Entitativity as a moderator? A brief report unraveling the relations between deprivation, fundamentalism, and radicalization

Demmrich, Sarah; Şenel, Abdulkerim

Abstract

The reactivity hypothesis posits that individuals who perceive deprivation, often in the form of discrimination, may be more inclined to adopt a fundamentalist worldview and may even become more susceptible to radicalization as a reaction to these feelings of deprivation. The Uncertainty-Identity Theory posits entitativity as a moderator between deprivation and fundamentalism and radicalization, respectively. In a questionnaire study conducted on a gender-representative sample of students specializing in Islamic theology and religious education in Germany (N = 252) we found only marginal support for both hypotheses. While individual as well as collective forms of deprivation showed only a weak link to fundamentalism and no link to radicalization, entitativity demonstrated strong direct effects on fundamentalism and smaller but significant effects on radicalization. Additionally, participants who perceived deprivation against their own Muslim identity or religious practices are more likely to endorse violence against non-Muslims (‘infidels’) and as a mean to spread Islam throughout the world, but only when they perceive Muslims as moderate or highly entitative. Finally, we discuss the implications of these results for further research, university education, and counter-radicalization programs, particularly in light of the marginal effects of deprivation and the moderate to strong effects of ingroup entitativity.