The Social Identity Analytical Method: Facilitating Social Science-Based Practitioner Analysis of Violent Substate Conflict

Abstract

This research note is documentation of the Social Identity Analytical Method (SIAM), an analytical framework specifically developed for, and in cooperation with, law enforcement and other homeland security (HLS) leaders engaged with countering terrorism, violent extremism, organized crime, and criminal gangs. A key requirement voiced by these practitioners has been the ability to apply one analytical framework to multiple social groups – violent and non-violent, political, and non-political – without prejudice. Rooted in Social Identity Theory and anthropological scholarship, SIAM is designed to give practitioners a method for organizing analysis of actors, events and developments that is both adaptable and repeatable. Moreover, the framework allows practitioners to integrate insights from other analytical approaches, such as those centering on organizational concerns, rationality, and psychology. SIAM is now in use by federal, state, and local practitioners across the US. This note is the third publication documenting the framework’s development.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 The academic origin of the process lies in work done in the late 1990s at the Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence, University of St Andrews, Scotland, while the practitioner dialogue has, since 2007, been centered at the United States Naval Postgraduate School’s Center for Homeland Defense and Security in Monterey, California. While numerous practitioner-scholars from across the spectrum of local, state and federal homeland security agencies and departments have contributed to the process, special mention must be made of the input of Matthew Davison, Christopher J. Adamczyk, Jacob Anderson, Svetlana Angert, Nabeela Barbari, Christopher Barney, Christina Bell, Devon Bell, Mike Biasotti, Michael Brown, Caleb Cage, Jeffrey Dambley, Brad Deardorff, Ronald Dorman, Sunil Dutta, Greggory Favre, Stephen Felty, Richard Fleece, Jonathan Gaddy, Sevan Gerard, Max Geron, Matthew Hanley, Kelly Huston, Joleen Jubela, Nick King, Kristie Krebs, Victoria Lester-Saura, Robert Leverone, Keith Ludwick, Michelle Mallek, L.D. Maples, Keith McKinney, Christopher Milburn, John Murray, Julie Nations, Lisa Palmieri, Serge Potapov, Cynthia Renaud, Giacomo Sacca, Anna Schermerhorn-Collins, Mike Schofield, Justin Schumacher, Michael Sedam, Matthew Speer, Shawn Tupper, Aristotle Wolfe.

2 For an early overview of the various theories in the field, see Alex P. Schmid and Albert J. Jongman, Political Terrorism: A Research Guide to Concepts, Theories, Databases and Literature (Amsterdam: North Holland Publishing, 1983). For a narrower but more recent overview, see Daniela Pisoiu and Sandra Hain, Theories of Terrorism: An Introduction (New York: Routledge, 2017).

3 David W. Brannan, Kristin M. Darken, and Anders Strindberg, A Practitioner’s Way Forward: Terrorism Analysis (Salinas: Agile Press, 2014). For an early product of this interdisciplinary collaboration, see David W. Brannan, Philip F. Esler, and Anders Strindberg, “Talking to Terrorists: Towards and Independent Analytical Framework for the Study of Violent Substate Activism,” Studies in Conflict and Terrorism 24, no. 1 (2001), 3–24.

4 See Philip Mudd, The Head Game: High-Efficiency Analytic Decision Making and the Art of Solving Complex Problems Quickly (New York & London: Liveright Publishing Corporation, 2015), ch. 1.

5 See, for instance, Fathali M. Moghaddam, From the Terrorist’s Point of View: What They Experience and Why They Come to Destroy (Westport, CT: Praeger Security International, 2006), 33–44, 83–126. See also Anders Strindberg, Social Identity Theory and the Study of Terrorism and Violent Extremism. FOI-R–5062–SE (Stockholm: Swedish Defence Research Agency, 2021), 9–25.

6 Deindividuation is, from an SIT perspective, one of the main stumbling blocks of Social Movement Theory (SMT). For an SIT-based approach to this issue, see Stephen D. Reicher, “Social Influence in the Crowd: Attitudinal and Behavioural Effects of Deindividuation in Conditions of High and Low Group Salience,” British Journal of Social Psychology 23, no. 4 (1984), 341–50. See also Stephen D. Reicher, Russell Spears, and Tom Postmes, “A Social Identity Model of Deindividuation Phenomena,” European Review of Social Psychology 6 (1995), 161–198. For an overview of SMT, see Donatella De la Porta and Mario Diani, Social Movements: An Introduction, 2nd ed. (Malden MA: Blackwell Publishing, 2006).

7 Mark Jürgensmeyer, Terror in the Mind of God (Berkeley & Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2000), 7. See also Michael Jonsson, A Farewell to Arms: Motivational Change and Divergence Inside FARC-EP 2002-2010 (Uppsala: Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis, 2014), 18–29.

8 Pioneering work seeking to answer this question was conducted in the 1970s and 80s at the RAND Corporation, by individuals such as Konrad Kellen, Brian M. Jenkins, and Bonnie Cordes. See also Strindberg, Social Identity Theory and the Study of Terrorism and Violent Extremism, 10.

