Right before their violent terrorist attacks, the right-extremist John Earnest and Patrick Crusius uploaded a manifesto in which they justify their deeds. Targeting Jews and Hispanics, they...Show moreRight before their violent terrorist attacks, the right-extremist John Earnest and Patrick Crusius uploaded a manifesto in which they justify their deeds. Targeting Jews and Hispanics, they supposedly defended the white race from genocide or replacement by non-white immigrants. While these manifestos have been studied in several contexts, academic research remains scarce. This thesis contributes towards filling that gap by applying Berger’s (2018) framework to argue how Crusius’ and Earnest’s extremist manifestos compare in their identity- and crisis-solution construction. Qualitative coding of the manifestos was used to inform a comparative content analysis. Found was that despite differences in in-group definitions, Crusius and Earnest predominantly highlight practices to describe their out-groups. Whereas Crusius mainly employs a dystopian crisis narrative, Earnest primarily outlines a conspiracy crisis narrative to emphasize the external threat to his in-group. The violent solutions that Crusius and Earnest propose range from forced segregation to a revolution displaying elements of genocide. This thesis concludes that a dissection of the identity- and crisis-solution constructions in these manifestos contributes towards an enhanced placement of Crusius and Earnest in the wider contemporary far-right context. Additionally, this thesis confirms Berger’s (2018) contention that despite divergences in content, ideologies can be broken down along two constructs: the identity construct and the crisis-solution construct.Show less
