323 Hiding in Plain Sight Community Organization, Naive Trust and Terrorism James Hawdon and John Ryan Virginia Polytechnic and State University, USA abstract: Terrorism is behavior that is both initiated and sustained by actors within a social environment. That social environment may vary along a contin- uumfromsupportingandenablingthebehavior,toignoringorbeingunawareof the behavior, to actively opposing the behavior. This article applies social disor- ganization theory, social capital theory and Black’s work on terrorism to predict communitycharacteristicslikelytoprovidetheanonymityrequiredforthedevel- opment of terrorist activity in developed nations. Using the Social Capital Community Benchmark Survey and case studies, the article demonstrates how the theory predicts and helps explain why the 9/11 terrorists went undetected evenastheylivedintheUS. keywords: community ✦ socialcapital ✦ socialdisorganization ✦ terrorism ✦ trust The perceived and sometimes real threat of international terrorism has becomeanintegralpartofourtimes.Whileterrorism’sdefinitionissocially constructed and its implementation and resistance carry strong performa- tive aspects (Naaman, 2007), violent attacks, with civilian victims, carried outbynon-state-sanctionedgroups,areempiricalevents.Whilethesocial scienceshavehadmuchtosayaboutcounteringotherformsofviolenceat thecommunitylevel,wehavecontributedcomparativelylittleknowledge tocounteringthisparticularformofviolence(Turk,2004).Socialscience’s ambivalencetowardthestudyofterrorismisunderstandable.Socialscien- tistsknowthatournotionsofterrorismaresociallyconstructed(Tilly,2004) andthatthephenomenonislinkedtothemacro-structuralforcesassociated withtheglobalspreadofcapitalismandtheforeignpoliciesofdeveloped nations (Mozaffari, 2005; Sassen, 2005). We know there is no quick fix, no muscling away, or spending away the problem. Yet, we also know that Current Sociology ✦ May 2009 ✦ Vol. 57(3): 323–343 © International Sociological Association SAGE (Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore and Washington DC) DOI: 10.1177/0011392108101586 SURVIVAL STRATEGIES CS 01-101586-Hawdon%2fRyan:Layout 1 3/25/2009 12:16 PM Page 323