Ours is Not to Reason Why But Where: Characterising Hot Spots of Radicalisation

• In Event: WG-PLACE 6: Research on crime, place and time

Abstract

Research on radicalisation has to date prioritised individuals’ characteristics, group dynamics, as well as macro-level factors. The radicalising potential of particular places where individuals navigate their daily lives, however, is rarely taken into account. Research in crime prevention, arguably a closely related problem space, supports a strong case that many of the causes and enabling conditions of criminal development (of which radicalisation is a special instantiation) are found at the situational and social-ecological levels of analysis. Advancing previous research, we aimed to examine the social ecology of radicalisation and characterise settings where radicalising actors are more likely to be active. Theoretically informed by the S5 extremism risk analysis framework, we administered a postal community survey in two boroughs in London (N = 1208), one of which is considered to be a hotspot of radicalisation. Congruent with the theory, a mixed effects model demonstrated that radicalising actors are more likely to be observed in settings that are more transient and where it is expected that radicalism is endorsed by others (i.e., moral norms that permit radicalisation).

Authors

• Sandy Schumann, University College London

• Noemie Bouhana, University College London