Projects per year
Abstract
The past decade has witnessed burgeoning efforts amongst governments to prevent people from developing a commitment to violent extremism (conceived of as a process of radicalization). These interventions acknowledge the importance of group processes yet in practice primarily focus on the idiosyncratic personal vulnerabilities that lead people to engage in violence. This conceptualization is problematic because it disconnects the individual from the group and fails to adequately address the role of group processes in radicalization. As an alternative, we advance a genuinely social psychological account of radicalization. We draw on recent developments in theory and research in psychological science to suggest that radicalization is fundamentally a group socialization process through which people develop identification with a set of norms – that may be violent or non-violent – through situated social interactions that leverage their shared perceptions and experiences. Our alternative provides a way of understanding shifts towards violent extremism that are caused by both the content (focal topics) and process of social interactions. This means that people’s radicalization to violence is inseparable from the social context in which their social interactions take place.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 327-352 |
Number of pages | 26 |
Journal | Perspectives on Psychological Science |
Volume | 15 |
Issue number | 2 |
Early online date | 31 Dec 2019 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 31 Mar 2020 |
Keywords
- collective action
- radicalization
- social identity
- social influence
- social interaction
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Psychology
Fingerprint
Dive into the research topics of 'The need to refocus on the group as the site of radicalization'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.Projects
- 4 Finished
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CREST - Centre for Research and Evidence on Security Threats
Smith, L. G. E. (PI)
Economic and Social Research Council
1/10/18 → 30/09/20
Project: Research council
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IAA - Predicting Online Radicalization in Arabic
Smith, L. G. E. (PI)
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
31/08/18 → 31/05/19
Project: Research council
File -
Predicting the Growth of Islamic State Online - Mid-Career Fellowship
Smith, L. G. E. (PI)
1/09/16 → 31/08/17
Project: Research council
Profiles
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Laura G. E. Smith
- Department of Psychology - Professor
- Centre for Networks and Collective Behaviour
- EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Cyber Security
- Institute for Digital Security and Behaviour (IDSB)
Person: Research & Teaching, Core staff