Robert Futrell
Biographic Data
| ID | 110706 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Robert Futrell |
| GIVEN NAMES | Robert |
| FAMILY NAME | Futrell |
| SIGNATURE | FUTRELL R |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Nevada, Las Vegas |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-2885-9103 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 21 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 160 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 21 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1997 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2024 |
| H-INDEX | 7 |
A Constellation Approach to Understanding Extremist White Supremacy
Reflecting on long-term intensive ethnographic fieldwork, we sketch a “constellation” framework for understanding U.S. extremist white supremacy. Rather than tracing fluctuating people and organizations to explain the persistence of white supremacist extremism, we suggest that focusing on a core set of practices, ideas, and emotions offers a more complex, nuanced, and useful interpretation. We contrast our constellation framework with more typica…
How Threat Mobilizes the Resurgence and Persistence of US White Supremacist Activism: The 1980s to the Present
Despite a centuries-long history of violent mobilization, white supremacist activism (WSA) has received relatively little sociological attention outside a small, specialized subfield. Disciplinary interest began to change after Trump's 2016 election; the 2017 violent attack in Charlottesville, Virginia; and the January 6, 2021, insurrection. In recognition, this review article focuses on what has been learned about contemporary WSA since the 1980…
Out of Hiding: Extremist White Supremacy and How It Can be Stopped
Out of Hiding: Extremist White Supremacy and How It Can Be Stopped explains how white supremacist extremism endures, the varied forms it takes, its relationship with systemic racism, and what to do about it. The book draws on more than 30 years of extensive data and direct experiences with extremists to describe how white supremacy moved into the spotlight during the first two decades of the 21st century. The argument focuses on three moments bet…
Ecological Death Reform and Death System Change
This article elaborates on Robert Kastenbaum's death system analysis by explaining social change efforts among Ecological Death Advocates (EDAs), a diverse group of designers, scientists, spiritualists, and entrepreneurs who seek to develop more environmentally sensitive and humanistic alternatives to contemporary death management practices. Drawing from online and documentary data, we highlight EDAs claims about problems with conventional death …
The [Un]Surprising Alt-Right
Robert Futrell and Pete Simi on the simmering sentiments and political fortunes of White supremacists.
Parenting as Activism: Identity Alignment and Activist Persistence in the White Power Movement
This article addresses the relationship between identity and activism and discusses implications for social movement persistence. We explain how individuals negotiate opportunities as parents to align and extend an activist identity with a movement's collective expectations. Specifically, we focus on how participants in the U.S. white power movement use parenting as a key role to express commitment to the movement, develop correspondence among co…
American Swastika: Inside the White Power Movement's Hidden Spaces of Hate
This second edition of the acclaimedAmerican Swastikaprovides an up-to-date perspective on the white power movement in America. The book takes readers through hidden enclaves of hate, exploring how white supremacy movements thrive nationwide and how we can work to prevent future violence. Filled with powerful case studies, interviews, and first-person accounts, the book explains the differences between various hate groups, then shows how white su…
Neighborhood Connections, Physical Disorder, and Neighborhood Satisfaction in Las Vegas
This study helps to disentangle the mutual effects of neighborhood disorder and social cohesion on how residents evaluate their neighborhoods. We draw upon data from the 2009 Las Vegas Metropolitan Area Social Survey to understand how neighborhood cohesion, physical disorder, and perceptions of crime and safety influence neighborhood satisfaction and neighborhood quality of life among residents in the dynamic, yet understudied, urban context of L…
Gambling and Globalization: Sociological Perspectives on ‘the House’ and ‘the Players’
In this article, we explore a few ways in which the age‐old impulse to gamble has evolved into a global force. We start out by critically summarizing historical and foundational thinking on gambling in society, and then move into contemporary perspectives on the gambling act. We then focus upon two important actors in these global stages: ‘the house’ (the businesses that profit from gambling) and ‘the players’ (the individuals who, for the most p…
Negotiating White Power Activist Stigma
This article uses extensive ethnographic data on the U.S. white power movement (WPM) to describe the interactional aspects of managing activist stigma in everyday settings. We describe their stigma management as a form of everyday resistance. In the face of strong cultural codes against extreme racism, they conceal their Aryan identity to avoid the constant ire, indignation, and conflict they face from others. But, concealing their activist ident…
Understanding Music in Movements: The White Power Music Scene
Relying on the analysis of ethnographic and documentary data, this article explains how U.S. White Power Movement (WPM) activists use music to produce collective occasions and experiences that we conceptualize as the movement's music scene. We use the concept “music scene” to refer to the full range of movement occasions in which music is the organizing principle. Members experience these not as discrete events, but as interconnected sets of situ…
Labor and the Environmental Movement: The Quest for Common Ground
Free Spaces, Collective Identity, and the Persistence of U.S. White Power Activism
