Extremism and Radicalization: What makes the difference?
| Main Author: | Ayhan Kaya |
|---|---|
| Format: | info Lainnya |
| Bahasa: | eng |
| Terbitan: |
, 2020
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: |
https://zenodo.org/record/3689095 |
Daftar Isi:
- There are two terms extremism and radicalism, which are nowadays often being interchangeably used in everyday life as well as in the scientific literature. This is not a surprise in an age dominated by the populist Zeitgeist in which a dualist understanding prevails over in conceptualizing and understanding social, economic and political phenomena. Scientific thinking is not also free from this myopic and reductionist inclination. Recent evidence suggests that, beyond the realm of scientific investigations, policy makers, journalists and the general public also use these terms quite flexibly and interchangeably to label various social and psychological phenomena. For instance, research suggests that individuals tend to attribute psychological pathologies to perpetrators of violent actions to deny them any similarity with themselves and protect their distinctiveness. Such processes may explain the popularity of the term ‘radicalization’ to designate terrorists (i.e. ‘radicalized’ individuals) in the public sphere, thereby emphasizing a hypothesized psychopathological root to their political action.