Internet-Based Radicalization as Enculturation to Violent Deviant Subcultures

• NCJ Number: 252235
• Journal: Deviant Behavior Volume: 38 Issue: 8 Dated: 2017 Pages: 855-869
• Author(s): Thomas J. Holt; Joshua D. Freilich; Steven M. Chermak
• Date Published: 2017
• Length: 15 pages
• Grant Number(s): 2014-ZA-BX-0004
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical); Report (Study/Research); Report (Grant Sponsored); Program/Project Description
• Award: An Assessment of Extremist Groups Use of Web Forums, Social Media, and Technology to Enculturate and Radicalize Individuals to Violence

Annotation

This study examined the intersections of subcultural theories and radicalization theories from terrorism studies in an effort to determine how they may be improved through integration.

Abstract

To date, there have been almost no efforts to merge these frameworks, even though terrorism shares common characteristics of deviant subcultures. Both are driven by ideologies that oppose their targets. The current study focuses on the process of online radicalization to assess how subcultural research in online environments may inform the process of enculturation into a terrorist belief system. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications of this expansion for research on terrorism and subcultures. (Publisher abstract modified)