9 Andrew Silke, “The Impact of 9/11 on Research on Terrorism,” in Mapping Terrorism Research: State of the Art, Gaps and Future Directions, ed. Magnus Ranstorp (London: Routledge, 2007), 77.

10 See Daniel J. Harris, Pete Simi, and Gina Ligon, “Reporting Practices of Journal Articles that Include Interviews with Extremists,” Studies in Conflict and Terrorism 39, nos. 7–8 (2016), 602–16.

11 For an early and important contribution, see Moghaddam, From the Terrorist’s Point of View.

12 This state of affairs is a basic premise in Mudd, The Head Game, esp. ch. 5.

13 Paul K. Davis and Kim Cragin, ed., Social Science for Counterterrorism: Putting the Pieces Together (Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 2009), xxviii.

14 Paul K. Davis and Kim Cragin, “Conclusions,” in Social Science for Counterterrorism, ed. Davis and Cragin, 454.

15 There are a number of excellent primers and textbooks on the methods and principles of primary source research. See, for instance, Michael Q. Patton, Qualitative Research and Evaluation Methods (Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE, 2015); H. Russell Bernard, Research Methods in Anthropology: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches, 4th ed. (Lanham, MD: AltaMira Press, 2005).

16 See Strindberg, Social Identity Theory and the Study of Terrorism and Violent Extremism, 20–22.

17 Strindberg, Social Identity Theory and the Study of Terrorism and Violent Extremism. For scholarship making excellent use of SIT and SIT-derived analytical models, see for instance Moghaddam, From the Terrorists’ Point of View; Sophia Moskalenko and Clark McCauley, Radicalization to Terrorism: What Everyone Needs to Know (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019); J. M. Berger, Extremism (Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2018); Mark Juergensmeyer, The New Cold War? Religious Nationalism Confronts the Secular State (Berkeley, CA, University of California Press, 1993).

18 See Henri Tajfel and John C. Turner, “An Integrative Theory of Intergroup Conflict,” in The Social Psychology of Intergroup Relations, ed. William G. Austin and Stephen Worchel (Monterey, CA: Brooks/Cole, 1979), 33–47. See also Henri Tajfel, “Social Categorization” in Introduction à la psychologie sociale, Vol. 1, ed. Serge Moscovici (Paris: Larousse, 1972).

19 Henri Tajfel, “Interindividual Behaviour and Intergroup Behaviour,” in Differentiation Between Social Groups: Studies in the Social Psychology of Intergroup Relations, ed. Henri Tajfel (London: Academic Press, 1978), 27–60.

20 See Strindberg, Social Identity Theory and the Study of Terrorism and Violent Extremism, 15–6.

21 Roy Dilley, ed., The Problem of Context (New York & Oxford: Berghahn, 1999), 2.

22 Bronislaw Malinowski, “The Problem of Meaning in Primitive Languages” in Language and Literacy in Social Practice, ed. Janet Maybin (Clevedon: Open University Press, 1993; originally published 1923), 6.

23 Bronislaw Malinowski, Coral Gardens and Their Magic, Vol. 1: The Description of Gardening (London: Allen & Unwin, 1935), 17–8.

24 See Beverly Milton-Edwards, Islamic Politics in Palestine (London & New York: Tauris, 1996).

25 Ben-Ami Scharfstein, The Dilemma of Context (New York & London: New York University Press, 1989), xii–xiii.

26 Dilley, The Problem of Context, 19.

27 Alessandro Duranti and Charles Goodwin, Rethinking Context: Language as an Interactive Phenomenon (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992), 6, 22.

28 Anders Strindberg and Mats Wärn, Islamism: Religion, Radicalization, Resistance (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2011), 51.

29 Dilley, The Problem of Context, 25.

30 See for instance, Shelley McKeown, Reeshma Haji, and Neil Ferguson, ed., Understanding Peace and Conflict Through Social Identity Theory: Contemporary Global Perspectives (Geneva, Switzerland: Springer International, 2016), 278, 283.

31 Alastair Ager and Maryanne Loughry, “Psychology & Humanitarian Assistance,” Journal of Humanitarian Assistance 6 (2004), n.p. http://www.psicologinelmondo.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Ager-Psychology-Humanitarian-Assistance.pdf (accessed August 30, 2023).

32 Michael W. Morris, Kwok Leung, Daniel Ames, and Brian Lickel, “Views from Inside and Outside: Integrating Emic and Etic Insights about Culture and Justice Judgment,” The Academy of Management Review 24, no. 4 (1999), 781.

33 See, for instance, Nigel Rapport and Joanna Overing, Social and Cultural Anthropology: The Key Concepts (London: Routledge, 2000), 304. For an introduction to the Emic/Etic distinction, see Thomas N. Headland, Kenneth L. Pike, and Marvin Harris, ed., Emics and Etics: The Insider/Outsider Debate (Newbury Park, CA: Sage, 1990).

