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Digital campaigns of extremist violence through ressentiment: mapping the emotional mechanism of violent extremist manifestos

Digital campaigns of extremist violence through ressentiment: mapping the emotional mechanism of violent extremist manifestos
Digital campaigns of extremist violence through ressentiment: mapping the emotional mechanism of violent extremist manifestos

This chapter brings together studies in political psychology and political communication offering a novel analytical framework for the examination of the psychological content of digital manifestos of violent extremists, approached as campaigns of political violence. Manifestos are distributed alongside violent attacks as a method of sensationalizing these acts, dispersing extremist ideology, and garnering followers. We discuss how the analysis of the psychological components of extremist rhetoric benefits from focusing on perceptions, motivations, and justifications, under the analytical framework of ressentiment. We explain why the rich content of manifestos presenting violent extremists as martyrs, warriors, or saviors, the pervasive grievances and frustrations, the shallow social bonds and out-group dehumanization, the motivations to seek revenge and defend, and the morally disengaged justifications of intentions and actions are best not viewed in isolation, but rather coalesce under the emotional mechanism of ressentiment. Finally, we propose an empirical framework that examines the psychological undercurrent of campaigns of extremist violence and consider its applications for the study of reactionary political divides and extremist politics more broadly.

115-127
Taylor & Francis
Capelos, Tereza
bd3b5744-cbcc-44a4-9b73-b088d82154e7
DaVisio, Kaitlyn
c37c0fce-7526-4998-a467-d3405645ad48
Salmela, Mikko
e1deaa50-cfe6-47b3-939e-6856ea5a1513
Lilleker, Darren
Jackson, Daniel
Kalsnes, Bente
Mellado, Claudia
Trevisan, Filippo
Veneti, Anastasia
Capelos, Tereza
bd3b5744-cbcc-44a4-9b73-b088d82154e7
DaVisio, Kaitlyn
c37c0fce-7526-4998-a467-d3405645ad48
Salmela, Mikko
e1deaa50-cfe6-47b3-939e-6856ea5a1513
Lilleker, Darren
Jackson, Daniel
Kalsnes, Bente
Mellado, Claudia
Trevisan, Filippo
Veneti, Anastasia

Capelos, Tereza, DaVisio, Kaitlyn and Salmela, Mikko (2024) Digital campaigns of extremist violence through ressentiment: mapping the emotional mechanism of violent extremist manifestos. In, Lilleker, Darren, Jackson, Daniel, Kalsnes, Bente, Mellado, Claudia, Trevisan, Filippo and Veneti, Anastasia (eds.) The Routledge Handbook of Political Campaigning. Taylor & Francis, pp. 115-127. (doi:10.4324/9781003333326-11).

Record type: Book Section

Abstract

This chapter brings together studies in political psychology and political communication offering a novel analytical framework for the examination of the psychological content of digital manifestos of violent extremists, approached as campaigns of political violence. Manifestos are distributed alongside violent attacks as a method of sensationalizing these acts, dispersing extremist ideology, and garnering followers. We discuss how the analysis of the psychological components of extremist rhetoric benefits from focusing on perceptions, motivations, and justifications, under the analytical framework of ressentiment. We explain why the rich content of manifestos presenting violent extremists as martyrs, warriors, or saviors, the pervasive grievances and frustrations, the shallow social bonds and out-group dehumanization, the motivations to seek revenge and defend, and the morally disengaged justifications of intentions and actions are best not viewed in isolation, but rather coalesce under the emotional mechanism of ressentiment. Finally, we propose an empirical framework that examines the psychological undercurrent of campaigns of extremist violence and consider its applications for the study of reactionary political divides and extremist politics more broadly.

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More information

e-pub ahead of print date: 8 November 2024
Additional Information: Publisher Copyright: © 2025 selection and editorial matter, Darren G. Lilleker, Daniel Jackson, Bente Kalsnes, Claudia Mellado, Filippo Trevisan and Anastasia Veneti individual chapters, the contributors.

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 499913
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/499913
PURE UUID: 4a71e02d-6d84-4aa7-b3f0-a0022ea52a1a
ORCID for Tereza Capelos: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-9371-4509

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 08 Apr 2025 16:43
Last modified: 09 Apr 2025 02:08

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Contributors

Author: Tereza Capelos ORCID iD
Author: Kaitlyn DaVisio
Author: Mikko Salmela
Editor: Darren Lilleker
Editor: Daniel Jackson
Editor: Bente Kalsnes
Editor: Claudia Mellado
Editor: Filippo Trevisan
Editor: Anastasia Veneti

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