How It Works > What Risk Factors Make Young People Vulnerable to Recruitment?

We don’t know all of the risk factors that make a young person vulnerable to white nationalist recruitment. Research indicates that certain types of background conditions are common among those who respond to white nationalism, but every case is unique. It’s important to bear in mind that the great majority of adolescents encounter these sorts of personal and social issues without turning to any form of political extremism.

So while we discuss below a number of known risk factors, these should not be viewed as predictors of white nationalist engagement. They may, however, help explain how a young person who has in fact become involved with the movement felt attracted to it, and suggest ways to help these young people disengage by addressing the underlying issues that initially motivated their involvement.

And in terms of prevention, understanding these stress factors and providing extra support for young people who experience them—before a white nationalist does—may also strengthen a young person’s resistance to recruitment.

Risk factors

• Issues of gender and masculinity
• History of being bullied or other social trauma
• Feelings of social alienation
• A sense of grievance
• Search for an idealistic cause to join
• Other factors

Gender and masculinity

Members of white nationalist groups are overwhelmingly white males. This is true for both old-style skinhead or neo-Nazi groups, and for more recently emerging groups that stress political activism. Boys and young men who feel unsure of their masculine identities tend to be more vulnerable. White nationalism offers a clear path to proving masculinity through aggression and provides a group of comrades who support one another in training for or displaying aggression.

History of bullying or social trauma

Young people of either gender who have been routinely subjected to bullying at school or at home are more vulnerable to white nationalist recruitment. Feelings of shame and humiliation are heavy burdens, and one way to escape the pain is to inflict humiliation on others. Because white nationalism in America stigmatizes non-white minorities, it offers white youths who have suffered bullying an opportunity to exchange roles, joining with others to targeting a different group.

Alienation from other social groups

Networks of mutually supportive friends are important, and a young person’s network may frequently shift. White nationalist recruitment is an invitation to join a radically different social network. Its appeal may be strongest to young people of either gender who have lost attachments to other friendship groups or have been excluded by others. And once new recruits express tentative interest in white nationalism, their old friends may become even more distant, thus increasing the attraction of the new white nationalist friends.

A sense of grievance

White nationalist engagement is not generally linked to conditions such as poverty or unemployment. The most common white nationalist recruit has a middle-class background. But white nationalism often appeals to people who feel that changing conditions have deprived them of opportunities they think others have. A father’s job loss, a family’s income decline, fewer summer jobs, and a general feeling of downward mobility can lead to a sense that the world has given a young person a bad deal. A young person may manage these personal disappointments by accepting the idea that society has turned against white people and unfairly privileges non-whites.

A sense of idealism

It may seem strange, but some young people are led to white nationalism through an idealistic search for a way to make the world better. White nationalists say that evil forces are destroying a virtuous country that was founded on moral principles somehow characteristic of white people. A vulnerable young person may believe that committing to the movement is an act of ethical heroism.

We can see this idea in the lyrics of white power music, which can be a strong element in attracting young people to the movement. While the sound and the appearance of the performers may seem to reflect only violence and hate, the words often include a powerful message of idealism:

It seems that life is going to be uphill all the way
But you won’t yield, it’s no surrender until your dying day
For your ideals mean more to you than very life itself
For the pride you feel is all you need, it’s more than any wealth

• • • • • Skrewdriver, “I Can See the Fire”

We often view anger at injustice and a passionate commitment to fighting for a cause as positive traits in a young person. But when combined with trauma, alienation, or a sense of grievance, these commitments can also open a gateway for white nationalist recruitment.

Other risk factors

Young people in the white nationalist movement are sometimes led to it by family members who are already committed or who are newly engaged and actively recruiting. Friends or classmates who model white nationalist identity can draw more young people to the movement. And among young women who become engaged in the movement, many are following the lead of a romantic partner. Histories of criminal activity and incarceration play an important role for some young people, as the environments of criminal gangs and prisons are arenas of white nationalist spread.

Updated, October 2021

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