A Call to Educate, Participate, Invoke and Indict: Understanding the Communication of Online Hate Groups

Abstract

This study analyzes the messages in hate group websites using a grounded theory approach. Through this process of interpretive inquiry we propose four prominent themes—educate, participate, invoke, and indict—that characterize the messages examined in 21 hate groups. These message themes speak to the: (a) education of members and external publics; (b) participation within the group and in the public realm; (c) invocation of divine calling and privilege; and (d) indictment of external groups including the government, media, and entertainment industries, and other extremist sects. In advancing a substantive grounded theory of online hate group communication, we also explore the potential of these themes to ostensibly reinforce the hate group's identity, reduce external threats, and recruit new members.

Keywords:

• Group Communication
• Hate Groups
• Extremist Groups
• Grounded Theory

Acknowledgements

An earlier version of this article was presented at the 94th annual meeting of the National Communication Association in 2008. The authors would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for providing invaluable insight to help strengthen the manuscript.

Notes

1. Excerpt from website of The White Camelia Knights of the Ku Klux Klan (http://www.wckkkk.org).

2. Excerpt from website of the Aryan Nations (http://www.aryan-nations.org/).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Lacy G. McNamee

Lacy G. McNamee (PhD candidate, University of Texas at Austin) is a lecturer in the Department of Communication Studies at Baylor University

Brittany L. Peterson

Brittany L. Peterson (PhD, University of Texas at Austin) will be an Assistant Professor in the School of Communication Studies at Ohio University in Fall 2010

Jorge Peña

Dr. Jorge Peña (PhD, Cornell University) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication Studies at The University of Texas at Austin