Interrogating the incel-o-sphere: The state of the subaltern counterpublic sphere in the digital age of extremism

Abstract

In critique of Habermas's public sphere, Nancy Fraser offered the ‘subaltern counterpublic’ – arenas of refuge from and counter-organizing against the wider public. But does this (re)configuration of the public sphere hold in the age of extremism on the internet? I examine the trajectory of incel as a community, interrogating whether this extremist contingent follows Fraser's subaltern counterpublic or if they exemplify a new counterpublic – the ultra altern, or ‘ultern’, counterpublic. I explore the ways that the ultern counterpublic differs from the subaltern and its relationship to the general public sphere, particularly within the critical intervention of the internet. I finally offer a brief analysis of another movement – the KKK – within my new framing, to further detail the differences between the ultern and subaltern counterpublic.