The Affective Practices of Incels: A Social Identity Approach to the Construction of Incel Identities

Abstract

The advent of the internet has allowed for individuals, previously isolated from each other, to find each other and come together online through various forums focusing on a particular interest or identity. While often positive, people with socially maligned interests or identities have also found each other, developed communities, and engaged in discourse where worldviews and social identities have been constructed. Involuntary Celibates (incels) – men who identify as forced into celibacy by women who refuse to have sex with them – are one such group, where the worldview has resulted in self-identified members committing mass murders, and for some governments to recognise such acts as terrorism. Whilst some research has been conducted on incels and their worldview, no research has yet explored the nature of the affective features of their discourse or how incels construct their ingroup identity. Discourse Analysis and Social Identity Theory were used to explore and analyse how incels talk, construct identities, and explore the affective practices within this worldview. The posts of a prominent incel forum (incels.co) were observed for two weeks. Affective practices, in particular anger, were key features in constructing identities and often functioned as a means of keeping members attached to the conclusions of the worldview. Affective discourse was often hidden under layers of other interpretative repertoires used in the construction of the ingroup, and used in the construction of outgroups, working to build negative affects aimed at outgroups that may motivate members to commit or celebrate violent acts.