Islamist movements recruit modernization’s mobile young rather than the traditional rural poor

Evidence

By and large those movements do not get much support from rural elites, peasants, and the elderly. Like fundamentalists in other religions, Islamists are overwhelmingly participants in and products of the processes of modernization. They are mobile and modern-oriented younger people drawn in large part from three groups. — Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the…, 306 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

While students and intellectuals formed the militant cadres and shock troops of Islamist movements, urban middle-class people made up the bulk of the active membership. In some degree these came from what are often termed “traditional” middle-class groups: merchants, traders, small business proprietors, bazaaris. These played a crucial role in the Iranian Revolution and provided significant support to fundamentalist movements in Algeria, Turkey, and Indonesia. To an even greater extent, however, fundamentalists belonged to the more “modern” sectors of the middle class. Islamist activists “probably include a disproportionately large number of the best-educated and most intelligent young people in their respective populations,” including doctors, lawyers, engineers, scientists, teachers, civil servants. — Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the…, 308 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Egyptian Islamist militants were young, elite-educated, upwardly mobile first-generation urbanites; Islamist movements recruit modernized youth, not traditional rural populations — Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the…, 306; Rapid urbanization and displacement drove migrants to Islamist welfare networks (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Islamist movements recruit modernized youth, not traditional rural populations #corroborates (1.00) — Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the…, 306
• Islamist movements drew their active membership from modern urban professionals, not peasants #corroborates (0.92) — Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the…, 308