YouTube, 4Chan and Incels: Investigating the mechanism and process of indoctrination and radicalisation of misogynistic terrorists to inform formation

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Addressing the timely issue of misogynistic terrorism perpetrated by members of the online subcultureself defined as incels, this much needed research investigates the link between widespread andmainstream misogynistic structures that enable incel cultures to thrive, focusing specifically upon ahypothesised mechanism of indoctrination and radicalisation.Using a mixed methods constructivist design applied to an online ethnography, this thesis tests thesupposition that specific online media platforms, forums and commentators promote a misogynisticideology that convinces young men they are victims of a savage form of unjust persecution carried outby the 'dangerous woman', leading to their indoctrination and radicalisation within niche misogynisticonline spaces that celebrate and advocate online and offline violence towards members of out groups,specifically women and the men they see as responsible for their purported suppression.Analysis of these spaces and individuals provides opportunity for the genesis of an intervention andcounter-narrative strategy seeking to advance an alternative perspective to identified misogynisticnarratives currently prevalent within mainstream and niche social systems of communication. Throughsimultaneous analysis of the perpetrators of this type of ideological violence and the websites, onlinecommentators and communities that potentially facilitate the pathway to terrorist, it will be possible toconsider and develop on and offline interventions implemented at key sages of young male's lives tocombat the relatively unchallenged stream of misinformation, propaganda and coercive mediacommunication readily accessible within popular and increasingly frequented niche online spaces.