Internet Mechanisms of Involvement in Extremist Communities as a Threat to Socialization of Contemporary Youth

Abstract

Introduction. This study investigates how the Internet environment, which provides ample opportunities for content distribution, influences the socialization of contemporary youth. Involving young people in extremist communities and their radicalization through a virtual environment represent a particular threat in this context. This study analyses the effects of the Internet environment that determine the specific character of socialization processes in young people and describe specific indirect and direct threats to the physical and mental well-being of the younger generation. Methods. To examine potential threats from the virtual space and to identify the mechanisms of young people’s involvement in extremist communities, the authors analyzed 2.500 creolized text units created by nationalist or religious-political extremist groups. The creolized texts were extracted from the websites containing extremist materials and from the relevant groups in Vkontakte. Results. The authors (a) systematized the most typical threats from the virtual space for the normative socialization of junior schoolchildren, adolescents, and young adults. The mechanisms of young people’s involvement in extremist communities using various manipulative techniques are described in detail. In particular, the authors analyze the techniques of meaning distortions of text information, visual images, and creolized texts. Discussion. The described mechanisms and techniques of their implementation are not the only ones. The improvement of the Internet environment leads to the development of techniques of influence on young people. The authors suggest that besides the administrative methods of controlling Internet content, it is necessary to form young people’s resistance to the influence of the Internet extremist communities. © 2019 Russian Psychological Society. All rights reserved.