Addicted to Hate: Identity Residual among Former White Supremacists

Pete Simi; Kathleen Blee; Matthew DeMichele; Steven Windisch

doi:10.1177/0003122417728719

Addicted to Hate: Identity Residual among Former White Supremacists

Pete Simi, Kathleen Blee, Matthew DeMichele, Steven Windisch

School of Criminology & Criminal Justice

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

29 Scopus citations

Abstract

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.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	1167-1187
Number of pages	21
Journal	American Sociological Review
Volume	82
Issue number	6
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/0003122417728719
State	Published - Dec 1 2017

Keywords

addiction
culture
identity
racism
symbolic interactionism

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Sociology and Political Science

Access to Document

10.1177/0003122417728719

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