fixation
Definition
Fixation, in the context of extremism research, refers to a psychological orientation in which an individual is preoccupied with violence for its own sake, independent of any ideological rationale. This construct is distinct from ideologically motivated extremism. The violence fixated individual, or VFI, is driven by an enduring attachment to violence as intrinsically desirable rather than as a means to a political, religious, or racial end. The case of Axel Rudakubana, who killed three children in Southport in 2024, is offered as an empirical illustration, with police, the trial judge, and the Southport Inquiry all finding no evidence of any ideological cause motivating his attacks. His post-arrest statements expressed straightforward approval of the killings rather than any instrumental justification, consistent with the characterisation of fixation as an evaluative posture rather than a belief system.
Sources: Cassam (2026)
Applications
Fixation and Violence Valorization
Fixation on violence and the valorization of violence are presented as conceptually related but distinguishable orientations. A violence fixated individual is psychologically preoccupied with violence for its own sake, while a value extremist goes further by actively regarding violence as intrinsically good, treating it as non-instrumentally valuable regardless of any concrete purpose it might serve. The two dispositions can co-occur in the same individual, but they are not equivalent, and recognising their distinction is necessary for accurate classification of non-ideological extremists.
Sources: Cassam (2026)
Fixation and Ideology
Fixation on violence is explicitly contrasted with ideological motivation as competing explanatory frameworks for extremist behaviour. An ideology, on the account developed in the source, requires subject matter concerned with central issues of human life, sufficient generality to constitute a world view, systematically interconnected beliefs, and explanatory ambition. A bare fixation on violence satisfies none of the last three conditions, which means fixation cannot itself be reclassified as a form of ideological extremism without unacceptable conceptual looseness.
Sources: Cassam (2026)
