Alt-Right Gangs: A Hazy Shade of White

by Shannon E. Reid, Matthew Valasik

Overview

Alt-Right Gangs provides a timely and necessary discussion of youth-oriented groups within the white power movement. Focusing on how these groups fit into the current research on street gangs, Shannon E. Reid and Matthew Valasik catalog the myths and realities around alt-right gangs and their members; illustrate how they use music, social media, space, and violence; and document the risk factors for joining an alt-right gang, as well as the mechanisms for leaving. By presenting a way to understand the growth, influence, and everyday operations of these groups, Alt-Right Gangs informs students, researchers, law enforcement members, and policy makers on this complex subject. Most significantly, the authors offer an extensively evaluated set of prevention and intervention strategies that can be incorporated into existing anti-gang initiatives. With a clear, coherent point of view, this book offers a contemporary synthesis that will appeal to students and scholars alike.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780520300446
Publisher:	University of California Press
Publication date:	09/22/2020
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Shannon E. Reid is Associate Professor of Criminal Justice and Criminology at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte.

Matthew Valasik is Associate Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Alabama.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments

Introduction
1. The Dilemma of Definitions and Categorizations
2. Myths and Realities Surrounding Alt-Right Gangs
3. Alt-Right Gangs' Broken Toys: Risk Factors for Membership and Gang Formation
4. Identity and Ideology: Music, Culture, and "Hitler Stuff"
5. Alt-Right Gangs' Use of Space
6. The Leaderless Resistance of Online Memes and Hate
7. Criminality and Violence
8. The Alt-Reich in the Twenty-First Century: Dealing with "The Upside Down"

Appendix: Operationalizing the Alt-Right Gang Definition 
References
Index

Editorial Reviews

"This volume…is of value in rounding out the complicated picture of young white supremacists, in community, turning to rhetorical and physical violence."

Religious Studies Review

"Valasik and Reid present knowledgeable research to the reader that is easily understood and digested. Alt-Right Gangs can and should be used by policymakers, law enforcement officials, and everyday Americans to understand the growing problem posed by the white power movement in America."

The Topline Blog

2020-11-06
Two professors examine the alt-right movement through the lens of gang studies.

While the jarring 2017 White nationalist protests in Charlottesville, Virginia, “shocked people around the world,” Reid and Valasik note that “for those who study street gangs, such alt-right youth groups and the violence they participate in are not surprising.” As law enforcement, politicians, and concerned Americans on social media struggle to understand the appeal and online pervasiveness of the alt-right, Reid and Valasik suggest that gang research is “uniquely situated to help demystify these groups.” Reflecting their interdisciplinary backgrounds (Reid is a professor of criminal justice and criminology at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte, and Valasik is a professor of sociology at Louisiana State University), the authors’ research and methodology draw on a diverse range of theoretical frameworks that span history and political science to computer science and cultural studies. While explicitly acknowledging that the alt-right movement is racist, the authors dispel myths that the movement is made up entirely of White men, noting the presence of Latinx and Asians within some alt-right groups. This nuanced approach to the alt-right is the book’s greatest strength, as it also notes both the overlaps and differences between alt-right groups and their White power predecessors in organizations like the Ku Klux Klan. The work serves as a primer on the movement to the uninitiated, giving explanations of the ubiquitous alt-right memes that proliferate online as well as covering the cultural symbols, music, and clothing embraced by the Proud Boys and other groups. Using their background in gang research, Reid and Valasik provide law enforcement and policymakers with practical solutions on monitoring and tracking alt-right groups. Their recommendation to social media companies to censor racism and misogyny has proven to be a tougher sell. Though the book convincingly connects the alt-right to Donald Trump, more analysis is needed on the dynamics where they diverge from the president, particularly given his hard-line support of Israel. The radical traditional Catholic movement is also curiously absent, particularly given the movement’s niche that emphasizes Western ethnocentrism and patriarchy.

An important addition to the limited scholarship on the alt-right. (references, index)

Kirkus Reviews

"Extremely timely and astute. . . . A greatly needed primer on alt-right gangs and wider white power youth movements."

Ethnic and Racial Studies

"Alt-Right Gangs has considerable value as a contemporary synthesis that demystifies these groups for scholars, policy makers, and students alike and can be used in both undergraduate and graduate education."

Social Forces