Explaining Right-Wing Terrorism Using Economic Comparisons of Relative Deprivation Between Racial and Ethnic Groups in the United States

• In Event: Characterizing and Preventing Domestic Terrorism: A Mixed-Methods Study of Seven Far-Right Terrorist Groups

Abstract

This paper describes research that utilizes the theoretical framework of relative deprivation to identify how majority group’s perceptions regarding its changing economic and social status in comparison to minority groups is correlated with levels of far-right violence in the United States. By focusing on U.S. right-wing terrorism, which has extensive anti-outgroup bias, this paper investigates whether right-wing terrorist attacks increase when the politically-dominant racial group loses economic power relative to other racial and ethnic groups, and if right-wing terrorism increases if minority groups gain economic power relative to the majority. This research expands analysis to the county level, creating multi-level models to account for state and county differences.

Authors

• Hope LaFreniere, University of Massachusetts Lowell

• Eoin Healy, Development Services Group, Inc.

• Victor Assal, University at Albany, SUNY