Commentary | Special Issue: Psychology of Violent Extremism

Extremism without ideology

Quassim Cassam

https://doi.org/10.56296/aip00062
Published: July 9, 2026
Copyright: The authors (CC BY 4.0)

Cassam, Q. (2026). Extremism without ideology. advances.in/psychology, 1, e945134. https://doi.org/10.56296/aip00062

Cassam, Quassim. "Extremism without ideology." advances.in/psychology, vol. 1, no. 1, 2026, e945134. https://doi.org/10.56296/aip00062.

Cassam, Quassim. 2026. "Extremism without ideology." advances.in/psychology 1 (1): e945134. https://doi.org/10.56296/aip00062.

Cassam Q. Extremism without ideology. advances.in/psychology. 2026;1(1):e945134. doi:10.56296/aip00062.

Cassam, Q. (2026) 'Extremism without ideology', advances.in/psychology, 1(1), e945134. Available at: https://doi.org/10.56296/aip00062.

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A response to Horgan and Shayler’s account of salad bar extremism. They represent salad bar extremism as ideological but new forms of extremism are less concerned with ideology than with violence for its own sake. Extremists in this sense are fixated on violence, which some of them regard as non-instrumentally valuable. This type of extremism finds no place in Horgan and Shayler’s taxonomy.

McCauley, C. (2026). The end of ideological violence. advances in/psychology, 1(1), e145270. https://doi.org/10.56296/aip00066
Rousseau, C., & Veissière, S. P. L. (2026). Shifts and continuity in contemporary violent extremism: Moving toward a dynamic and developmental understanding? advances in/psychology, 1(1), e631837. https://doi.org/10.56296/aip00068

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