time…
Re-conceptualizing Law and Politics: Contributions from Systems Theory
or indeed, at even more abstract level, of a general theory of social systems. 3 According to Luhmann, social systems have to be understood as (operatively closed, to use his expression) networks of communications. Communi- cation is the operation characterizing social systems within the more embracing set of systems (other members of the set are living, nervous, and psychological systems), and as such delimits the field of sociology. Among the s…
Medium as a basic concept of sociology: Contributions From Systems Theory
The main purpose of this article is to present the fundamental concepts of a theory of social systems, with special reference to the concepts of medium and form, and their application in sociology. By challenging the indifference and opposition shown by most contemporary sociologists to the ontological and theoretical questions of social theory (e.g. in the case of micro-sociologists' aversion to Parsons), systems theory has, from the beginning, …
The welfare courts: A socio-legal analysis of risk management through modern strict liability
A Sociological Understanding of Suicide Attacks
Over the last 25 years, suicide attacks have become an alarming threat. They are a political tool which has been adopted by several organizations in Sri Lanka, Palestine and the Occupied Territories, Turkey, Chechnya, Afghanistan, Pakistan and, in particular, by the Al-Qaeda-led insurgency in Iraq in its struggle against the US and its allies. Recent analyses have traced back the use of suicide terrorism to its 'strategic logic': organizations an…
Sociology of Terrorism and Counterterrorism: A Social Science Understanding of Terrorist Threat
The purpose of this article is to outline a social science understanding of terrorist threat, with special reference to political violence of new terrorist groups, fundamentalist movements and extremist organisations such as Al‐Qaeda. Four main terrorism topics will be examined: (i) Definition of terrorism . We will make explicit the political and moral implications of the word ‘terrorism’ by tracing a brief history of terrorism; at the same time…
Al-Qaeda’s Strategic Gamble: The Sociology of Suicide Bombings in Iraq
The article analyzes the suicide campaign conducted by the Iraqi insurgency since the 2003 US-led invasion. It offers a theoretical framework to identify the factors that explain why only certain armed organizations – in particular Al-Qaeda and its allies – have mounted a terrorist campaign and indiscriminately targeted civilians, in particular the Shiite population instead of the occupying forces, by perpetrating suicide attacks instead of using…
Like climbing a glass wall”: Suicide survivors in an Italian province
The study contributed to understanding suicide grief by focusing on suicide survivors' subjective experience combined with attention to social settings that influenced their interpretations. We interviewed 25 survivors and analyzed field notes from 47 meetings of a suicide support group. We documented the unfolding of typical forms of meaning reconstructions that helped survivors redefine their situation. These forms included searching for reconc…
The suicide bomber as a medium of terrorist communication: A contribution from social systems theory
This paper examines how suicide bombers are framed in terrorist communication, focusing on the empirical case of al-Qaeda’s suicide campaigns. Relying on the concept of media of communication in social systems theory, three main communicative levels of terrorist propaganda underlying the representation of suicide bombers are identified. First, on the level of power, armed organizations aim to coerce and deter their enemy by staging a complex set …
Calculated, Passionate, Pious Extremism: Beyond a Rational Choice Theory of Suicide Terrorism
Re-conceptualizing Law and Politics: Contributions from Systems Theory
or indeed, at even more abstract level, of a general theory of social systems. 3 According to Luhmann, social systems have to be understood as (operatively closed, to use his expression) networks of communications. Communi- cation is the operation characterizing social systems within the more embracing set of systems (other members of the set are living, nervous, and psychological systems), and as such delimits the field of sociology. Among the s…
Medium as a basic concept of sociology: Contributions From Systems Theory
The main purpose of this article is to present the fundamental concepts of a theory of social systems, with special reference to the concepts of medium and form, and their application in sociology. By challenging the indifference and opposition shown by most contemporary sociologists to the ontological and theoretical questions of social theory (e.g. in the case of micro-sociologists' aversion to Parsons), systems theory has, from the beginning, …
