About
Many religious extremists have a background in street culture, drug use, violence and crime. Some are drawn to extremism because they are fascinated by its cultural and oppositional style. Others seek excitement, friendship, or absolution from previous sins or their employment of “legitimate” violence. In this project we examined both why people with a background in violent street culture and drug use were attracted to religious extremism and why they rejected it.
Methods
The project was based on one year of ethnographic fieldwork in the city center of Oslo, and interviews with 54 criminals or ex-criminals with a Muslim background. Researchers spent lengthy periods in areas and milieus characterized by crime and street culture, where the sale and use of illegal drugs was widespread.
Results
The fieldwork and interviews showed that Muslims involved in crime mainly oppose religious extremism. Terrorists are frequently perceived as evil, bad Muslims, and “cowards” that do not have the right kind of masculinity. We also explored why some people in street culture are drawn towards extremism. Understanding why young, marginalized men are attracted to, or reject jihadism, may help prevent political and religious extremism.
Publications and media
- How Gangsters Become Jihadists (And Why Most Don’t): Bourdieu, Criminology, and the Crime-Terror Nexus (podcast)
- Street culture meets extremism: How Muslims involved in street life and crime oppose jihadism
- How 'gangsters' become jihadists: Bourdieu, criminology and the crime-terrorism nexus
- Muslim narratives of desistance among Norwegian street criminals: Stories of reconciliation, purification and exclusion
- Narrative ethnography under pressure: Researching storytelling on the street
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The street-jihadi spectrum: Marginality, radicalization and resistance to extremism
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Street-level counter-terrorism: An ethnographic study of the nexus between crime and violent jihadism
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What good can stories do?
Contact us for papers that are unpublished or behind a paywall.