Uncovering the Motivations, Barriers, and Pathways to Becoming a Former Extremist: Mapping the Structural, Agentic, and Organizational Dynamics in Identity Transformation

• In Event: What Works: Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism in U.S. Communities

Abstract

This presentation will report the findings gathered from 47 in-depth life history interviews with former members of domestic extremist organizations. The interviews provide firsthand documentation about the motivations, barriers, and pathways involved with leaving extremist organizations. These data highlight the relationships between structure (e.g., family responsibilities, job duties), agency (e.g., maturation, opinion shifts), and organizational dynamics (e.g., disillusionment with the group) that shape the motivations, barriers and pathways involved in disengagement and deradicalization from extremist organizations. The project is guided by social-psychological theories of identity transformation, similar to those emerging in the desistance literature, and role exit theories in which agents develop doubts, search for alternative identities, experience important events, and develop new identities. These processes unravel over time, are nonlinear, and vary in interesting nuanced ways across individuals. The research findings provide insights about strategic opportunities for interventions from criminal justice professionals, social workers, and non-governmental organizations.

Authors

• Matthew DeMichele, Center for Justice, Safety and Resilience, RTI

• Pete Simi, Chapman University

• Katherine Blee, University of Pittsburgh