Citation

Colvin S, Pisoiu D. Stud. Conflict Terrorism 2020; 43(6): 493-508.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/1057610X.2018.1452754

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Bringing together terrorism studies, subcultural theory, and narrative criminology, we here test the thesis that neutralization theory might be (further) developed to provide a framework for understanding stories of ideologically informed subcultural violence. Beginning with Gresham Sykes's and David Matza's original five neutralizations, we illustrate how actors engage them in three modes: the encultured, the subcultural, and (tentatively) the postnarrative mode. We test the first two modes in particular against narratives and narrative fragments from interviews with men convicted of right-wing violence in Germany. Our findings provide a preliminary illustration of what neutralization theory might bring to research into political violence.

Language: en