# Radicalization as Social Contagion **Entity class:** Analytical model **Domain:** Radicalization studies / social networks / diffusion **Maturity:** Developed with explicit limits ## Definition **Radicalization as social contagion** models changes in belief, commitment, recruitment, or mobilization as processes influenced by social contact and network structure. The strongest form treats radicalization as a **complex contagion**: adoption may require reinforcement from several trusted contacts, an identity group, or repeated exposure rather than one encounter. This formulation explains why kinship, friendship, small groups, recruiters, and online communities can matter. It does not establish that every contact transmits influence or that radicalization has one pathogen-like cause. Individual agency, ideology, institutions, political conditions, and material opportunities remain part of the causal field. ## Relationships - **subject:** [[wiki/Radicalization|Radicalization]]. - **formal model:** [[wiki/Complex Contagion|Complex Contagion]] and [[wiki/Social Network Analysis|Social Network Analysis]]. - **broader comparison:** [[wiki/Network Epidemiology|Network Epidemiology]]. - **operational analogy:** [[wiki/Contact Tracing|Contact Tracing]]. - **memetic layer:** [[wiki/Memetic Theory|Memetic Theory]]. ## Sources / Provenance - [National Institute of Justice — Social networks and domestic radicalization](https://nij.ojp.gov/library/publications/role-social-networks-facilitating-and-preventing-domestic-radicalization-what) - [National Library of Medicine — Adaptive-network model of terrorism recruitment](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4236028/)