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Hate Online: A Content Analysis of Extremist Internet Sites
Author(s) -
Gerstenfeld Phyllis B.,
Grant Diana R.,
Chiang ChauPu
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
analyses of social issues and public policy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.479
H-Index - 31
eISSN - 1530-2415
pISSN - 1529-7489
DOI - 10.1111/j.1530-2415.2003.00013.x
Subject(s) - hatred , racism , the internet , criminology , variety (cybernetics) , terrorism , content analysis , sample (material) , nonprobability sampling , political science , sociology , violent extremism , media studies , law , world wide web , computer science , social science , politics , demography , population , chemistry , chromatography , artificial intelligence
Extremists, such as hate groups espousing racial supremacy or separation, have established an online presence. A content analysis of 157 extremist web sites selected through purposive sampling was conducted using two raters per site. The sample represented a variety of extremist groups and included both organized groups and sites maintained by apparently unaffiliated individuals. Among the findings were that the majority of sites contained external links to other extremist sites (including international sites), that roughly half the sites included multimedia content, and that half contained racist symbols. A third of the sites disavowed racism or hatred, yet one third contained material from supremacist literature. A small percentage of sites specifically urged violence. These and other findings suggest that the Internet may be an especially powerful tool for extremists as a means of reaching an international audience, recruiting members, linking diverse extremist groups, and allowing maximum image control.