Beneath the veneer of integration into a multicultural environment, many people – especially young men with an immigrant background – are lost in the world of contradictions around them. Their seamless, all-embracing world of tradition is gone, but they are not yet confident citizens of the modern, individualistic world.
对恐怖主义分子本身而言，这种冲突是现代化带来的混乱后果之一。在不断融入多元文化环境的外表下，许多人——尤其是带有移民背景的年轻人——在围绕他们的这片矛盾世界中迷失了方向。他们那原本天衣无缝、兼容并包的传统世界已经不复存在，但他们还没有成为当代个人主义世界的自信公民。就业、乃至贫困都不是这个问题的首要所在，边缘化与异化以及对归属感的缺失才是首要问题。