1,720,972 research outputs found
Far-Right Extremism and the Sociology of Race and Racism
No full textAlthough far-right or right-wing extremism has often been used as a signifier for racism and the dangers it poses, particularly in post-racial, color-blind, and liberal societies and narratives, it has rarely been studied through the lens of the sociology of race and racism. This field and body of work have more often focused on the very structural, systemic, and institutional forms of racism that a focus on “extremism” can serve to distract from, minimize, and even perpetuate. Work on right-wing extremism in sociology has taken place, however, but primarily through a class analysis that has often conflated race (specifically Whiteness) and class (specifically working class) and treats racist extremism as a symptom of socioeconomic inequality as opposed to a system of inequality in which Whiteness is also privileged. This chapter critiques existing approaches to right-wing extremism vis-à-vis racism, highlights gaps, and examines what sociology of race and racism—and notably that on post-racial, color-blind, and liberal racism—can offer to help understand the place and function of racist right-wing extremism within the wider system of racism and White supremacy. Related to this, it examines what such work in sociology of race and racism can say about the role of counterextremism and counterterrorism in terms of both responses to the racist far-right and Islamophobia
Using Bourdieu's Theoretical Toolkit of Habitus, Capital, and Field to Advance Understanding of Radical Milieus
No full textThis chapter examines how Pierre Bourdieu’s concepts of habitus, capital, and field can enhance understanding of radical milieus. Bourdieu wrote relatively little about social movements and contentious politics. Nonetheless, his thinking has increasingly gained traction in this subfield as scholars have identified the potential for Bourdieu’s conceptual toolkit to both complement and advance other dominant paradigms in this area, such as resource mobilization and political opportunity theories. This chapter introduces Bourdieu’s core concepts and then explores how they contribute to thinking in three key areas of scholarship on radical milieus: the emergence of radical milieus, how radical milieus interact with the “mainstream,” and individual pathways through radical milieus. The chapter argues that particular strengths of Bourdieu’s conceptual toolkit for the study of radical milieus are the way it can integrate individual and structural levels of analysis and how it enables the integration of different strands of theory on social movements and collective action
The Hero with a Thousand Faces: applying the “Hero’s Journey” to Jihadist propaganda
No full textPopular culture is awash with tales of great heroes, often with idiosyncratic traits, who claw their way to legendary status, going beyond the call of duty to serve and protect their homelands from religious or territorial expansion. The Hero with a Thousand Faces was published by Joseph Campbell in 1949 to outline his theory that all mythological narratives share a common archetype, referred to as a ‘monomyth’ or, more colloquially, the ‘Hero’s Journey’. Significantly, in extremist propaganda, this ‘monomyth’ is frequently utilised in conjunction with the concepts of harmony, belonging, friendship, power, and comradery, ideals that may be deemed attractive to marginalised and disenfranchised potential recruits. This chapter draws promiscuously from symbolic interactionist and phenomenological perspectives, such as Goffman’s dramaturgical account of human interaction, narrative and cultural criminology, and employs the conceptual framework of the ‘Hero’s Journey’ to examine specific narratives present in both far right and Islamic State propaganda. It builds on the awareness that we give particular performances of self to specific groups of people and social institutions to argue that propagandists frequently employ forms of impression management to create illusory utopian societies in which there are many social roles to perform. Their recruiting techniques bear resemblance to a medieval reality show which offers both ‘front stage’ components representing powerful combatant lifestyles and violence sadistic fantasies that can influence the direction of performances or behaviour, and ‘backstage’ functions that encompass religious or ideological dimensions to target audiences who may be suffering from a lack of belonging. It is argued that Goffman’s concept of dramaturgy is not confined to the theatre and that its ideas can be employed by extremists through adapting their actions to appeal to those audiences exploiting an increasingly socially-connected world
Religion and the New Atheism: A Critical Appraisal
No full textGregory R. Peterson is a contributing author, Ethics, Out-Group Altruism, and the New Atheism.”
Book description: The term new atheism has been given to the recent barrage of bestselling books written by Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Daniel Dennett, Christopher Hitchens, and others. These books and their authors have had a significant media presence and have only grown in popularity over the years. This book brings together scholars from religious studies, science, sociology of religion, sociology of science, philosophy, and theology to engage the new atheism and place it in the context of broader scholarly discourses. This volume will serve to contextualize and critically examine the claims, arguments and goals of the new atheism so that readers can become more informed of some of the debates with which the new atheists inevitably and, at times unknowingly, engage.https://openprairie.sdstate.edu/hppr_book/1011/thumbnail.jp
Chapter 4 – The Infiltration of the Toronto 18: A Conversation with Mubin Shaikh
No full textThis chapter is an edited version of a conversation that occurred in December 2019 between Amarnath Amarasingam and Mubin Shaikh, a confidential human source for Canadian law enforcement related to the Toronto 18 case. Shaikh, having spent an inordinate amount of time with the suspects, has important insights on the group, their friendship dynamics, and their differing levels of radicalization. The chapter also delves into the challenges of infiltration, trust-building with suspects, as well as the risks experienced by those who go undercover. The conversation concludes with Shaikh reflecting on ongoing struggles related to convincing some in the Muslim community in Canada that it was not entrapment and the social and psychological fallout of the whole experience, even after a decade
Where Are They Now?: The Costs and Benefits of Doxxing Far-Right Extremists
Full text linkResearch on far-right extremism has grown substantially over the last decade, owing to the rise of Trump, attacks such as the one in Christchurch and Buffalo, as well as the mainstreaming of hate speech and polarization. In addition to research, there have been antifascist activists who have been engaged in doxxing members of the far right who are part of our schools, our militaries, and governments. Releasing the private information of members of far-right movements to the public has created interesting policy and law enforcement dilemmas. With respect to law enforcement, can doxxing be used as a tool to force individuals to disengage from groups? For social media companies, doxxing violates their terms of service, but should an exception be made in these instances since it purportedly serves a public interest? For this paper, we interviewed 10 former members of the far right who have experienced doxxing over the last several years. The paper explores what happened, the immediate and long-term effects of doxxing on their lives, and ongoing challenges of being exposed against their will. We conclude with some policy recommendations related to the costs and benefits of doxxing on these individuals but also society at large
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
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How conspiracy theorists argue: epistemic capital in the QAnon social media sphere
Full text linkWhat is the role of different epistemic modes in how authority is established in right-leaning conspiratorial narratives? This paper sets out to answer this question through a mixed methods analysis. The first section sets out a model for the analysis of epistemic contestations, using six epistemic modes. This is then applied to a data set of Telegram posts in which key terms are used to identify these epistemic modes. Two questions were then asked of the data. First, how is power related to different kinds of knowledge claims in the far-right conspiratorial milieu? Second, what is the role of these different epistemic modes in how authority is established in right-leaning conspiratorial narratives? How does the epistemology of QAnon influence how they argue? We found that while a broader set of epistemic modes could be identified, there were contestations internally also, particularly around moments of “failed prophecy,” and the role of Christianity and esoteric spiritualities
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