Note
Authors affiliated with:
School of Criminology, University of Montreal ;
Department of Political Science, Laval University.
"TSAS is supported as a national strategic initiative funded by SSHRC and Public Safety Canada, along with the following departments of the federal government: Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC), Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP)".
"The paper is a work in progress. Please do not quote it without permission"--Title page.
Summary
"Even though right-wing extremist groups, including right-wing skinheads, are included on the Canadian Anti-terrorist Strategy list of threats to national security, very little empirical and theoretical knowledge is available about such groups in either political science or criminology. This paper studies the radicalization process of right-wing skinheads in the province of Quebec by identifying the mechanisms that shape pathways toward extremism and violence. In doing so it makes a theoretical and empirical contribution to understanding a phenomenon not previously studied in Canada. The role and prevalence of violence in such right-wing groups and how it is used by members is considered, as well as whether these groups constitute a potential threat and whether it is realistic to fear that a "lone-wolf" event might occur in Quebec. One the most important findings is that the so-called skinhead movement, while present in Quebec, is composed of fragmented and segmented groups that lack any formal relationships and are thus extremely volatile."--Includes text from Introduction.
Contents
Introduction -- 1. Review of the literature -- 1.1.
The development of the right-wing skinhead movement in Canada -- 1.2.
How have these groups and their development been analyzed? -- 2. Conceptual framework -- 2.1.
Skinheads as oppositional groups -- 2.2.
Radicalization: moving beyond linear models -- 3. Elements of methodology -- 4. A description of right-wing oppositional movement in Quebec -- 4.1.
Nationalist groups and movements -- 4.2.
Right-wing skinhead groups -- 4.3.
The volatility of the right-wing oppositional circle -- 4.4.
The right-wing oppositional circle and criminal activities -- 5. Skinhead radicalization in Quebec -- 5.1.
Environmental mechanisms -- 5.1.1.
Primary and secondary contexts of socialization to right-wing extremist ideas -- 5.1.2.
Right-wing skinhead groups as marginalized groups -- 5.2.
Cognitive mechanisms -- 5.2.1.
Pathways towards extremism: the weak role of ideology -- 5.2.2.
Pathways to acceptance of extremism: a blurred message -- 5.2.3.
The maintenance of beliefs -- 5.3.
Relational mechanisms -- 5.3.1.
The dynamics of intra-group interactions -- 5.3.2.
Relationships with the "outside" world -- 6. Policy implications: right-wing skinheads and the lone-wolf scenario -- Concluding remarks -- References.