"This review presents the existing research on the role of the Internet in radicalization processes. Using a systematic literature search strategy, our paper yields 88 studies on the role of the Internet in a) right-wing extremism and b) radical jihadism. Available studies display a predominant inte
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rest in the characteristics of radical websites and a remarkable absence of a user-centred perspective. They show that extremist groups make use of the Internet to spread right wing or jihadist ideologies, connect like-minded others in echo chambers and cloaked websites, and address particularly marginalized individuals of a society, with specific strategies for recruitment. Existing studies have thus far not sufficiently examined the users of available sites, nor have they studied the causal mechanisms that unfold at the intersection between the Internet and its users. The present review suggests avenues for future research, drawing on media and violence research and research on social identity and deindividuation effects in computer-mediated communication." (Abstract)
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"Recent studies suggest that empathy induced by narrative messages can effectively facilitate persuasion and reduce psychological reactance. Although limited, emerging research on the etiology of radical political behavior has begun to explore the role of narratives in shaping an individual’s beli
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efs, attitudes, and intentions that culminate in radicalization. The existing studies focus exclusively on the influence of narrative persuasion on an individual, but they overlook the necessity of empathy and that in the absence of empathy, persuasion is not salient. We argue that terrorist organizations are strategic in cultivating empathetic-persuasive messages using audiovisual materials, and disseminating their message within the digital medium. Therefore, in this paper we propose a theoretical model and analytical framework capable of helping us better understand the neurocognitive process of digital radicalization." (Abstract)
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"This book offers a comprehensive analysis of the impact of the Internet on media and mediated content industries. It explores and discusses the changes this emergent communications platform is engendering for the media and content industries and the implications of those changes. Its contents are d
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rawn from the findings of a five-year EU sponsored research initiative, the 'Cost A20 Programme on the Impact of the Internet on the Mass Media'. Its authors include Europe's leading scholars in the field. The book's standpoint is simultaneously multi-lens, interdisciplinary, and cross-national. By approaching a common topic and single industry from a number of different theoretical and geographical standpoints it provides rich and comprehensive insights and thus equips scholars, policymakers, media practitioners, and social observers with a strong explanatory and interpretive overview of how the Internet has affected the media. The chapters look at the impact of the Internet on technology, platforms and innovation, content, users, and media organisations' strategies, structures and business models." (Publisher description)
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