Session at Sociological Association meeting to address attack of World Trade Center

Blacksburg, Va., — Virginia Tech sociology professor Clifton Bryant organized and will preside over a session on the terrorist destruction of the World Trade Center’s twin towers for the upcoming annual convention of the Mid-South Sociological Association in Mobile, Ala., in late October and will present a talk on the extensive social implications of that violent incident.

The session, "September 11, 2001—The Second Day of Infamy: The Terrorist Attack and a Changed America," will cover the tragedy from all angles. In his talk, "Sept. 11, 2001: Unthinkable Violence and Transformations in American Culture," Bryant will address the tragedy’s multiple impacts on American culture and social life. For example, he pointed to an article in the New York Times that discusses words that cannot be used at present. The writer, Daniel J. Wakin, points out that common, everyday words and phrases can be shocking today: "’crash and burn’ (as in fail), ‘shoot down’ (as in nix an idea), ‘had a blast’ (as in fun)."

The Roanoke Times carried a story on songs that the 1,170 radio stations in the chain owned by Clear Channel Communications are asked not to play, Bryant said. The list includes obvious titles such as "You Dropped the Bomb on Me" by Gap Band, "Suicide Solution" by Ozzy Osborne, and "Seek and Destroy" by Metallica. However, it also contains unexpected titles, Bryant said: "Ticket to Ride" by the Beatles, "Blowin’ in the Wind" by Peter, Paul and Mary, "Bridge Over Troubled Waters" by Simon and Garfunkle.

Bryant will discuss changes already being made in our society, such as the delaying of certain movies and the removal of scenic shots showing the World Trade Center towers in television programs. He predicts other changes—that people will drive more instead of flying, for example, and that people may balk at living or working in tall buildings.

Five other scholars from around the region will discuss other issues that also begin with "Sept. 11, 2001." The presentations include "Politics, Theology and Violence in Radical Islamism," by Dawood H. Sultan of Louisiana State Univeresity; "Reactions, Actions and Reactions: Personal and Professional," by Dennis R. McSeveney of the Univesity of New Orleans; "Collective Trauma, The Corrosive Community, and Contested Disaster," by J. Steven Picou of the University of South Alabama; "Globalization, Manufactured Risk, and Civil Liberties," by Valerie Gunter of the Univesity of New Orleans; and "Recreancy and Ontological Security in Mass Society,"by Duane A. Gill of Mississippi State University.

The presenters are all behavioral scientists with research interests in various aspects of the sociological import of the recent violence.

Bryant requested that he be allowed to organize the session, and his session became the Presidential Plenary Session and the lead session the Oct. 25 program. His professional attention to the terrorist attacks grows out of his scholarly specialization in deviant behavior, military sociology, and the sociology of death. "The attacks interface with these three subdisciplines in a forceful and significant manner," he said.

Bryant is a past president of the Mid-South Sociological Association and, several years ago, received the organization’s Distinguished Career Award. He was the founding editor-in-chief of the scientific journal Deviant Behavior. He is editor-in-chief of the recently published four-volume Encyclopedia of Criminology and Deviant Behavior and is editor-in-chief of a two-volume reference work called The Handbook of Thanatology (Death Studies) now in progress. He has taught a course on military sociology for a number of years and has been a visiting scientist at the U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences.

"When I was younger, I was an officer of military police and served as the commanding officer of the 3461st Military Police Detachment, and, as such, was the de facto chief of police at Fort Rucker, Ala.," he said. "So I have a compelling interest in the terrorist bombings and the extensive social implications of such violence."

Bryant hopes his session will generate interest in sociological research on the disastrous event. He plans to try to develop some research efforts in the Virginia Tech Department of Sociology in the College of Arts and Sciences.