Radical Political Ideologies
Regarding Unger’s (2002) statement, it is possible for an American terrorist group to exist on the basis of radical political ideologies. Terrorist groups consisting solely of U.S. citizens have existed in the past; therefore homegrown terrorism is not an impossible thing.
Today, there are various conditions that could foment terrorist ideologies among members of our own society. There are three measuring scales employed in examining covert ideologies and their relationship to political and social behaviors and beliefs. They include the Attitudes About Reality Scale, the Social Dominance Orientation Scale and the Right-Wing Authoritarianism Scale. These instruments have the same ideological aspects which involve abdication of moral responsibility to an outside agent. The belief is that one’s ideological perspective is the only representative of truth, and members who do not subscribe to that truth are negatively perceived. There is evidence that radical fundamentalists and other groups in the United States share ideologies that are different in degree rather than kind. These beliefs cause the people to divide the world into “them” and “us” and exacerbate the present conflicting perspectives. The scales have a close relationship to personality and cognitive processing differences of individuals and they mark the identification of a certain ideological group. They predict comparable beliefs and values about intergroup relationships and the degree of hostility directed to others who are not perceived as members of the group (Unger, 2002).
Since the 9/11 experience, so much discussion on the media has ensued over how an extremist worldview can make people to engage in horrific acts of violence. However, radical fundamentalists are not the only people to have a worldview. A worldview is a set of covert beliefs and values which is not regularly discussed with other groups, and rarely is there an examination of it by those who possess it (Unger, 2002).
Reference
Unger, R. (2002). Them and us: Hidden ideologies-differences in degree or kind? Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy, pg. 43-52.
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