Introduction

Many Australians appear to accept that they are engaged in a war against terror waged by radical or fundamentalist Muslims that began with the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington in 2001. Foxtel TV news polls in August 2005 suggested that more than 90 per cent of Australians were prepared to relinquish most of their civil liberties to have stronger security laws. There are now any number of big sociology books, many published in Britain and the United States. Well-known British sociologists like Anthony Giddens, and writers like Tony Bilton and Michael Haralambos and their colleagues, for example, offer very comprehensive introductions to contemporary sociology. The recent history and present activities of policy-makers and human service workers provide many examples of abuse and human pain brought about by professionals who have failed to think about what they were doing.