Towards a resentment-driven model of intergroup conflict: using the incel phenomenon to conceptualize resentment as the driving factor for ideologically motivated extremism

ABSTRACT

This article outlines a new model for the initiation of intergroup conflict, in which resentment is theorized as the motivating factor. This model – drawing from existing theories in social psychology and international relations – describes the process by which members of a group become willing to engage in violent conflict with a target group, beginning with feelings of resentment arising from a perceived experience of victimization. The model is then applied to the involuntary celibate (incel) ideology and the trend of mass shootings perpetrated by incels, with two case studies.

KEYWORDS:

• Intergroup conflict
• social psychology
• resentment
• incels
• ideological terrorism
• mass shooting

Disclosure statement

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

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Benjamin C. Rouda

Benjamin C. Rouda is a graduate of the International Multidisciplinary Program in the Humanities at Tel Aviv University, specializing in conflict psychology and Middle Eastern studies, with an emphasis on extremist ideologies and lone wolf terrorism. He serves as an Elie Wiesel–Martin Luther King Jr. Scholar for The Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism & Policy.