Open AccessFormer Right-Wing Extremists' Continued Struggle for Self-transformation After an Exit Program
Author(s) -
Tina Wilchen Christensen
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
outlines/critical social studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1904-0210
pISSN - 1399-5510
DOI - 10.7146/ocps.v20i1.114709
Subject(s) - embodied cognition , identity (music) , right wing , ethnography , collective identity , political science , process (computing) , sociology , position (finance) , criminology , law , politics , aesthetics , epistemology , computer science , business , philosophy , finance , anthropology , operating system
This article discusses the identity formation process former right wing extremists go through, during and especially after being involved in an exit program for those leaving right wing extremist environments. Based on an ethnographic investigation (and practice theoretical approach), the article argues that participation in culturally defined worlds - such as the extremist right - develops sensitivities and sensibilities that endure. This enables them to engage in social actions, gain a position and develop a correlated identity, but it is also the reason why it can be very demanding for the individual to leave an extremist environment. Perceived from the (re)integrating into society by those stigmatized by a criminal and extremist past. It explores how individuals leaving a right wing extremist group handle themselves in a new world when their embodied knowledge and habitual responding are no longer appropriate, and investigates the many aspects individuals struggle with years after their engagement, when they do not know who to become and how to act.