The Las Vegas Mass Shooting

The Las Vegas Massacre

One of the greatest terrorist attacks to ever target the United States was the mass murder in Las Vegas, which claimed the lives of about 59 people and injured more than 520. The massacre took place at the Route 91 Harvest Festival, a neighboring resort and casino, when a man by the name of Stephen Paddock used a gun to kill unarmed bystanders. When the offender was later discovered dead in a hotel room, the victim’s brother admitted that the man was an accountant who frequently traveled to Las Vegas to gamble. The motive of the killing was still not yet known since all the evidence collected by the security agencies mainly from the family members and friends indicated no reason to conduct the heinous act. However, the international terror group, the Islamic State, claimed responsibility and confessed to having recruited the perpetrator to the Islamic faith, a few weeks before he executed the killings. However, they had not evidence to support their claim and the United States security agencies did not find any evidence linking the man to any international terror group. Nonetheless, investigations into the attack indicated that the attack was premeditated and planned. Various theoretical perspectives can be used to study the events of the shooting and help to understand the social aspect of the unfortunate incident.

Interactionism and the Las Vegas Massacre

Interactionism gives the theoretical notion that brings out the social processes such as identity formation, cooperation, and conflict from human interaction. The theory proposes that the interactions a person can have in the society can give meaning through which people shape the community and in return also get shaped. Most of the social interactions are usually face-to-face and include the mutual adaptations, reactions, and actions. Notably, the communications are made possible by the ability to converse with other people through the various languages and mannerisms. However, if the interactions does not materialize as per the expectations of the involved parties, then, the involved partners seek for solutions to their apparent problems. The perpetrator of the attack was an aged man who no one knew much about especially the motive of carrying out the attack. Even the closest family members and lover could not identify any past behavior of the perpetrator to the killings. Remarkably, he executed the massacre to communicate a message either to the government or to just find a means of justifying his action to take his own life. With a more interactive approach, the killer could have confided with the person close to him on his motive and maybe convince him not to execute the killings.

Conflict Theory and the Las Vegas Massacre

The conflict theory explains that when power, resources, and statuses are unevenly distributed among various groups in the society, then the conflicts form part of the engine for social change. Therefore, power is viewed as the control of institutions, politics, accumulated wealth, and material resources that make up the society. For Stephen Paddock to carry out the attack, he must have had access to resources to secure the machinery he used to open fire on the people. His move was calculated, and without enough resources, he could not have succeeded in his mission. The aspects of social structures involved in the incident include groups, institutions, and organizations. The government security institutions were tasked to investigate the happenings of the shootings and possibly bring the perpetrator to justice. Agencies were involved in saving the lives of the victims through blood donation and other medical services. Also, different groups came out strongly to condemn the attacks and cry for justice to the victims and mitigation steps taken by the government to fight future terror attacks. From the macro perspective, the structural elements of the killings can are examined through the social institutions and the socioeconomic stratification that is present in the United States. There exist terror groups that are responsible for the significant terrorist attacks in the world, and most of them are part of a particular social group that belongs to a specific social institution and socioeconomic stratification. Most of these perpetrators of terror have resources to acquire machinery to execute their plans.

Symbolic Interactionism and the Las Vegas Massacre

The symbolic interactionist view of the Las Vegas phenomenon is that there are social processes that bring out identity formation through conflict. Many attach the happenings of the day to terrorism that is usually perpetrated though interaction. Potentially harmless individuals can be radicalized through interaction and acquire a new identity that brainwashes them to commit mass murder. An example of a cultural script is the mental image of the people that most of the terrorist group originate from the Islamic religion. Statuses and roles are responsibilities that a person acquires from assuming a particular condition, for example, a man taking care of the family. The symbolic meaning happenings that allude to a specific significant occurrence and the reality constructions are actions that unfold resulting in social conflict. The cultural scripts, statuses and roles, symbolic meanings, and the reality constructions shape the effects of the mass shooting. The perpetrator could have been radicalized to follow the terrorism cultural script of unleashing terror to innocent civilians to communicate a message to the ruling regime. To understand the happenings of Las Vegas mass shooting, the sociologist could carry out a thorough research on the social structures of the United States population using methods of data collection such as experiments, surveys, observations, in-depth interviews, content analysis, and ethnography. A sociologist could also use longitudinal research design where he or she could study the same society or individuals over a period repeatedly.