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Who or What to Blame

Competing Interpretations of the Norwegian Terrorist Attack

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 October 2014

Thomas Hylland Eriksen
Thomas Hylland Eriksen*
Affiliation:
University of Oslo, Norway [[email protected]].
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Abstract

The terrorist attack in Norway on 22 July 2011, carried out by a right-wing extremist, was a shocking event, leaving 77 dead and dozens seriously wounded. It soon gave rise to a range of interpretations and explanations as to the causes and implications of the attack. Engaging with classical anthropological and more recent sociological literature on trust and blame, the article shows that there was no hegemonic narrative or explanation of the attack, and similarly no broad agreement over the steps to be taken in order to reduce the chances of future attacks. Six different attempts to account for the terrorist attack are described, but only two correctly identify demographic change, migration and the rise of xenophobic politics as the underlying causes of the terrorist attack. This suggests that the high level of trust characteristic of Norwegian society is likely to be reduced as a result of accelerating change and accompanying social fragmentation.

Résumé

L’attentat terroriste réalisé en Norvège le 22 juillet 2011 par un partisan de l’extrême droite a constitué un évenement particulièrement choquant. De nombreuses interprétations et explications ont cherché à rendre compte des causes et implications d’une attaque à l’origine de 77 morts et de dizaines de blessés sérieux. A partir d’un dialogue avec l’anthropologie classique mais également des travaux sociologiques plus récents consacrés à la confiance et à la culpabilité, cet article montre qu’il n’y pas eu un récit ou une explication majoritairement accepté de l’attaque, tout comme il n’y a pas eu d’accord général sur les mesures à prendre afin de limiter les risques de futures attaques. Sur les six tentatives d’explications recensées, seules deux identifient correctement le changement démographique, les mouvements migratoires et l’émergence des politiques xenophobes comme des causes sous-jacentes de l’attaque terroriste. Ceci suggère que l’augmentation du changement sociale comme de la fragmentation sociale qui l’accompagne contribue à réduire le niveau jusqu’alors élevé de confiance caractéristique de la société norvégienne.

Zusammenfassung

Der Terroranschlag, der am 22. Juli 2011 in Norwegen von einem Mitläufer rechtsextremer Gruppen verübt wurde, war ein schockierendes Ereignis, das sehr rasch zu einer steigenden Anzahl von Interpretationen und Erklärungen der Gründe und Konsequenzen führte und mehrere Dutzend Verletzte forderte, sowie 77 Personen das Leben kostete. Aufbauend auf klassischer anthropologischer und neuerer soziologischer Literatur zum Thema Vertrauen und Schuld, verdeutlicht der Beitrag, dass es weder zu einer allgemein anerkannten Darstellung oder Erklärung des Anschlags noch zu einer Übereinkunft bezüglich der zu ergreifenden Maßnahmen gekommen ist, um das Risiko neuer Anschläge zu verhindern. Sechs verschiedene Interpretationsansätze werden beschrieben, wobei nur zwei den demographischen Wandel, die Migration und die Entstehung xenophober Politiken eindeutig als Ursache für die Anschläge identifizieren. Dies deutet daraufhin, dass der hohe Grad an Vertrauen, charakteristisch für die norwegische Gesellschaft, wahrscheinlich aufgrund der zunehmenden sozialen Veränderungen und Fragmentierungen abnimmt.

Keywords

TrustBlameSocial changeCohesionTerrorismConfianceCulpabilitéChangement socialCohésionTerrorismeVertrauenSchuldSozialer WandelKohäsionTerrorismus
Type
Exceptional Cases
Information
European Journal of Sociology / Archives Européennes de Sociologie , Volume 55 , Issue 2 , August 2014 , pp. 275 - 294
Copyright
Copyright © A.E.S. 2014 

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