When Extreme Goes Mainstream: Extremism and Democratic Involution

Contemporary democracies are in a period of transition marked by polarization, erosion of shared norms, and the normalization of political extremism. This paper examines how extremism-traditionally understood as marginal, deviant, or pathological-comes to be mainstreamed within societies. Building on the tradition of the Roman School of Social Psychology founded by Eraldo De Grada, the paper integrates micro-level motivational dynamics with macro-level social and cultural processes. We first introduce the psychology of extremism at the individual level, emphasizing the need for significance, identity fusion, and self-sacrifice. We then extend this framework to the societal level, examining how institutions, media environments, and cultural narratives reward extremity while penalizing moderation. Finally, we analyze how these processes enable the transition from fringe extremism to its normalization in mainstream political culture and everyday life.

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