Bruce Allen Scharlau PhD thesis - Research@StAndrews:FullText

163
collective identity as the basis for future interpretations of members'
individual identities. 46
The time used for analytical thought by the group is thus devoted to
their subjective reality, their ideology, and the ulitimate goals. The
implications, such as the violence used by them, are less of a concern.
In this way the group uses discussions and self-criticism as a form of
.. faith ritual' to assure persistence of belief f 4 7 which helps maintain
group survival.
3. Paths into the West German Terrorist Organisations
Chapter four showed that no particular type of person became a leftwing
West German terrorist, but that they did experience somewhat
similar types of socialisation that might lead the person to join a
terrorist organisation. The next section builds on the results of
chapter four and the models presented earlier in this chapter to show
what the person experiences as a member of a terrorist organisation.
This section is based on the West German groups, but appears to be
applicable to other groups such as the Brigata Rossa. 48
People have to want to join a terrorist organisation because of some
personal incentive or be coerced to join. If the person could benefit
from what the group offered without joining- -being a free-rider- -they
would not join. Their behaviour is thus potentially predictable, as is
discussed below. 49
Chapter four examined the chronological process of joining terrorist
groups as a series of over lapping arenas that included key experiences
and people, a breaking away from traditional social structures I and a
commitment to a small social circle where eventually the number of
options for the group is potentially narrowed down to terrorism. This
process can be broken into segments.
First, a disassociation phase which begins when the individual
questions social and emotional ties. Then these ties are loosened before
the phase ends with a total negation of one's previous existence as a
form of internal and external liberation. The second phase is membership
in counter-culture groups which form a substitute for the social and
emotional ties left behind. The counter-culture includes groups ranging
from those only wanting an al ternati ve existence, to those wanting to
actively fight against society, and the person can move from unpolitical
46 Richard Weiner, "Collective Identi ty
Movements II, Psychology and Social Theory 3, 1982,
47 Bell" 197.
48 See Jamieson, 103-6, 266-8.
49 Oots (1989), 143, 149-50.
Formation
13-23, 14.
and
Social