Explaining Extreme Belief and Behavior
Theoretical, Methodological, and Ethical Challenges
Will be published approx. on 6. May 2029
Book
Hardback
424 pages
978-0-19-776888-4 (ISBN)
Description
Written by global, multidisciplinary experts, Explaining Extreme Belief and Behavior moves beyond definitions of the phenomena of conspiracy theorizing, extremism, fanaticism, fundamentalism, and terrorism and shifts into how we can explain these extreme beliefs and behaviors. The first part of the book examines various fundamental theoretical and contextual issues such as the relationship between understanding and explaining extremism, challenges in explaining extreme beliefs, and pitfalls of current approaches. The second part delves into related methodological issues, including the desiderata for viable explanations--qualitative and quantitative data, macro-, meso-, and microlevels of analysis, first- and third-person accounts, attitudes and behaviors, or beliefs and actions. The third part explores related empirical issues and challenges--how we conceive and integrate insights into such related phenomena as the turn to extremism in particular contexts, the rise of extremist movements, and radicalization. This volume builds upon the first two in the Extreme Belief and Behavior Series by studying the very project of explaining extreme belief and behavior.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
Illustrations
3 b/w figures
Dimensions
Height: 239 mm
Width: 164 mm
Thickness: 31 mm
Weight
744 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-776888-4 (9780197768884)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Rik Peels holds a university research chair in analytic and interdisciplinary philosophy of religion in the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in the Netherlands. He is also a senior research associate at the African Centre for Epistemology and Philosophy of Science at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa. His research interests are the ethics of belief, ignorance, scientism, replication in the humanities, and the philosophy and theology of fundamentalism and extremism. He leads the Extreme Beliefs research group (www.extremebeliefs.com ) and is one of the principal investigators of the Adapt Academy, which studies how societies can better adapt to crises.
Lorne L. Dawson is a distinguished professor emeritus in the Department of Religious Studies and the Department of Sociology and Legal Studies at the University of Waterloo (Canada). He has published three books, five edited books, and ninety-seven academic articles and book chapters. He was the co-founder and codirector of the Canadian Network for Research on Terrorism, Security and Society (2012-2023), and his recent research has focused on such topics as foreign fighters, the role of religion in motivating religious terrorism, and aspects of the social ecology of radicalization.
Lorne L. Dawson is a distinguished professor emeritus in the Department of Religious Studies and the Department of Sociology and Legal Studies at the University of Waterloo (Canada). He has published three books, five edited books, and ninety-seven academic articles and book chapters. He was the co-founder and codirector of the Canadian Network for Research on Terrorism, Security and Society (2012-2023), and his recent research has focused on such topics as foreign fighters, the role of religion in motivating religious terrorism, and aspects of the social ecology of radicalization.
Editor
University Research Chair in Analytic and Interdisciplinary Philosophy of ReligionUniversity Research Chair in Analytic and Interdisciplinary Philosophy of Religion, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Distinguished Professor EmeritusDistinguished Professor Emeritus, Department of Religious Studies and Department of Sociology, University of Waterloo
Content
Rik Peels and Lorne L. Dawson: Introduction: The Project of Explaining Extreme Belief and Behavior Part I. Theoretical and Contextual Issues and Challenges 1: Rik Peels: Explaining and Understanding Extremism: The Relation Btween Two Aims in Radicalization Studies 2: Martha Crenshaw: Explaining Terrorism and Violent Extremism 3: Naomi Kloosterboer and Jaron Harambam: The Extreme Actor's Perspective, and Why It Matters for Explanation 4: Karsten R. Stueber: Empathy, Imaginative Resistance, and Fragmentary Understanding: Trying to Make Sense of Extremism 5: Lorne L. Dawson: Assessing the Constructivist Critique of the Evidential Value of Terrorists' Accounts of Their Actions Part II. Methodological and Ethical Issues and Challenges 6: Lorne L. Dawson: The Matrix of Methodological Problems in the Study of Extreme Beliefs and Behaviors: From the Vantage Point of the Study of Violent Extremism 7: Lianne Vostermans: Integrating Macro-, Meso-, and Microlevel Explanations of Violent Mobilization 8: Martijn de Koning: Accessing the Field, Defining People, and Exploring Extended Complicity: Reflections on a Framework for Ethnographic Research with Militant Activists 9: John F. Morrison: Ethical Challenges and Multidisciplinary Norms in Terrorism Studies 10: Laura Feldt: Narrativity and Emotionality in Explaining Extreme Beliefs and Behaviors Part III. Empirical Issues and Challenges 11: Emily Corner: Explaining the Links Between Poor Mental Health and Violent Extremism: From the Determination of Presence to the Delineation of Relevance 12: Elizabeth Pearson: Radicalization as Gendered: Why We Cannot Explain Extremism Without Taking Gender Seriously 13: Marc-Andre Argentino: Explaining QAnon as Lived Religion 14: Bethan Johnson: In No One We Trust: How Conspiratorial Thinking Turned White Supremacist Groups Anti-American 15: Ayhan Kaya: Nativist and Islamist Radicalism in Europe: Co-Radicalization of Young European Citizens 16: Ian McGregor: Psychological Motivation for Reactive Extremism, and How to Quell It