Thursday, February 09, 2006

Social Theory: How You Become a Right-wing Extremist

Bettina Engels & Florian Storm of Germany's Free University of Berlin published an article: How to become a right-wing extremist

Thye seek to use political socialization research to explain right-wing extremist dispositions, attitudes and behaviour.

I've selected an excerpt to illustrate the use (or not) of such theorizing:-

Possibly not only the experiences one make during childhood in the relationship with the reference-person are crucial but the way one handle it in the course of one's personal development. Hopf und Hopf refer to the thesis of attachment-research which says that family-internal relationship experiences and its working-up and representation in the age of adolescence are relevant for the development of political orientations and behaviour. Attachment-research analyses how the child's attachment to its reference-person is represented in the age of adolescence. Uncertain attachment experiences can cause different psychic "internal working models". Conflicts exist in every parent-child-relationship. But children with uncertain attachment experiences manage worse to overcome and work-up conflicts... As a consequence, the aggression of the authoritarian structured who usually has little self-confidence is directed towards the weaker (because he is intent on never be the overcome himself). Existing right-wing extremist structures, scenes and cliques offer ways to transform the repressed aggression in aggressive activity against foreigners...Repressed wishes and longings can be projected in the same way as repressed aggression: One envy the foreigner what one wishes unaware for oneself and reproaches him with it. Envy and reproach lay close to another.


If any of the above fits your experience, don't let me know.

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