IM Cultural Institute

Tag: Resilience

  • Resilience Against Radicalization and Extremism in Schools: Development of a Psychometric Scale

    Resilience Against Radicalization and Extremism in Schools: Development of a Psychometric Scale

    Noticing how practitioners, policymakers, and researchers alike have argued that the school environment can be both a risk and resilience factor for radicalization and extremism among youth, and how little research has tested this directly, the authors of this study proposed the development of a scale to measure resilience against radicalization and extremism in schools, with a focus on factors that strengthen social cohesion.

    A cultural and community psychological approach was used, and data were collected from 334 pupils in mostly urban areas in Norway, with 233 participants retained for analysis. Exploratory factor analysis identified three dimensions of school resilience:

    • the perception that the school treats pupils equally no matter their social backgrounds;
    • the perception of the school and its employees as attentive and proactive in meeting pupils’ anger resulting from social and political issues;
    • the presence of mutual respect.

    Regression analyses show that perceived equality predicted lower extremist intentions and radicalization, as well as reduced levels of several extremism risk factors, including anomie, symbolic and realistic threats, and relative deprivation. Mutual respect showed no significant effects, while school attentiveness was positively associated with some risk factors, suggesting it may reflect a response to existing problems.

    Learn more about this study: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.980180

    Reference

    Eldor, D. S., Lindholm, K., Chavez, M. H., Vassanyi, S., Badiane, M. O. I., Yaldizli, K., Frøysa, P., Haugestad, C. A. P., & Kunst, J. R. (2022). Resilience against radicalization and extremism in schools: Development of a psychometric scale. Frontiers in psychology, 13, 980180

  • Resiliences to Radicalization: Four Key Perspectives

    Resiliences to Radicalization: Four Key Perspectives

    As the idea of resilience to radicalization has become key in policymaking for the prevention of violent extremism, the way in which this resilience is understood by frontline workers is important to understand.

    In light of this, the authors conducted a Q-methodology study, which identified diverse views, but four main perspectives stand out on resilience to radicalization amongst policy-makers and practitioners in Belgium, the Netherlands, and the UK:

    • “being free to express and explore diverse ideas and values”;
    • “being critical and acting against injustice”;
    • “being flexible and adapting to social norms”;
    • or “being robust and closely connected to others”;

    These perspectives were examined in context of the broader debates around both resilience and radicalization, and the extent to which the divergences matter for collaboration was considered. The bottom line is that it is a fact that making these implicit ideas explicit may enable a more open discussion amongst policy makers on common points and divergences to further knowledge.

    Learn more about this study here: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijlcj.2021.100486

    Reference

    Stephens, W., & Sieckelinck, S. (2021). Resiliences to radicalization: Four key perspectives. International Journal of Law, Crime and Justice, 66, 100486