Socioideology: How shared reality and quest for significance define modern violent extremism.

The present article posits a two-factor model of radicalization, expanded from and complementary to the need, narrative, network model of radicalization (Kruglanski et al., 2019). The model holds that motivation, namely, the need for significance, plays the dominant role in the radicalization process, while the socioideology, a combined narrative and network component, serves as the means by which one fulfills their quest for significance. The model suggests that as the need for significance grows stronger, so too does the attraction to violent and extreme socioideologies, including attraction to multiple such ideologies at once, even if those conflict with each other, resulting in the ideological inconsistency that is becoming increasingly prevalent in the terrorism landscape. Method: The article is theoretical and relies on a literature review and limited, exploratory linear regression models based on publicly available data from the European Values Study (European Values Study, 2022). Results: The hypotheses of the model presented are supported by prior research on violent extremism, conspiracy beliefs, and shared reality, as well as by exploratory data analysis. Conclusions: The socioideological means model explains several recent trends in violent extremism, including younger offenders, lone actors, and online radicalization, arguing that in the terrorism landscape of the 2020s, a new understanding of the relationship between—and inextricability of—ideology and social influence is needed. Directions for testing the socioideological means model directly are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved)

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