Journal Article Free Spaces, Collective Identity, and the Persistence of U.S. White Power Activism Get access Robert Futrell, Robert Futrell Direct correspondence to: Pete Simi, Department of Criminal Justice, Durham Science Center, 6001 Dodge Street, Omaha, NE 68182-0149. E-mail: [email protected] Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic PubMed Google Scholar Pete Simi Pete Simi Search for other works by this author on: Oxf…
Framing Processes, Cognitive Liberation, and Nimby Protest in the U.S. Chemical‐Weapons Disposal Conflict
This paper offers elaborations on current knowledge about social‐movement framing processes and cognitive liberation, especially regarding technical controversies and not‐in‐my‐backyard (NIMBY) protest. The social‐constructionist lens of the framing perspective also allows refinements in conventional explanations of NIMBY conflicts. Attention is given to the dynamics of emergence, continuity, and change in framing strategies over time in controve…
Technical Adversarialism and Participatory Collaboration in the U.S. Chemical Weapons Disposal Program
There has been a great deal of theoretical discussion about the merits and faults of greater public involvement in technology policy decisions but comparatively less case-based empirical consideration. This article assesses the theoretical and practical implications of two decision styles—technical adversarialism and participatory collaboration—in decision making on the U.S. Chemical Weapons Disposal Program. This case is useful in that it allows…
Protest as Terrorism: The Potential for Violent Anti-Nuclear Activism
This article examines the potential threat of terrorism toward the Nevada Nuclear Test Site and the proposed Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository by domestic protest groups, particularly anti-nuclear activists. The analysis is based on the history of direct action anti-nuclear campaigns against the facilities, particularly the Nevada Test Site, and suggests that violence as a form of protest, particularly the type of violence that is aimed at …
La gouvernance performative. Maîtrise des impressions, travail d'équipe et contrôle du conflit dans les débats d'une City Commission
La gouvernance performative. Maîtrise des impressions, travail d'équipe et contrôle du conflit dans les débats d'une City Commission Robert Futrell Les commissions municipales ouvertes aux habitants qui souhaitent y participer constituent le principal dispositif de gouvernance locale délibérative aux Etats-Unis. En s'appuyant sur les catégories de Goffman, on peut avancer que les interactions entre les commissaires et le public permettent la mise…
Politics of Space and the Political Economy of Toxic Waste
Ethnoecology: Knowledge, Resources, and Rights
This work examines subjects ranging from pastoralism to the use of medicinal plants to show that understanding the knowledge system of any people is essential to understanding their relation to the environment
Performative Governance: Impression Management, Teamwork, and Conflict Containment in City Commission Proceedings
This article discusses patterns of interaction among citizens and officials in city commission proceedings. Drawing on Goffman's dramaturgical metaphor, the author examines elements of discourse and action that create interactional inequities and unobtrusive limits to democratic participation in this setting. The proceedings are described as a series of interactional performances geared toward maintaining an atmosphere of public involvement in de…
Citizen-State Interaction and Technical Controversy: The U.S. Army Chemical Stockpile Disposal Program
This paper explores the development and transformation of a local collective campaign opposing the U.S. Army's ChemicaL Weapons Stockpile Disposal Program into a social movement with national and international dimensions. I examine the ways in which the actions of both citizens and the Army have been shaped by officials, policies, and organizations at multiple levels of the state. Contrary to the emphasis on extra-institutional actions noted in m…
Negotiating White Power Activist Stigma
This article uses extensive ethnographic data on the U.S. white power movement (WPM) to describe the interactional aspects of managing activist stigma in everyday settings. We describe their stigma management as a form of everyday resistance. In the face of strong cultural codes against extreme racism, they conceal their Aryan identity to avoid the constant ire, indignation, and conflict they face from others. But, concealing their activist ident…
Understanding Music in Movements: The White Power Music Scene
Relying on the analysis of ethnographic and documentary data, this article explains how U.S. White Power Movement (WPM) activists use music to produce collective occasions and experiences that we conceptualize as the movement's music scene. We use the concept “music scene” to refer to the full range of movement occasions in which music is the organizing principle. Members experience these not as discrete events, but as interconnected sets of situ…
Neighborhood Connections, Physical Disorder, and Neighborhood Satisfaction in Las Vegas
This study helps to disentangle the mutual effects of neighborhood disorder and social cohesion on how residents evaluate their neighborhoods. We draw upon data from the 2009 Las Vegas Metropolitan Area Social Survey to understand how neighborhood cohesion, physical disorder, and perceptions of crime and safety influence neighborhood satisfaction and neighborhood quality of life among residents in the dynamic, yet understudied, urban context of L…
American Swastika: Inside the White Power Movement's Hidden Spaces of Hate
This second edition of the acclaimedAmerican Swastikaprovides an up-to-date perspective on the white power movement in America. The book takes readers through hidden enclaves of hate, exploring how white supremacy movements thrive nationwide and how we can work to prevent future violence. Filled with powerful case studies, interviews, and first-person accounts, the book explains the differences between various hate groups, then shows how white su…
Performative Governance: Impression Management, Teamwork, and Conflict Containment in City Commission Proceedings
