Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Liguori, Jackson B.
• Spanierman, Lisa B.
• Kivlighan, Dennis M

Titel

Walking Out on Hate: A Qualitative Investigation of How and Why White Supremacists Quit Hate Groups

Ist Teil von

• Journal of counseling psychology, 2022-07, Vol.69 (4), p.389-402

Ort / Verlag

Washington: American Psychological Association

Erscheinungsjahr

2022

Quelle

Applied Social Sciences Index & Abstracts (ASSIA)

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Through in-depth, semistructured interviews with former White supremacists (N = 9), the authors explored how and why former White supremacists left their hate groups, and why some chose to then speak out against their former racist ideologies. Using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA; Smith et al., 2009), the authors identified nine themes related to the process of leaving one's hate group and becoming an antihate activist. Participants initially left their hate groups because of both painful and encouraging interactions with members of marginalized communities, which led to the disintegration of their White supremacist ideological convictions. Upon exiting, participants navigated threats to their safety, experienced shifts in their social networks, encountered new emotional states, and healed through introspection and connection with others. Finally, participants connected with former White supremacists who had become antihate activists, spoke out publicly against hate, and developed antihate activist identities. The authors offer directions for future research, as well as provide implications for clinical interventions supporting hate group members through their exit processes. Public Significance Statement The present study suggests that ex-White supremacists who leave their extremist communities and speak out against hate are influenced to do so by social interactions, undergo personal transformations, and ultimately adopt antihate activist identities. Using findings from this study, psychologists can work with hate group exit intervention specialists to develop therapeutic approaches for both hate group exit and postexit rehabilitation.