Radicalization and Transformative Learning: Explored Through Honneth’s Recognition Theory

Abstract

This paper builds on experiences of working with radicalized community groups on the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland during the 1980s. This paper explores models of radicalization that understand radicalization as a struggle for recognition. Honneth, relying on Dewey, helps us elaborate connections between understanding and addressing the challenges of radicalizations today. Honneth’s recognition theory; his work on democracy and freedom that reinvigorates Dewey’s theory of democracy, are at the core of the argument presented here. Transformative learning (TL), having built on the work of these same allies, can be interpreted as a way of addressing distorted recognitions that motivate radicalized individuals and groups. The paper concludes with suggestions for addressing this phenomenon at the level of individual, community, and society.

Keywords

transformative learning democracy recognition radicalization

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Arendt

(2018). Thinking without a banister: Essays in understanding 1953–1975. Schocken.

Bélanger

J. J.

Moyano

Muhammad

Richardson

Lafrenière

M. K.

McCaffery

Framand

Nociti

(2019). Radicalization leading to violence: A test of the 3N model. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 10, 42. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2019.00042

Calhoun

(1992). Introduction. In Calhoun

(Ed.), Habermas and the public sphere (pp. 1–48). MIT.

Connolly

Fleming

(1997). Dundalk united and divided: Plan for reconciliation. Maynooth University. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/265494301_Dundalk_United_and_Divided_Redeemer_Parish_Plan_for_Reconciliation

Crenshaw

(1981). The causes of terrorism. Comparative Politics, 13(4), 379–399. https://doi.org/10.2307/421717

Darder

(2009). Imagining justice in a culture of terror: Pedagogy, politics, and dissent. In Macrine

S. L.

(Ed.), Critical pedagogy in uncertain times: Hope and possibilities. Palgrave Macmillan.

della Porta

(2013). Clandestine political violence. Cambridge University Press.

Demirden

(2018). Why so radical: Psychology of process of radicalization. In New Trends in Combating Terrorism and Extremism, the 7th Annual INTERPA Conference, Doha, INTERPA.

Dewey

(1954). The public and its problems. Swallow Press.

10.

Dewey

(2000). Liberalism and social action. Prometheus.

11.

European Commission Expert Group on Violent Radicalization . (2008). Radicalization processes leading to acts of terror. European Commission.

12.

Fleming

(2016). Reclaiming the emancipatory potential of adult education: Honneth’s critical theory and the struggle for recognition. European Journal for Research on the Education and Learning of Adults, 7(1), 13–24. https://doi.org/10.3384/rela.2000-7426.rela9077

13.

Fraser

Honneth

(2003). Redistribution or recognition? A political-philosophical exchange. Verso.

14.

Habermas

(1989). The structural transformation of the public sphere: An enquiry into a category of bourgeois society. Polity.

15.

Honneth

(1995). The struggle for recognition: The moral grammar of social conflicts. Polity.

16.

Honneth

(1997). Recognition and moral obligation. Social Research, 64(1), 16–35. https://www-jstor-org-443.web.bisu.edu.cn/stable/40971157

17.

Honneth

(1998). Democracy as reflexive cooperation: John Dewey and the theory of democracy today. Political Theory, 26(6), 763–783. https://doi.org/10.1177/0090591798026006001

18.

Honneth

(2007). Disrespect. Polity.

19.

Honneth

(2009). Pathologies of reason: On the legacy of critical theory. Columbia University Press.

20.

Honneth

(2014a). Freedom’s right: The social foundations of democratic life. Polity.

21.

Honneth

(2014b). The I in we. Polity.

22.

Horgan

(2005). The psychology of terrorism. Routledge.

23.

Kokkos

Fleming

(2024). Toward a pedagogy of critical and social imagination: The arts in adult education. Journal of Transformative Education, 22(4), 397–414. https://doi.org/10.1177/15413446241255908

24.

Kruglanski

A. W.

Bélanger

J. J.

Gunaratna

(2019). The three pillars of radicalization: Needs, narratives, and networks. Oxford University Press.

25.

Mandel

D. R.

(2009). Radicalization: What does it mean? In Pick

T. M.

Speckhard

Jacuch

(Eds.), Home-grown terrorism: Understanding and addressing the root causes of radicalization among groups with an immigrant heritage in Europe (pp. 101–113). IOS Press.

26.

McCauley

Moskalenko

(2017). Understanding political radicalization: The two- pyramids model. American Psychologist, 72(3), 205–216. https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000062

27.

Meacham

(2022). And there was light: Abraham Lincoln and the American struggle. Random House.

28.

Melacarne

Fabbri

(Eds.), (2023). Understanding radicalization in everyday life. McGraw-Hill.

29.

Mezirow

(1991). Transformation theory and cultural context: A reply to Clarke and Wilson. Adult Education Quarterly, 41(3), 188–192. https://doi.org/10.1177/0001848191041003004

30.

Mezirow

(2000). Learning to think like an adult: Core concepts of transformation theory. In Mezirow

Associates (Ed.), Learning as transformation: Critical perspectives on a theory in process (pp. 3–34). Jossey-Bass.

31.

Miller

(2008). Death of a salesman. Longman.

32.

Mogelson

(2022). The storm is here: An American crucible. Penguin.

33.

Moghaddam

(2005). The staircase to terrorism. American Psychologist, 60(2), 161–169. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.60.2.161

34.

Orsini

(2023). What everybody should know about radicalization and the DRIA Model. Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, 46(1), 68–100. https://doi.org/10.1080/1057610X.2020.1738669

35.

Pasternak

(1958). Doctor Zhivago. Collins.

36.

Romano

Kramlich

D. J.

Marsick

Cotter Zakrzewski

Anderson-Sathe

Brunstein

Cunliff

Longmore

A. L.

(2024). Practicing embodied listening for transformation: The transformative listening protocol. Journal of Transformative Education, 23(1), 31–58. https://doi.org/10.1177/15413446241258681

37.

Sageman

(2004). Understanding terror networks. University of Pennsylvania Press.

38.

Silber

Bhatt

(2007). Radicalization in the West: The homegrown threat. New York City Police Department. https://publicintelligence.net/nypd-radicalization-in-the-west-the-homegrown-threat/

39.

Taylor

E. W.

(2007). An update of transformative learning theory: A critical review of the empirical research (1999–2005). International Journal of Lifelong Education, 26(2), 173–191. https://doi.org/10.1080/02601370701219475

40.

US Department of Homeland Security Institute (HSI) . (2006). Radicalization: An overview and annotated bibliography of open-source literature. Final report.

41.

Wiktorowicz

(2005). Radical Islam rising; Muslim extremism in the west. Rowman and Littlefield.