Online Library

This book presents an analysis of the male supremacist ideology of the internet-based subculture known as the manosphere and examines the process of radicalization to violent extremism that occurs within the group. The manosphere is the online subculture comprised of several distinct groups who share a basic gender ideology that is misogynistic and anti-feminist in the extreme. The manosphere celebrates a toxic hegemonic masculinity that encourages sexual violence and portrays violence as an understandable response to a feminized culture that denigrates manhood. Evidence has shown that several recent cases of murder, mass murder, and rape involved offenders who participated in this subculture prior to engaging in their crimes. Through the use of quotes gathered directly from the websites and message boards frequented by individuals within the subculture, this book offers an in-depth analysis of the ideology of the manosphere, and the common attitudes, values, and beliefs promoted within the various groups that comprise the subculture. It will also present a theoretical perspective that may shed light on what draws men to these groups and the processes by which they become radicalized to the far right and violent extremism. This book will be of interest to scholars and students in criminology, sociology, and political science, and others interested in examining the manifestation and effects of the manosphere on crime and criminal justice.

This study examines the impact of players’ gender and nationality on game performance before and during the Israel-Hamas war. The study focuses on two games for social impact revolving around intractable conflicts: PeaceMaker (Israeli-Palestinian conflict) and Fact Finders (Cyprus Conflict). We conducted three case studies with 510 undergraduates voluntarily playing the aforementioned games and reporting their final scores. The participants included Israeli-Jew, Palestinian, American, and Cypriot undergraduate students. We found that before the Israel-Hamas war, women won PeaceMaker no less than men. Interestingly, during the Israel-Hamas war, women won PeaceMaker more than men. Finally, third-parties to the Cyprus conflict (Israelis, Palestinians and Americans) significantly outperformed direct-parties (Cypriots) in Fact Finders before and during the Israel-Hamas war. Overall this study’s findings suggest that serious games can be used as effective interventions for peace education and conflict resolution regardless of players’ gender or nationality, even during violent times.

This report reviews recent literature on youth recruitment to criminal, terror, and hate organizations within the context of Meta’s Tier system to help understand the dynamics of youth recruitment into Tier 1 DOIs and provide actionable insights for platforms’ efforts to enforce against content and actors involved in DOI recruitment. A case study from each DOI category is provided to highlight the recruitment processes at stake; these are the Islamic State, 764, and cartels. Finally, recommendations for on-platform prevention campaigns and approaches are provided.

Far-right and involuntary celibate extremists are said to populate an “online extremist ecosystem” of digital media environments. Online violent extremists are said to use this “ecosystem” to access outcomes that were previously unattainable. Yet there remained fundamental knowledge gaps in understanding the advantageous and limits of using ecosystems to understand and address far-right and involuntary celibate online violent extremism. This foundational theoretical and empirical study critically assessed whether ecosystems offered a greater or lesser understanding of these communities in the Australian and Canadian context and examined how individual involvement in these communities is shaped by digital media software and hardware.

The issue of radicalization has drawn significant attention over the last decade, as high-profile mobilizations and far-right violence grow increasingly prevalent in the United States. This has been accompanied by a particular interest in radicalization in the online context, as far-right recruitment and organizing increasingly leverages the affordances of digital platforms. In this dissertation, I advance theoretical understandings of online radicalization processes by analyzing differential participation within one growing and under-examined segment of the far-right: secular male supremacist movements. Based on prior literature identifying increasing extremism in these spaces, and increasing instances of users moving between distinct but related communities, I address two specific research questions: 1) what individual and community-level factors drive differences in engagement in male supremacist communities; and 2) what individual and community-level factors predict user migration to more extreme male supremacist communities?