Far-Right Extremism and the Sociology of Race and Racism

Winter, Aaron (2025) Far-Right Extremism and the Sociology of Race and Racism. In: The Sociology of Violent Extremism: Theoretical and Sociological Approaches :. Causes and Consequences of Terrorism . Oxford University Press, New York, pp. 179-204. ISBN 9780197690123

Abstract

Although far-right or right-wing extremism has often been used as a signifier for racism and the dangers it poses, particularly in post-racial, color-blind, and liberal societies and narratives, it has rarely been studied through the lens of the sociology of race and racism. This field and body of work have more often focused on the very structural, systemic, and institutional forms of racism that a focus on “extremism” can serve to distract from, minimize, and even perpetuate. Work on right-wing extremism in sociology has taken place, however, but primarily through a class analysis that has often conflated race (specifically Whiteness) and class (specifically working class) and treats racist extremism as a symptom of socioeconomic inequality as opposed to a system of inequality in which Whiteness is also privileged. This chapter critiques existing approaches to right-wing extremism vis-à-vis racism, highlights gaps, and examines what sociology of race and racism—and notably that on post-racial, color-blind, and liberal racism—can offer to help understand the place and function of racist right-wing extremism within the wider system of racism and White supremacy. Related to this, it examines what such work in sociology of race and racism can say about the role of counterextremism and counterterrorism in terms of both responses to the racist far-right and Islamophobia.