Self-Radicalization in the Public Sphere: A Concept Explication of Red-Pilling

RM 217

Red-Pilling is the process of radicalization into right-wing extremism through active involvement in online communities and algorithmic suggestion. My research is a concept explication on red-pilling. I am doing qualitative analyses on the artifacts of those involved in the red-pilled community and comparing my findings to the scholarly work currently being done on the topic. My goal is to reveal the unconscious consensus being developed collectively in academia about this topic and use my own findings and experiences to critique if the current understanding sufficiently represents red-pilling. I have developed four different conceptual lenses to analyze red-pilling through: A radicalization process, an affordance of digital media, community impacting the individual (and vice versa), and worldview. These lenses are the most effective ways to properly understand what Red-Pilling is.