Researching Far Right Movements: Which Implications for Social Research?

Since several decades, the issue of extreme right movements is a consolidated object of study for social sciences, witnessed by the vast literature on this subject. This literature is largely based on studies and analysis ascribable to a political sociology approach, mainly focused to specific aspects of these movements, i.e. the organizational dimension, the analysis of their ideological and political orientations and their interpretations, the electoral weight, the mechanisms of mobilization.

Therefore, are still few the studies focused on a cluster of key questions that remain under-explored within the existing literature. These questions are mainly related to the subjective dimension of who are mobilized by and take part in extreme right movements, as far as the ethical implications tied to researcher’s reflexivity on this specific fieldwork. The study of these movements, in fact, presents some difficulties connected to the access to the research field since qualitative inquiry techniques need a direct connection with actors that are the object of the study.

The paper aims at exploring some theoretical and methodological issues related to the study of far-right movements that are still under-explored within the existing literature. In particular, I will face some questions related to the subjective dimension of who are mobilized by and take part in extreme right movements, as far as the ethical implications tied to researcher’s reflexivity on this specific fieldwork. The study of these movements, in fact, presents some difficulties connected to the access to the research field since qualitative inquiry techniques need a direct connection with actors that are the object of the study.