Paper: Radicalization as Envious Militancy

Dr. Moncrieff and Dr. Pierre Lienard (Scientific Committee Member & UNLV Professor) published a pre-print of a new article titled Radicalization as Envious Militancy.

Abstract:
Our model of radicalization articulates three readings of the phenomenon focusing on: (1) the rationality of the radicalized agent, (2) the prime mover explaining important facets of the phenomena, and (3) the strategic typification of concerns for the persuasion of wider audiences. We show that the rationality of the radicalized agent can be characterized as the calibration of specific parameters that determines a specific modality of thought that we capture in an abstract model we call the R.A.S.H. mentality – a model incorporating a particular risk preference and commitment to action which accounts for essential aspects of the radicalized mind. We propose further to reorient the causal arrow that has been privileged in the models of radicalization so far by linking radicalization to the experience of envy, an emotion that motivates individuals to monitor their surroundings, to assess the prosperity of others, and to seek the eradication of the status divergence. We conclude with the process of typification, which consists in widening the reach of concerns by simultaneously eliminating the particulars of the personal situation motivating the radicalized agent and evoking collective circumstance templates belonging to a repertoire of universal social forms.