Nivette et al. (2017)

Abstract

• Objectives: Examine the influence of collective strain on support for violent extremism among Swiss adolescents.

  • Explore two claims from the general strain theory:

    1. Collective strain correlates with higher support for violent extremism.

    2. Effects of collective strain depend on perceived moral and legal constraints.

Methods

• Data sourced from waves of the Zurich Project on Social Development of Children and Youth (z-proso).

• Employ ordinary least squares regression to analyze support for violent extremism at age 17 based on strain and control variables from ages 15 to 17.

• Investigate conditional effects with interaction terms for collective strain relative to moral neutralization and legal cynicism.

Results

• Collective strain does not directly influence violent extremist attitudes when controlled for other variables.

• Moral and legal neutralization practices amplify the impact of collective strain on extremist attitudes.

• Individuals justifying violence and breaking laws are more susceptible to extremism amid collective socio-political turmoil.

Key Concepts

• Violent Extremism Risk Factors:

  • Psychological traits (low self-control), social contexts (alienation), political processes (exclusion).

  • Varied methodologies in existing studies contribute to mixed findings.

• Strain Theories & Neutralization Theories:

  • Strain theories (e.g., Agnew’s GST) predict violent extremism likelihood correlates with experiences of collective strain (perceived discrimination, injustice, trauma).

  • Neutralization theories relate moral disengagement from violence to heightened extremist support.

  • Collective strain and moral/legal neutralization reinforce each other in facilitating extremist beliefs.

Literature Context

• Difficulty in synthesizing research due to diverse theoretical approaches and conflicting empirical findings.

• Call for integration between terrorism research and broader criminological theory.

General Strain Theory (GST)

• Strain leads to negative coping (Agnew 1992, 2006).

• Types of strain include:

  1. Failure to achieve positively valued goals.

  2. Removal of positive stimuli.

  3. Exposure to noxious stimuli (victimization, abuse).

• GST facilitates understanding of how strain affects violent extremism support.

Mechanisms of Neutralization

• Moral Neutralization: Mechanisms allowing individuals to disengage from moral self-sanctions against violence (Bandura 1986).

• Legal Cynicism: Attitudes justifying actions outside the law due to perceived injustice, manipulation of legal obligations.

Study Population

• Cohort from Zurich, including a mix of ethnic and religious backgrounds, aiding analysis of influence from collective strain on violent attitudes.

• Vicarious exposure significant for second-generation immigrants influenced by parental backgrounds from conflict regions.

Data and Sample Description

• Ongoing longitudinal study tracking children since age 7, adjusting for socio-economic status and immigration background.

• Ethical and methodological validity emphasized in data collection, ensuring representativeness of youth demographics.

Measures of Support for Violent Extremism

• Attitudes measured through 4-item Likert scale assessing justification for violence against perceived injustice.

• Collectively, reliability confirmed with Cronbach’s alpha at .80 indicating good internal consistency.

Results Analysis

• Direct effects of personal and collective strain identified through regression models.

  • Influence of moral neutralization and legal cynicism was notable in increasing susceptibility to extremist attitudes.

• Gender and other demographic variables analyzed within context of extremist support.

Conclusions

• Collective strain correlates with trivial direct effects once other variables considered.

• Higher levels of moral/legal neutralization yield more support for violent extremism under strain conditions.

• Adolescents endorsing justifications for violence are more vulnerable to extremist ideologies under collective social distress.

Implications for Policy

• Intervention strategies should focus on enhancing legal socialization to foster normative beliefs against violence.

• Enhancing moral/legal control mechanisms can mitigate negative impacts of collective strain on youths.

Acknowledgments

• Recognition of funding sources that supported the study, emphasizing relevant contributions to the research.