Differentiating Hate: Threat and Opportunity as Drivers of Organization vs Action

David Cunningham

Sociological Research Online, 2018, vol. 23, issue 2, 507-517

Abstract: While research on hate mobilization tends to conflate organization and action, this article extends theoretical insights from opportunity and threat perspectives on social movements to differentiate explanations of hate groups and hate incidents. Drawing illustratively on data collected by the Southern Poverty Law Center, I suggest that threat serves as the predominant driver of hate organizations, while–in contrast–hate incidents are facilitated primarily by opportunistic environments that provide broadened latitude to act. Decoupling organization and action to recognize the variegated nature of ‘hate’ can improve the precision of our theoretical and analytic approaches to hate-based counter-movements and aid policy responses intended to reduce or halt the commission of such acts.

Keywords: alt-right; hate crimes; hate groups; opportunity; social movements; threat; White nationalism (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:socres:v:23:y:2018:i:2:p:507-517

DOI: 10.1177/1360780417743769

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