Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Social exclusion leads to Islamist radicalisation, according to scientific research

Social exclusion has emerged as the leading factor in creating violent jihadists, according to a new international study.

A team of researchers, including from University College London (UCL), used medical science and neuroimaging techniques to map how the brains of radicalised individuals respond to being socially marginalised.


The findings, they claim, confirm that exclusion is a leading factor in creating violent jihadists, The Observer reported.

The findings challenge the common belief among Western policymakers that other variables, such as poverty, religious conservatism and even psychosis, are dominant drivers of radicalisation.

"This finally dispels such wrongheaded ideas," said Nafees Hamid, the study's co-lead author of UCL.

"The first ever neuroimaging study on a radicalised population shows extreme pro-group behaviour seems to intensify after social exclusion," he said.

Using ethnographic fieldwork and psychological surveys, researchers identified 535 young Muslim men in and around Barcelona, the Spanish city where in 2017 Islamic State (IS) supporters killed 13 and wounded about 100 people in the Las Ramblas district.

Of those identified, 38 second-generation Moroccan-origin men, who had "expressed a willingness to engage in or facilitate violence associated with jihadist causes", agreed to have their brains scanned.

The results showed a striking effect when they were socially excluded by Spaniards while playing a virtual simulation called Cyberball, a ball toss game with three other players who abruptly stopped throwing them the ball.

Later scans showed that the neurological impact of being excluded meant that when issues were raised that the individual had not previously considered inviolable – such as introducing Islamic teaching in schools or unrestricted construction of mosques – they became far more important and were deemed similar to "sacred" and worth fighting for.

Previous research by the team on Israel-Palestinian, India-Pakistan and Kurds-ISIS conflicts had also found that when values deemed "sacred" are violated hostility becomes intractable.

"This latest research has shown how values start to become sacred and indicates that social exclusion makes non-sacred values behave like sacred values, which in turn makes people recalcitrant and prone to violence," Hamid told the newspaper.

He wants the study, a multi-university project involving scientific research organisation Artis International and partly funded by the US Department of Defence, to be used to help ensure social exclusion was factored into policies to prevent radicalisation.

More For You

Streeting hails India’s global role as Labour backs bilateral relations

Wes Streeting addresses the Republic Day reception at the Guildhall in London last Tuesday (28),joined by Sir Lindsay Hoyle and Vikram Doraiswami

Streeting hails India’s global role as Labour backs bilateral relations

WES STREETING spoke of the priority prime minister Sir Keir Starmer and the Labour government attach to relations with India when he addressed a Republic Day reception at the Guildhall in London last Tuesday (28).

But the secretary of state for health and social care won over the large Indian crowd by paying an unexpected tribute to Rishi Sunak.

Keep ReadingShow less
Sri Lanka seeks to negotiate with Adani over renewable energy plants

Gautam Adani

Sri Lanka seeks to negotiate with Adani over renewable energy plants

SRI LANKA’S government started talks with India’s Adani Group to lower the cost of power from two wind power projects the group will build in the island nation’s northern province, the cabinet spokesman said last Tuesday (28).

Sri Lanka has been reviewing the group’s local projects after US authorities in November accused billionaire founder Gautam Adani and other executives of being part of a scheme to pay bribes to secure Indian power supply contracts. Adani has denied the allegations.

Keep ReadingShow less
Badenoch proposes stricter citizenship rules for all migrants

Kemi Badenoch delivers speech on January 16, 2025 in London, England. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

Badenoch proposes stricter citizenship rules for all migrants

CONSERVATIVE PARTY on Thursday (6) proposed a clampdown on all migrants by tightening citizenship rules and barring social benefit claimants from residency rights.

Kemi Badenoch, who took over from Rishi Sunak in November last year, outlined her first major policy agenda as Tory leader in a move seen as an attempt to win back the support of Conservative voters drawn to the far-right anti-immigrant Reform party.

Keep ReadingShow less
Pakistan court gives unusual punishment to Youtuber Rajab Butt for owning lion cub

Pakistani zookeeper Mohammad Amir holds the confiscated lion cub at Lahore’s safari zoo last Tuesday (28)

Pakistan court gives unusual punishment to Youtuber Rajab Butt for owning lion cub

A PAKISTANI YouTube star who was gifted a lion cub on his wedding day avoided jail after promising a judge to upload animal rights videos for a year.

Rajab Butt has one of the largest online followings in south Asia, and his week-long nuptials in December were plastered over celebrity gossip websites.

Keep ReadingShow less
Theft and violence in retail shops hit record high in 2024

The Labour government has pledged to address the rise in retail crime through stronger measures to tackle shoplifting and anti-social behaviour

iStock

Theft and violence in retail shops hit record high in 2024

THEFT and violence against retail workers in Britain soared to record levels last year, driven partly by criminal gangs, and are “out of control”, according to a report last Thursday (30).

The British Retail Consortium's annual crime survey found that more than 20 million thefts occurred in the year to August 31, 2024 – an average of 55,000 a day – costing retailers £2.2 billion.

Keep ReadingShow less