34 Bruce Hoffman, “Current Research on Terrorism and Low-Intensity Conflict,” Studies in Conflict and Terrorism 15, no. 1 (1992), 23–57.

35 For classical works, see for instance John K. Campbell, Honour, Family and Patronage: A Study of Institutions and Moral Values in a Greek Mountain Community (New York: Oxford University Press, 1964); John G. Peristiany, ed., Honour and Shame: The Values of Mediterranean Society (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1965); Lila Abu-Lughod, Veiled Sentiments: Honour and Poetry in a Bedouin Society (Berkeley et alibi: University of California Press, 1986).

36 This argument was originally presented in Brannan et al., “Talking to Terrorists.”

37 Brannan et al., “Talking to Terrorists.” Initially understood as culturally relevant markers for group interaction, the same markers are similarly relevant when applied to most sub-national groups in resource constrained environments. These include terrorist groups, but also non-terrorist groups like outlaw motorcycle clubs and street gangs.

38 See Philip F. Esler, Galatians (London: Routledge, 1998); Bruce J. Malina, The New Testament World: Insights from Cultural Anthropology (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2001); Campbell, Honour, Family and Patronage.

39 For foundational literature, see, for instance, Peristiany, ed., Honour and Shame; David D. Gilmore, ed., Honour and Shame and the Unity of the Mediterranean (Washington, DC: American Anthropological Association, 1987); Julian Pitt-Rivers, ed., Mediterranean Countrymen: Essays in the Social Anthropology of the Mediterranean (Paris & La Haye: Mouton & Co, 1963).

40 Campbell, Honour, Family and Patronage.

41 J. M. Berger, The Extremist Construction of Identity: How Escalating Demands for Legitimacy Shape and Define In-Group and Out-Group Dynamics. ICCT Research Paper (The Hague: International Centre for Counter Terrorism, 2017).

42 Strindberg and Wärn, Islamism, 95–96, 101–102, 199. Cf. Fawaz A. Gerges, The Far Enemy: Why JIHAD Went GLOBAL (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005).

43 David W. Brannan and Anders Strindberg, Social Identity Theory Module II: What Is Social Identity Theory? Center for Homeland Defense and Security Online Learning Module, Naval Postgraduate School, https://www.chds.us/?media/openmedia&id=2919 (accessed February 4, 2023).

44 Malina, The New Testament World, 40.

45 Strindberg and Wärn, Islamism, 57–58. See also Brannan and Strindberg, Social Identity Theory Module II.

46 Strindberg, Social Identity Theory and the Study of Terrorism and Violent Extremism, 44–51.

47 Michael A. Hogg, “From Uncertainty to Extremism: Social Categorization and Uncertainty Processes,” Current Directions in Psychological Science 32 (2014), 338–42; José M. Marques, Dominic Abrams, and R. Rui Serôdio, “Being Better by Being Right: Subjective Group Dynamics and Derogation of In-group Deviants When Generic Norms Are Undermined,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 81, no. 3 (2001), 436–47; Isabel R. Pinto, José M. Marques, John M. Levine, and Dominic Abrams, “Membership Status and Subjective Group Dynamics: Who Triggers the Black Sheep Effect?” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 99, no. 1 (2010), 107–19.

48 For foundational scholarship, see Peristiany, ed., Honour and Shame; Gilmore, Honour and Shame and the Unity of the Mediterranean; Pitt-Rivers, Mediterranean Countrymen; Campbell, Honour, Family and Patronage; Julian Pitt-Rivers, The People of the Sierra (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1961); Julian Pitt-Rivers, “Honour and Social Status” in Honour and Shame, ed. John G. Peristiany; Pierre Bourdieu, “The Sentiment of Honour in Kabyle Society” in Honour and Shame, ed. John G. Peristiany.

49 Malina, The New Testament World, 101.

50 Michael A. Hogg, “Social Identity Theory,” in Understanding Peace and Conflict Through Social Identity Theory, ed. McKeown et al., 7. Cf. Michael A Hogg and Dominic Abrams, Social Identifications: A Social Psychology of Intergroup Relations and Group Processes (London & New York: Routledge, 1988); Naomi Ellemers, “The Influence of Socio-Cultural Variables on Identity Management Strategies,” European Review of Social Psychology 4, no. 2 (1993), 27–57; Per-Olof H. Wikström, “Questions of Perceptions and Reality,” The British Journal of Sociology 6, no. 1 (2009), 59–63.

51 Hogg, “Social Identity Theory,” 7, 8.

52 Michael P. Arena and Bruce A. Arrigo, The Terrorist Identity: Explaining the Terrorist Threat (New York: New York University Press, 2006), 6.

53 Clark McCauley and Sophia Moskalenko, “Mechanisms of Political Radicalization: Pathways Toward Terrorism,” Terrorism and Political Violence 20, no. 3 (2008), 415; Mohammed Hafez and Creighton Mullins, “The Radicalization Puzzle: A Theoretical Synthesis of Empirical Approaches to Homegrown Extremism,” Studies in Conflict & Terrorism 38, no. 11 (2015), 958.