To read this content please select one of the options below:

“There's a Chance for Adventure…”: Exploring Excitement as an Existential Attraction of Violent Extremism

Jack Katz

ISBN: 978-1-78756-073-4, eISBN: 978-1-78756-072-7

Publication date: 24 June 2020

Abstract

This chapter draws upon empirical data collected with former violent extremists in the UK to address the phenomenological attractions of engaging in terrorism. We argue that there needs to be more consideration of the attractions of belonging to a terrorist organization and a more thorough appreciation of the experiences that attract people to acts of terrorism. This chapter begins to address these issues by engaging with Jack Katz's (1988) research on the phenomenological foreground, the compelling and seductive qualities of engaging in criminal acts. Katz's highly original and influential research shifts attention away from traditional criminological approaches that emphasize structural background factors such as class, unemployment, gender, poverty, or education. As Katz argues, this structural level of analysis overlooks the subjective phenomenological feelings that accompany criminal behavior. We argue that this is a serious omission as it is precisely the search for thrill, risk, and intense excitement that can serve to motivate further acts of criminality.

Citation

Lakhani, S. and Hardie-Bick, J. (2020), "“There's a Chance for Adventure…”: Exploring Excitement as an Existential Attraction of Violent Extremism", Polizzi, D. (Ed.) Jack Katz, Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 91-110. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-78756-072-720201008

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2020 Suraj Lakhani & James Hardie-Bick