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Addicted to Hate: Identity Residual among Former White Supremacists

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The process of leaving deeply meaningful and embodied identities can be experienced as a struggle against addiction, with continuing cognitive, emotional, and physiological responses that are involuntary, unwanted, and triggered by environmental factors. Using data derived from a unique set of in-depth life history interviews with 89 former U.S. white supremacists, as well as theories derived from recent advances in cognitive sociology, we examine how a rejected identity can persist despite a desire to change. Disengagement from white supremacy is characterized by substantial lingering effects that subjects describe as addiction. We conclude with a discussion of the implications of identity residual for understanding how people leave and for theories of the self.

Attachment Ext. Size Date
Addicted to Hate: Identity Residual among Former White Supremacists (2017) PDF 1.87 MB 10/03/2017
Last Updated: 01/12/2023
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