Radicalization of women: an explicative potential of social psychological knowledge

Abstract

The aim of the article is to analyze the problem of women's radicalization. Based on a review of the literature, it seems possible to say that this problem is often ignored, terrorism is considered as the men’s activity, it is mistakenly believed that women are hardly capable of aggressive behavior, in case of involvement in terrorist activities, they are in a minor capacity. For terrorist organizations, it is a strategic step to use women because women are assigned the tasks where men can attract attention and be caught. In the activities of a terrorist organization, women perform a number of different roles: informants, specialists in developing propaganda strategies, recruiters, managers, qualified specialists, interpreters, objects of sexual bait, fighters. Information distributed by women is perceived differently from that distributed by men, it takes on a different meaning. The paper discusses the specific features of the reasons why men and women become radicalized, noting that the mechanisms of radicalization themselves hardly differ in the case of men and women. The paper is focused on the applicability and potential of theoretical schemes to explain the radicalization of women. Special attention is paid to the theory of uncertainty-identity, and empirical data obtained within the framework of this theory are discussed.