Becoming, belonging and leaving – exit processes among young neo-Nazis

The purpose of this study is to contribute new research on recruitment to neo-Nazi and right-wing extremist organisations, movements, and subcultures (hereafter, “right-wing extremism”), with a special emphasis on exit processes. The focus is on analysing how people in Sweden have been recruited to, become members of, and then choose to leave right-wing extremist environments. The study has developed a holistic perspective on people’s stories about paths from entry to exit from right-wing extremist environments. The various stories generated in the survey have contributed new knowledge about recruitment and exit processes which has attracted international attention. The study contributes new insights on how to appropriately design preventive approaches in this field and also knowledge on how to initiate and support exit processes. A total of 29 individuals who were or had been active in neo-Nazi organisations were interviewed. Of these, 11 were still active in these organisations.
During the study, trust was developed between the researchers and people who are convinced national socialists, which made it possible to follow them as individuals as well as the organisation in which they are active. The interviews were conducted repeatedly during the project, which contributed very dense data and data that could be triangulated. Furthermore, relatives, parents, and partners of the main informants were interviewed about their experiences in different phases, that is, from entry, life in the movement, and possible withdrawal. Professionals, teachers, social workers, youth workers, and staff from the judiciary who have worked with the main informants in various ways were also interviewed. In this way, the project has contributed to detailed social psychological knowledge of mechanisms that contribute to and counteract radicalisation for the benefit of both pedagogical, social, and police work.

This research resulted in the following publications:

Mattsson, C. & Johansson, T. (2022). Radicalization and disengagement in Neo-Nazi movements: Social psychological perspectives. London: Routledge

Mattsson, C. (2022). Caring for and containing the hateful other. Schools’ strategies to deal with students with neo-Nazi convictions. I J. Hardie-Bick & S. Scott (Eds.), Ex-treme identities and transitions out of extraordinary roles. London: Palgrave

Mattsson, C. (2021). Hiding in the classroom: How neo-Nazi leaders prepare their children for schooling. Power and Education. Published online July 2021
https://doi.org/10.1177%2F17577438211024682

Mattsson, C. & Johansson, T. (2021). Neo-Nazi Violence and Ideology: Changing Attitudes toward Violence in Sweden’s Skinhead and Post-Skinhead Eras. Terrorism and political violence. Published online January 2021
https://doi.org/10.1080/09546553.2021.1871898

Mattsson, C. & Johansson, T. (2021). "We Are the White Aryan Warriors": Violence, homosociality, and the construction of masculinity in the National Socialist Movement in Sweden. Men and Masculinities. Vol. 24 (3), 393-410
https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1097184X20985582

Mattsson, C. & Johansson, T. (2021). Life trajectories into and out of contemporary Neo-Nazism: Becoming and unbecoming the Hateful Other. London: Routledge

Mattsson, C. & Johansson, T. (2020). Den hatfulle andre. Vägar in i och utifrån nynazistiska rörelser. Göteborg: Korpen

Mattsson, C. (2020). Högerextremism, nationalsocialism och polisiärt arbete. I Larsson, G., Sorgenfrei, S. & Viklund, T. Migration, religion och polisärt arbete. Lund: Studentlitteratur

Mattsson, C. (2020). De hatade barnen. I Mårtens, Y. Vi måste börja med barnen. Stockholm: Ordfront förlag

Mattsson, C. & Johansson, T. (2020). Talk is silver and silence is gold? Assessing the impact of public disengagement from the extreme right on deradicalization. Journal for Deradicalization. Vol. 24, 79-112.

Mattsson, C. & Johansson, T. (2020). The Hateful Other:          Neo-Nazis in school and teachers’ strategies for handling racism. British Journal of Sociology of Education. Vol. 41(8), 1149-1163.
https://doi.org/10.1080/01425692.2020.1823204

Mattsson, C. & Johansson, T. (2019). Leaving hate behind – Neo-Nazis, significant others and disengagement. Journal for Deradicalization. Vol. 18, 185-216.

Mattson, C. & Johansson, T. (2018). Becoming, belonging and leaving – Exit processes among young neo-Nazis in Sweden. Journal for Deradicalization, Vol. 16, 33–69.

Facts

Financier

FORTE, 2018-00081

Project time

2019-2021

Participating institutions and researchers

Thomas Johansson, professor of pedagogy with a focus on child and youth science, Department of Pedagogy, Communication, and Learning, and researcher at the Segerstedt Institute

Christer Mattsson, senior lecturer in pedagogy, director of the Segerstedt Institute