Disengaged but Still Radical? Pathways Out of Violent Right-Wing Extremism
In: Terrorism and political violence, Volume 35, Issue 8, p. 1775-1800
ISSN: 1556-1836
6 results
Sort by:
In: Terrorism and political violence, Volume 35, Issue 8, p. 1775-1800
ISSN: 1556-1836
In: Terrorism and political violence, Volume 34, Issue 7, p. 1339-1356
ISSN: 1556-1836
In: Studies in conflict and terrorism, p. 1-23
ISSN: 1521-0731
In: Studies in conflict and terrorism, Volume 45, Issue 8, p. 661-681
ISSN: 1521-0731
World Affairs Online
In: New media & society: an international and interdisciplinary forum for the examination of the social dynamics of media and information change, Volume 23, Issue 12, p. 3491-3508
ISSN: 1461-7315
Since the advent of the Internet, right-wing extremists and those who subscribe to extreme right views have exploited online platforms to build a collective identity among the like-minded. Research in this area has largely focused on extremists' use of websites, forums, and mainstream social media sites, but overlooked in this research has been an exploration of the popular social news aggregation site Reddit. The current study explores the role of Reddit's unique voting algorithm in facilitating "othering" discourse and, by extension, collective identity formation among members of a notoriously hateful subreddit community, r/The_Donald. The results of the thematic analysis indicate that those who post extreme-right content on r/The_Donald use Reddit's voting algorithm as a tool to mobilize like-minded members by promoting extreme discourses against two prominent out-groups: Muslims and the Left. Overall, r/The_Donald's "sense of community" facilitates identity work among its members by creating an environment wherein extreme right views are continuously validated.
In: Studies in conflict and terrorism, Volume 45, Issue 8, p. 661-681
ISSN: 1521-0731