Do Neighborhoods Play a Role in Explaining Extremism? Findings From a Multi-Method Study in Germany

• In Event: Community-Involved Research: Surveys and Interviews

Abstract

The phenomenon of extremism continues to pose a threat and has been analyzed from various angles, with root causes such as poverty, peer influence, and online behavior among the factors commonly studied. However, the impact of the spatial environment, particularly neighborhoods, has been underexplored, despite a long tradition of research on neighborhood effects. The study presented here aims to fill this gap by examining the relationship between neighborhood and radicalization. The research was conducted in three cities in Germany using a multi-method approach, including 90 qualitative interviews, three years of ethnographic observation, and surveys with nearly 2,100 participants in each city. The findings reveal the role of the neighborhood in fostering susceptibility to radicalization, the protective effects of local nonprofit organizations, and the ways in which extremist groups are embedded in different spatial environments.

Author

• Sebastian Kurtenbach, FH Münster