Radicalism within the Context of Social Movements: Processes and Types

Authors

Remy Cross, University of California, Irvine
David A. Snow, University of Califronia, IrvineFollow

Author Biography

Remy Cross is an Assistant Professor of Criminology at the University of South Florida. His areas of interest include social movements, deviance, radical activism, and the effects of new communication technologies on political behavior. His dissertation examines the decision making and organization of grassroots anti-authoritarian movements on both the political right and left. His published work has appeared in the Journal ofSocial Structure, the Journal of Mathematical Sociology, and the forthcoming Encyclopedia of Social and Political Movements.

David A. Snow is a Chancellor's Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Irvine. He has authored over one hundred articles and chapters on social movements, religious conversion, framing processes, identity, homelessness, and qualitative field methods, and has co-authored or co-edited Down on Their Luck: A Study of Homeless Street People (with Anderson); The Blackwell Companion to Social Movements (with Soule and Kriesi); Together Alone: Personal Relationships in Public Places (with Morrill and White); Analyzing Social Settings: A Guide to Qualitative Observation and Analysis (with Lofland, Anderson, and Lofland); Readings on Social Movements (with McAdam); A Primer on Social Movements (with Soule); and the forthcoming Blackwell Encyclopedia of Social and Political Movements (with Della Porta, Klandermans, and McAdam).

DOI

http://dx.doi.org/10.5038/1944-0472.4.4.5

Abstract

Drawing on work within the study of social movements and on conversion processes that is relevant to understanding radicalization, as well as on our own relevant research experiences and findings, especially on radicalism in right-wing and left-wing movements, we focus attention on the elements and dynamics of social movements, both intra-movement and extra-movement, that facilitate the grassroots development and maintenance of radical identities and enhance or diminish the prospect of engagement in radical action. In particular, we note the importance of free spaces to associate apart from the reach of control agents and adversaries,the development of affinity groups and a security culture within which associational trust might develop, and the role of perceptions of the prospect of persecution by social control agents as working together to contribute to the development of radicalization. However, we emphasize that there is no single pathway to radicalization, or type of radical, but that different types, and thus pathways, result from the different ways in which the contributing factors can interact and combine.

Recommended Citation

Cross, Remy and Snow, David A.. "Radicalism within the Context of Social Movements: Processes and Types." Journal of Strategic Security 4, no. 4 (2012) : 115-130.
DOI:

http://dx.doi.org/10.5038/1944-0472.4.4.5