The suicide support group as a signifying agent and emotion transformer: A contribution from a micro-sociological perspective
We examined social mechanisms of suicide support groups based on evidence from an Italian postvention program. Our data comprise field notes from 47 meetings of a peer group and interviews with 20 suicide survivors. Group meetings unfolded as interaction rituals with elements including the survivors' focus on their trauma, their common emotions, and their perception of boundaries to outsiders. Meanings relative to these elements were expressed by…
The welfare courts: A socio-legal analysis of risk management through modern strict liability
The welfare courts: A socio-legal analysis of risk management through modern strict liability
Re-conceptualizing Law and Politics: Contributions from Systems Theory
or indeed, at even more abstract level, of a general theory of social systems. 3 According to Luhmann, social systems have to be understood as (operatively closed, to use his expression) networks of communications. Communi- cation is the operation characterizing social systems within the more embracing set of systems (other members of the set are living, nervous, and psychological systems), and as such delimits the field of sociology. Among the s…
Medium as a basic concept of sociology: Contributions From Systems Theory
The main purpose of this article is to present the fundamental concepts of a theory of social systems, with special reference to the concepts of medium and form, and their application in sociology. By challenging the indifference and opposition shown by most contemporary sociologists to the ontological and theoretical questions of social theory (e.g. in the case of micro-sociologists' aversion to Parsons), systems theory has, from the beginning, …
Sociology of Terrorism and Counterterrorism: A Social Science Understanding of Terrorist Threat
The purpose of this article is to outline a social science understanding of terrorist threat, with special reference to political violence of new terrorist groups, fundamentalist movements and extremist organisations such as Al‐Qaeda. Four main terrorism topics will be examined: (i) Definition of terrorism . We will make explicit the political and moral implications of the word ‘terrorism’ by tracing a brief history of terrorism; at the same time…
Teaching & Learning Guide for: Sociology of Terrorism and Counterterrorism: A Social Science Understanding of Terrorist Threat
1. Introduction Over the last decade, increased attention has been paid to terrorism, particularly to the new wave of terrorist groups, fundamentalist movements, and extremist organisations such as Al‐Qaeda. September 11 marked the beginning of a turbulent phase in which states face a new kind of threat made up of a complex network of insidious revolutionary and nationalist forces. Such transformations have given rise to an unprecedented number o…
A Sociological Understanding of Suicide Attacks
Over the last 25 years, suicide attacks have become an alarming threat. They are a political tool which has been adopted by several organizations in Sri Lanka, Palestine and the Occupied Territories, Turkey, Chechnya, Afghanistan, Pakistan and, in particular, by the Al-Qaeda-led insurgency in Iraq in its struggle against the US and its allies. Recent analyses have traced back the use of suicide terrorism to its 'strategic logic': organizations an…
Calculated, Passionate, Pious Extremism: Beyond a Rational Choice Theory of Suicide Terrorism
Al-Qaeda’s Strategic Gamble: The Sociology of Suicide Bombings in Iraq
The article analyzes the suicide campaign conducted by the Iraqi insurgency since the 2003 US-led invasion. It offers a theoretical framework to identify the factors that explain why only certain armed organizations – in particular Al-Qaeda and its allies – have mounted a terrorist campaign and indiscriminately targeted civilians, in particular the Shiite population instead of the occupying forces, by perpetrating suicide attacks instead of using…
The autonomy of law in the war on terror: A contribution from social systems theory
Agents and Mechanisms of Terrorist Campaigns: A contribution to a general theory of rationality
L’article offre un apercu theorique des plus importants processus qui engendrent les campagnes terroristes. Il se concentre sur les rapports entre les niveaux macro et micro concernant une pluralite d’agents, les plus importants etant les groupes armes, leurs collaborateurs et leurs combattants et, en meme temps, trois types de mecanismes causaux ou sociaux. Ces derniers sont : les mecanismes situationnels, qui identifient les contraintes et les …
