PRO FESS O R BARRY R IC HAR DSB O UR NEMO U TH U N IVERS ITY

PS A GREEK PO LITIC S S PEC IALIS T GRO UP W O RKS HO P, 20 J UN E 2014

C AN ADA WATER L IBRARYLO N DO N

On the psychology of violent extremism

Humiliation/shame

Retribution/retaliation/revenge

e.g. non-ideological ‘rampage’ killers; jihadi and neo-Nazi terrorists

Humiliated states of mind: origins

Type AAdult experience

of humiliation

Type B Childhood

experience of humiliation

Adult sense of

humiliation

Belief (perhaps

delusional) in ongoing humiliation

of self and/or others

+ omnipotence > terror

Assumptions of continuity

Discontinuum

UKIP

vote

r

EDL activist

NeoNazi terrorist

Another discontinuum

Conce

rn

with a

nti-

Musli

m

preju

dice

Anti-western

conspiracy theories

Violent

Jihadism

Psychosocial analysis

Societal context always in interaction with psychic interiority

Example: the manufacture of dissent, as in media content > generation of Type A humiliation > potential for toxic mobilisation of Type B humiliation

***

Professor Barry Richardsbrichards@bmth.ac.uk

Some reading

Lankford, A. and Hakim, N. (2011) From Columbine to Palestine: A comparative analysis of rampage shooters in the United States and volunteer suicide bombers in the Middle East. Aggression and Violent Behaviour 16, 98-107.

Richards, B. (2009) ‘Explosive humiliation and news media.’ In Day Sclater, S., et al. (eds.), Emotion: Psychosocial Perspectives. Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 59-71.

Richards, B. (2014) ‘Extreme nationalism and the hatred of the liberal state’, in N. Demertzis, ed., Emotions in Politics: The Affect Dimension in Political Tension. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 124-142.

Richards, B. (in press) ‘What drove Anders Breivik?’ Contexts (journal of the American Sociological Association), forthcoming.

Volkan, V. (2004) Blind Trust. Large groups and their leaders in times of crisis and terror. Charlottesville, VA: Pitchstone.