Exposure to hate material is related to a host of negative outcomes. Young people might be especially vulnerable to the deleterious effects of such exposure. With that in mind, this article examines factors associated with the frequency that youth and young adults, ages 15 to 24, see material online that expresses negative views toward a social group. We use an online survey of individuals recruited from a demographically balanced sample of Americans for this project. Our analysis controls for variables that approximate online routines, social, political, and economic grievances, and sociodemographic traits. Findings show that spending more time online, using particular social media sites, interacting with close friends online, and espousing political views online all correlate with increased exposure to online hate. Harboring political grievances is likewise associated with seeing hate material online frequently. Finally, Whites are more likely than other race/ethnic groups to be exposed to online hate frequently.

Feminist ethnographic methods stress the role of empathy for research subjects and researchers' willingness for their work to be useful to their subjects. When the research subjects are "unloved groups," though-people whose actions or beliefs are hateful or harmful-some ethnographers argue that such empathy and empowerment is misplaced or leads to uncritical scholarship. In this reflection on the author's ethnographic study of Westboro Baptist Church, a small Kansas-based congregation infamous for preaching its anti-gay theology at funerals, including the funerals of fallen servicemen and -women, she questions the usefulness of denying an emotional connection with "hatemongers." Instead, she argues for compassion for both the victims and, more challengingly, the perpetrators of hate in order to protect researchers from the threat of desensitization. 11

Online extremism, or the use of information technology to profess attitudes devaluing others based on a characteristic such as race, religion, gender, or sexuality, is a growing problem. This has led to myriad harmful effects for some who are exposed to online hate. A critical first step toward stemming the tide of online hate is understanding factors associated with its creation and spread. To that end, this analysis examines factors associated with joining an ongoing attack against a targeted group online. We use insights from four leading criminological theories -routine activity theory, social control theory, general strain theory, and social learning/differential association theory -to investigate who is likely to join an attack on a targeted group when they view such an attack occurring. Using data from a national sample of 15 -36-year-old Internet users, we conduct an ordinal logistic regression analysis. Results show support for social control theory and strain theory, as low levels of self-control and online strain are both positively correlated with joining an online attack. Similarly, we find support for the applicability of social learning theory; close engagement with online friends and groups is related to an increased likelihood of joining in online hate. Routine activity theory, however, is less relevant for understanding our outcome. Taken together, our findings shed light on factors associated with the perpetuation of online hate, and, in doing so, offer avenues for reducing its growth.

Religious right leaders and voters in the United States supported Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election for the same reason that all blocs vote as they do: They believed that the candidate offered them the best opportunity to protect and extend their power and create their preferred government. The puzzle of their support, then, is less why they chose Trump and more how they navigated the process of inserting Trump into their story of themselves as a “moral” majority. This self-understanding promotes and exploits feelings of entitlement, fear, resentment, and the desire to dominate to encourage political action. Because Trump’s speeches affirm these feelings, religious right voters were open to writing a plot twist in their story, casting Trump as a King Cyrus figure, as their champion if not a coreligionist. This article analyzes appeals to and expressions of entitlement, fear, resentment, and the desire to dominate from more than 60 sermons, speeches, and books by religious right authors, Donald Trump, and Trump surrogates. Using open coding, it identifies themes in how these emotions are recognized, affirmed, and invoked by speakers, focusing on Trump’s Cyrus effect.

This chapter identifies the doctrines that are central to conservative American Christians’ interpretation of biblical texts. Such believers view their scriptures as inerrant, literal, divinely inspired, authoritative, easily understood, internally consistent, and coherent, a vision of the Bible that does not necessarily lead to conservative social and political views, even as those conservative Christians who participate in conservative politics insist that it must. Those who use conservative faith to justify conservative politics form the Religious Right, which seeks to form a “Bible-based” America, one in which a limited government promotes a strong international presence, free-market capitalism, and individual liberty. This chapter traces how the Religious Right promotes the Bible as the root of American law, a hierarchy that allows them to argue that all those in the United States, not merely conservative Christians, are under the authority of the Bible, creating a mandate for Christians to seek and maintain power.