The Limits of "Hate" When Studying Right-wing Movements

[ECtetrault]

Hi Everyone!

Why is “hate” so often coupled with right-wing politics in popular and academic discourse? Is hate really useful for studying and understanding right-wing groups?

My new article came out yesterday addressing this topic, and is based on the theory and methods sections of my dissertation research on Canada’s right-wing nationalist movement.

In the article, I develop the concept “hate stereotyping”, which is when researchers overstate individual emotions and political prejudices as motivating collective action among the right-wing, epitomized by labels such as “hate group”. Hate narratives about right-wing politics tend to individualize right-wing extremism and risk sustaining the dominant idea that racism is deviant and a problem of bad attitudes and fringe ideologies, rather than larger issues of systemic and structural inequality.

I hope the piece will help people think more critically about our current political moment, and I would love to hear your thoughts. The article is behind a paywall, so please message me about access. Emailing me is probably best: jtetraul@ualberta.ca

Link: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0011392119842257#articleCitationDownloadContainer
Best,

Justin

[Author]

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