“Infamy is better than total obscurity” - En studie av incel-rörelsens ideologi och radikaliseringsprocess

Sammanfattning

Since the mid 2000’s several terror attacks have been committed by men who have identified themselves as incels, which has led authorities to point out misogyny as a motive behind terrorism. Despite this, incels and misogynistic terrorism are severely understudied today, which has created a knowledge gap in the research field. The aim of this research project was to fill said gap by reaching a better understanding of the incel ideology, as well as the radicalization process leading to misogynistic terrorism. Using qualitative methods - ideology analysis and content analysis - this study examines written materials from the incel-movement; threads from incel forum, the "incel Wikipedia," and Elliot Rodger’s manifesto. The results show that incels have a united incel-ideology where they view society as gynocentric and that women’s rights need to be minimized. Results showed that they do support violence, but that there’s not enough organization or leadership within the group for the incel-movement to become a terrorist organization. Further, I found that the radicalization process for misogynistic terrorism is similar to radicalization for other motives such as politics or religion. I conclude that the incel-movement is a modern terrorism, where men share a misogynistic ideology within an echochamber, and therefore could act as enablers and supporters for lone-wolf terrorism.