From Oppression to Violence: The Role of Oppression, Radicalism, Identity, and Cultural Intelligence in Violent Disinhibition

Abstract

Violent radicalization and terrorism continue to pose social and security problems. Starting from the theoretical framework offered by the significance quest theory, the purpose of this research was to analyze the different roles that radical intentions play in the relationship between the loss of significance and violent disinhibition in Muslims and non-Muslims. For this reason, we carried out two studies: the first one with 133 Muslims and 126 non-Muslims, and the second with 98 Muslims and 167 non-Muslims. Specifically, we measured how perceived oppression influenced violent disinhibition through radical intentions. Secondly, we also measured the impact of identity and cultural intelligence in these relations. The main finding of the research was that there was an indirect effect of perceived oppression on violent disinhibition through radical intentions in the Muslim sample, whereas, in the non-Muslim sample, the effect of perceived oppression on violent disinhibition was not mediated by radical intentions. These results were replicated in both studies. Additionally, we found that identity and culture were factors that moderated the proposed relations. This work therefore shows that the conjunction of the loss of significance and radical intentions seems to strongly exacerbate the likelihood of a process of violent disinhibition for those who are considered to be in marginal contexts. Overall, different pathways and intervening factors are in the process of radicalizing Muslims and non-Muslims in Western societies.

Minority‐ versus Majority‐Status Group Intentions to Transgress the Law When Oppression Is Perceived

“…Thus, to radicalize, the perception of a conflict (real or not) between two groups is necessary. Supporting this statement, Lobato, Moya, Moyano, and Trujillo, (2018) found that the perception of oppression by an outgroup (Muslims vs. non‐Muslims) leads to violent disinhibition. However, they also found differences between Muslims and non‐Muslims.…”

“…Considering the time limitations of the present study, as it was necessary to collect the data before the referendum was held, the sample size was set as the maximum that was possible to reach in two weeks. However, based on similar studies (correlations and standard deviations from studies in Lobato, Moya, Moyano, & Trujillo, 2018 were used), we found that only around 100 participants were necessary to reach 80% power (α = 0.05) in each of the samples, according to Monte Carlo power analysis for indirect effects (Schoemann, Boulton, & Short, 2017).…”

Sustainable innovation in the context of organizational cultural diversity: The role of cultural intelligence and knowledge sharing

“…Knowledge management researchers and enterprise practitioners have proposed that organization culture diversity has an important impact on knowledge sharing and the long-term success of organizational knowledge management activities [ 28 ]. CQ improves employees’ cultural diversity adaptability and communication ability [ 22 , 54 ], impacting internal knowledge transfer and cross-cultural learning [ 55 , 56 ]. Therefore, we hypothsize that there is a close relationship between employee’ cultural intelligence and knowledge sharing.…”

The role of vulnerable environments in support for homegrown terrorism: Fieldwork using the 3N model

“…The 3N model proposes that these are connected to a common denominator: the quest for personal significance (Kruglanski et al, 2013(Kruglanski et al, , 2014Kruglanski, Chen, Dechesne, Fishman, & Orehek, 2009) -the need to feel respected, "to be someone" and to feel that one's life has meaning. This search for significance can be activated in various circumstances, but especially when there is a loss of significance such as when individuals experience the pang of humiliation (Kruglanski, Gelfand, Bélanger, Hetiarachchi, & Gunaratna, 2015), oppression (Lobato, Moya, Moyano, & Trujillo, 2018), anomia (Troian et al, 2019), incompetence (Dugas et al, 2016), social alienation (Bélanger et al, 2019), or uncertainty (Webber et al, 2018). Situations that produce a significance loss produces a strong impetus to retrieve significance.…”