Study examines importance of education in social sciences, humanities in fighting extremism
Date
9/12/2024 4:28:01 AM
(MENAFN- Edelman) ● Social science and humanities education can help make people less receptive to extremist ideas
● Research shows those with a science or technical background are at greater risk of radicalization
● Students enrolled in science and engineering courses should be given opportunity to study social sciences or humanities
Abu Dhabi, UAE – 11 September 2024 – A social science and humanities education can make a vital contribution to countering extremist ideas and doctrines and making people less susceptible to extremist thinking. Sawab Center’s latest study, titled Antidote to extremism: Benefits of social sciences and humanities education, found that to effectively counter extremism, it is necessary to fight extremist ideas as well as to make people less receptive to them. A social science and humanities education can help in this regard.
There is evidence that people with a science or technical background are at greater risk of radicalization than those with a social science or humanities background. There is also evidence that some individuals have a militant extremist mindset (MEM) that makes them more receptive to extremist ideas and doctrines and more likely to carry out acts of violence in pursuit of extremist objectives. MEM is sustained by intellectual vices such as black and white thinking, closed-mindedness, excessive certainty, arrogance, and aversion to complexity.
A key feature of the humanities is their recognition that human beings have inner lives and that understanding one’s fellow human beings means understanding their inner lives, to the extent that such a thing is possible. The extent to which it is possible is another question addressed by the humanities. The greatest works of literature and philosophy offer insights into the inner lives of human beings – their motives, desires, fears, hopes, and so on – that cannot easily be acquired in another way.
The idea that the study of non-scientific subjects like philosophy, history, politics, and literature can play a role in countering the radicalization of young people has not been widely explored, and merits closer examination and further research.
University students, including those enrolled in science and engineering courses, should be given the opportunity to study social sciences or humanities and incentivized to take at least one social science or humanities course. Our paper also recommends that consideration be given to widening the teaching of logic.
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