Ben Fincham, Susanne Langer, Jonathan Scourfield, Michael Shiner, 2011, Understanding Suicide: A Sociological Autopsy, New York, Palgrave MacMillan, 216 p
With Understanding Suicide : A Sociological Autopsy, Ben Fincham, Susanne Langer, Johathan Scourfield, and Michael Shiner make an impressive contribution to the analysis of suicide thanks to groundbreaking research resorting to a method called “sociological autopsy”. The empirical part of the book is preceded by a critical overview of the major classical works in the study of suicide (Chapter 2) – Émile Durkheim, Ruth S. Caravan, Jack D. Douglas,…
Why Communication: On the theoretical principles and consequences of Luhmann’s systems theory
This article analyzes the main theoretical principles underlying Niklas Luhmann’s contribution to social systems theory. First, the reasons behind the attempt to adopt certain developments within the general theory of systems in sociological theory are clarified. Following this approach, social systems are conceptualized as entities differentiated from their environment on the basis of the specific operation of communication. Second, the internal…
The suicide bomber as a medium of terrorist communication: A contribution from social systems theory
This paper examines how suicide bombers are framed in terrorist communication, focusing on the empirical case of al-Qaeda’s suicide campaigns. Relying on the concept of media of communication in social systems theory, three main communicative levels of terrorist propaganda underlying the representation of suicide bombers are identified. First, on the level of power, armed organizations aim to coerce and deter their enemy by staging a complex set …
Like climbing a glass wall”: Suicide survivors in an Italian province
The study contributed to understanding suicide grief by focusing on suicide survivors' subjective experience combined with attention to social settings that influenced their interpretations. We interviewed 25 survivors and analyzed field notes from 47 meetings of a suicide support group. We documented the unfolding of typical forms of meaning reconstructions that helped survivors redefine their situation. These forms included searching for reconc…
Social immunology: A theory of the immune processes of social systems
This article adds to the literature on system research by providing a comprehensive analysis of the immune processes for the social system of society, focusing on conflicts and law as the main components. Social systems are conceptualized as self‐reproducing units based on communication, with individuals constituting separate entities, namely, the human environment of society. Processes of social immunization concern individuals' perception of th…
Gianfranco Poggi (1934-2023)
Con la scomparsa di Gianfranco Poggi il 13 luglio 2023, ci lascia uno degli studiosi che negli ultimi cinquant’anni hanno maggiormente contribuito all’interpretazione dei classici della sociologia e allo sviluppo della sociologia politica. Dopo la laurea in giurisprudenza nel 1956 presso l’Università di Padova, Poggi si trasferì per alcuni anni negli Stati Uniti, dove nel 1963 ottenne il dottorato in Sociologia presso l’Università della Californi…
Violence from the perspective of social immunology: A contribution to social systems theory
This paper analyzes violence from the peculiar perspective of a “social immunology”, defined as the area of social systems theory concerned primarily, even though not exclusively, with those processes by which social systems as communication systems deal with tensions, termed ecological tensions, that involve the intersection between social systems and their human environment and that endanger the maintenance of social autopoiesis. Individuals’ v…
The suicide support group as a signifying agent and emotion transformer: A contribution from a micro-sociological perspective
We examined social mechanisms of suicide support groups based on evidence from an Italian postvention program. Our data comprise field notes from 47 meetings of a peer group and interviews with 20 suicide survivors. Group meetings unfolded as interaction rituals with elements including the survivors' focus on their trauma, their common emotions, and their perception of boundaries to outsiders. Meanings relative to these elements were expressed by…
Sociology (16 works) · Political science (14 works) · Law (11 works) · Law (9 works) · Politics (9 works) · Political Conflict and Governance (8 works) · Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and Political Violence (8 works) · Criminology (7 works) · Psychology (7 works) · Terrorism (7 works)