A single core need drives both entry into and exit from extremism.

Evidence

Abstract This empirical study examines intensive interview data collected from eight (N=8) former members of white supremacist organizations in order to understand the meanings of exit – that is, disengagement and deradicalization – from the extremist’s perspective. Using a thematic analysis approach, our findings build on the distinction in the existing exit literature between push and pull factors and the process of role exit identified by Ebaugh (1988). These push and pull factors as well as social identity, we argue, are subsumed within a complex exit process, which includes disengagement, identity deconstruction, and transgressive and transitional relationships. For some, this process culminated in an accomplished identity reconstruction and deradicalization. Most importantly, our findings suggest that exit is linked to entry by a developmental drive that we call the participant’s core need. The core need was the background motivator of entry, disengagement, exit, and ultimately deradicalization. We think that this identity reconfiguration and core needs framework may help make heterogenous exit trajectories that have remained puzzling for researchers more understandable. — Amy Fisher-Smith, Charles R. Sullivan, John D. Macready, and Geoffrey Manzi, Identity Reconfiguration and the Core…, 10

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s purpose of testing whether disengagement feels like liberation or abandonment — the ‘core need’ framing resembles a developmental/attachment lens that could speak to that. — connects to: Disengagement from extremism is a recursive process, not a linear one. — Amy Fisher-Smith, Charles R. Sullivan, John D. Macready, and Geoffrey Manzi, Identity Reconfiguration and the Core…, 320; Stopping extremism and abandoning its beliefs are distinct forms of exit — Ryan Andrew Brown, Todd C. Helmus, Rajeev Ramchand, Alina I. Palimaru, Sarah Weilant, Ashley L. Rhoades, and Liisa Hiatt (RAND Corporation), Violent Extremism in America:…, 189; Anti-terrorist suspicion itself can drive people into extremism. — Ryan Andrew Brown, Todd C. Helmus, Rajeev Ramchand, Alina I. Palimaru, Sarah Weilant, Ashley L. Rhoades, and Liisa Hiatt (RAND Corporation), Violent Extremism in America:…, 120 (+2 more)
• QUESTION: What exactly is meant by ‘transgressive and transitional relationships’ as a phase of exit? Worth chasing when reading the full findings.

Related

• Disengagement from extremism is a recursive process, not a linear one. (similarity 0.88)
• Stopping extremism and abandoning its beliefs are distinct forms of exit (similarity 0.84)
• Leaving an extremist group can be physical, psychological, or both (similarity 0.83)
• Some identity needs reduce rather than increase violent extremism (similarity 0.83)
• Amy Fisher-Smith, Charles R. Sullivan, John D. Macready, and Geoffrey Manzi — Identity Reconfiguration and the Core Needs Framework Exit Narratives among Former Far-Right Extremists (similarity 0.82)
• Many extremists proactively seek out reasons and philosophy to abandon radicalism. (similarity 0.82)
• Exit trajectories hinge on a person’s developmental core need (similarity 0.82)
• Attempting to quit extremism can itself escalate a person into a worse group (similarity 0.81)
• A former extremist relapsed identity growth to distancing himself from exit-program support (similarity 0.80)
• Frustrated identity needs have never been shown to precede rather than follow radicalization (similarity 0.80)
• Interventions by individual people helped most sampled extremists exit or deradicalize. (similarity 0.80)
• Effective exit relationships shift former extremists toward inclusive we-frameworks (similarity 0.80)
• Both personal identity diffusion and integrative life-change identities affect extremism in single unreplicated studies (similarity 0.79)
• Leaving extremism requires bridging relationships that scaffold a new identity (similarity 0.79)
• The need to belong sometimes shows null or inverse effects on extremism. (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• Stopping extremism and abandoning its beliefs are distinct forms of exit #qualifies (0.80) — Ryan Andrew Brown, Todd C. Helmus, Rajeev Ramchand, Alina I. Palimaru, Sarah Weilant, Ashley L. Rhoades, and Liisa Hiatt (RAND Corporation), Violent Extremism in America, 189
• Some identity needs reduce rather than increase violent extremism #qualifies (0.78) — Lea Echelmeyer, Anne-Marie Slotboom, and Frank Weerman, The Putative Effect of Identity on…, 253
• The need to belong sometimes shows null or inverse effects on extremism. #qualifies (0.75) — Lea Echelmeyer, Anne-Marie Slotboom, and Frank Weerman, The Putative Effect of Identity on…, 237
• Anti-terrorist suspicion itself can drive people into extremism. #complicates (0.72) — Ryan Andrew Brown, Todd C. Helmus, Rajeev Ramchand, Alina I. Palimaru, Sarah Weilant, Ashley L. Rhoades, and Liisa Hiatt (RAND Corporation), Violent Extremism in America, 120