The Culture of Violent Talk: An Interpretive Approach

Pete Simi and Steven Windisch
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Pete Simi: Department of Sociology, Chapman University, One University Drive, Orange, CA 92866, USA
Steven Windisch: Department of Criminal Justice, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA 19122, USA

Social Sciences, 2020, vol. 9, issue 7, 1-16

Abstract: One of the defining characteristics of extremist movements is the adherence to an ideology highly antagonistic to the status quo and one that permits or explicitly promotes the use of violence to achieve stated goals and to address grievances. For members of extremist groups, talk is one of the most concrete manifestations of how adherents communicate their ideas to each other and the general public. These discussions, however, do not necessarily involve a direct correspondence between words and future behavior. To better understand the culture of violent talk, we investigate how white supremacist extremists use these discussions as a rhetorical device that provides them with a sense of doing and an opportunity to express their frustrations and anger. Our analysis is grounded primarily in the ethnographic data we collected on a variety of US white supremacists since 1997. Our investigation offers important insight regarding the interactional qualities of extremist culture as well as policy implications regarding the assessment process.

Keywords: white supremacy; threat assessment; identity; terrorism; culture; violence (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A B N P Y80 Z00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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