Violent Radicalisation and Recruitment to Terrorism: Perspectives of Wellbeing and Social Cohesion of Citizens of Muslim Heritage

Abstract

After the 7/7 bombings radicalisation became a homegrown issue in the UK with Muslims born and brought up here being responsible for the attacks. This has had a subsequent impact on wellbeing and social cohesion in the UK. It feels the Government’s strategy of tackling radicalisation is ineffective and maybe paradoxically serving to increase recruitment to radical groups. There is limited primary research from a sociological or a psychological perspective on the issue of radicalisation amongst the Muslim community in the UK. Two focus groups with six men and ten women, aged between 22 and 56, were established to determine the meaning of radicalisation to Muslims, gather experiences of the impact of the concept of radicalisation on the wellbeing of the Muslim community, understand more about the sociological and psychological processes that lead to radicalisation and gather in-group perspectives on how to tackle radicalisation as a means to promote social cohesion. Islamophobic media coverage and discrimination affected the wellbeing of the Muslim community resulting in a more orthodox religious identity. Drivers of radicalisation were perceived to include inequalities, and misrepresentation of Islamic teachings. Solutions to tackle radicalisation and promote social cohesion included authentic Islamic education, greater integration and reducing inequalities with greater acceptance by the Muslim community alongside more responsible journalism. Although further work is needed in Muslim communities, there also needs to be work done on non-Muslim communities to further understand the impact of extremism on social cohesion and wellbeing.