Myrczik, J., Kajta, J., Buckenleib, A. et al. (4 more authors) (2024) Becoming a young radical right activist: Biographical pathways of the members of radical right organisations in Poland and Germany. Current Sociology. ISSN 0011-3921
Abstract
With the increasing popularity of the radical right, much research has tried to explain the motives of voters. Less attention has been paid to the motives of people to become radical right activists – specifically young people, a group with a high tendency to join right-wing parties. Within the context of the internationalisation of the radical right, this article draws on 28 narrative interviews conducted between 2019 and 2021 with young radical right activists in Poland and Germany, two countries with considerably different political and discursive opportunity structures. We propose to recognise a new motive for becoming involved in political activism: career-oriented individual self-realisation in Germany, as opposed to fulfilling a duty to the nation in Poland. While we identify two different types of radical activism within the different contexts – the (nationalist) anti-establishment populist career type in Germany and the (nationalist) anti-political intellectualism/elitism type in Poland – they both point to the normalisation of the radical right in the two countries.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
---|---|
Authors/Creators: |
|
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © The Author(s) 2024. This is an author produced version of an article published in Current Sociology. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Keywords: | Biographical research, comparative analysis, nationalism, radical right, youth activism |
Dates: |
|
Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Business (Leeds) > Work and Employment Relation Division (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 15 Mar 2024 14:23 |
Last Modified: | 16 Apr 2024 12:47 |
Status: | Published online |
Publisher: | SAGE |
Identification Number: | 10.1177/00113921241239644 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:210284 |