Addicted to Hate: Identity Residual Among Former White Supremacists

• NCJ Number: 253401
• Journal: American Sociological Review Volume: 82 Issue: 6 Dated: August 2017 Pages: 1167-1187
• Author(s): Pete Simi; Kathleen Blee; Matthew Demichele; Steven Windisch
• Date Published: August 2017
• Length: 21 pages
• Grant Number(s): 2014-ZA-BX-0005
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Award: Research and Evaluation on Domestic Radicalization to Violent Extremism: Research to Support Exit USA
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)

Annotation

This study examined how a rejected identity can persist despite a desire to change, using data from a unique set of in-depth life history interviews with 89 former U.S. white supremacists, as well as theories derived from recent advances in cognitive sociology.

Abstract

The process of leaving deeply meaningful and embodied identities can be experienced as a struggle against addiction, with continuing cognitive, emotional, and physiological responses that are involuntary, unwanted, and triggered by environmental factors. The current study found that disengagement from white supremacy was characterized by substantial lingering effects that subjects described as addiction. The study includes a discussion of the implications of identity residual for understanding how people leave and for theories of the self.