This article discusses patterns of interaction among citizens and officials in city commission proceedings. Drawing on Goffman's dramaturgical metaphor, the author examines elements of discourse and action that create interactional inequities and unobtrusive limits to democratic participation in this setting. The proceedings are described as a series of interactional performances geared toward maintaining an atmosphere of public involvement in de…
Labor and the Environmental Movement: The Quest for Common Ground
Technical Adversarialism and Participatory Collaboration in the U.S. Chemical Weapons Disposal Program
There has been a great deal of theoretical discussion about the merits and faults of greater public involvement in technology policy decisions but comparatively less case-based empirical consideration. This article assesses the theoretical and practical implications of two decision styles—technical adversarialism and participatory collaboration—in decision making on the U.S. Chemical Weapons Disposal Program. This case is useful in that it allows…
A Constellation Approach to Understanding Extremist White Supremacy
Reflecting on long-term intensive ethnographic fieldwork, we sketch a “constellation” framework for understanding U.S. extremist white supremacy. Rather than tracing fluctuating people and organizations to explain the persistence of white supremacist extremism, we suggest that focusing on a core set of practices, ideas, and emotions offers a more complex, nuanced, and useful interpretation. We contrast our constellation framework with more typica…
How Threat Mobilizes the Resurgence and Persistence of US White Supremacist Activism: The 1980s to the Present
Despite a centuries-long history of violent mobilization, white supremacist activism (WSA) has received relatively little sociological attention outside a small, specialized subfield. Disciplinary interest began to change after Trump's 2016 election; the 2017 violent attack in Charlottesville, Virginia; and the January 6, 2021, insurrection. In recognition, this review article focuses on what has been learned about contemporary WSA since the 1980…
Protest as Terrorism: The Potential for Violent Anti-Nuclear Activism
This article examines the potential threat of terrorism toward the Nevada Nuclear Test Site and the proposed Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository by domestic protest groups, particularly anti-nuclear activists. The analysis is based on the history of direct action anti-nuclear campaigns against the facilities, particularly the Nevada Test Site, and suggests that violence as a form of protest, particularly the type of violence that is aimed at …
La gouvernance performative. Maîtrise des impressions, travail d'équipe et contrôle du conflit dans les débats d'une City Commission
La gouvernance performative. Maîtrise des impressions, travail d'équipe et contrôle du conflit dans les débats d'une City Commission Robert Futrell Les commissions municipales ouvertes aux habitants qui souhaitent y participer constituent le principal dispositif de gouvernance locale délibérative aux Etats-Unis. En s'appuyant sur les catégories de Goffman, on peut avancer que les interactions entre les commissaires et le public permettent la mise…
Politics of Space and the Political Economy of Toxic Waste
Gambling and Globalization: Sociological Perspectives on ‘the House’ and ‘the Players’
In this article, we explore a few ways in which the age‐old impulse to gamble has evolved into a global force. We start out by critically summarizing historical and foundational thinking on gambling in society, and then move into contemporary perspectives on the gambling act. We then focus upon two important actors in these global stages: ‘the house’ (the businesses that profit from gambling) and ‘the players’ (the individuals who, for the most p…
Citizen-State Interaction and Technical Controversy: The U.S. Army Chemical Stockpile Disposal Program
This paper explores the development and transformation of a local collective campaign opposing the U.S. Army's ChemicaL Weapons Stockpile Disposal Program into a social movement with national and international dimensions. I examine the ways in which the actions of both citizens and the Army have been shaped by officials, policies, and organizations at multiple levels of the state. Contrary to the emphasis on extra-institutional actions noted in m…
Citizen-State Interaction and Technical Controversy: The U.S. Army Chemical Stockpile Disposal Program
This paper explores the development and transformation of a local collective campaign opposing the U.S. Army's ChemicaL Weapons Stockpile Disposal Program into a social movement with national and international dimensions. I examine the ways in which the actions of both citizens and the Army have been shaped by officials, policies, and organizations at multiple levels of the state. Contrary to the emphasis on extra-institutional actions noted in m…
Performative Governance: Impression Management, Teamwork, and Conflict Containment in City Commission Proceedings
This article discusses patterns of interaction among citizens and officials in city commission proceedings. Drawing on Goffman's dramaturgical metaphor, the author examines elements of discourse and action that create interactional inequities and unobtrusive limits to democratic participation in this setting. The proceedings are described as a series of interactional performances geared toward maintaining an atmosphere of public involvement in de…
Politics of Space and the Political Economy of Toxic Waste
Ethnoecology: Knowledge, Resources, and Rights
This work examines subjects ranging from pastoralism to the use of medicinal plants to show that understanding the knowledge system of any people is essential to understanding their relation to the environment
La gouvernance performative. Maîtrise des impressions, travail d'équipe et contrôle du conflit dans les débats d'une City Commission
La gouvernance performative. Maîtrise des impressions, travail d'équipe et contrôle du conflit dans les débats d'une City Commission Robert Futrell Les commissions municipales ouvertes aux habitants qui souhaitent y participer constituent le principal dispositif de gouvernance locale délibérative aux Etats-Unis. En s'appuyant sur les catégories de Goffman, on peut avancer que les interactions entre les commissaires et le public permettent la mise…
Framing Processes, Cognitive Liberation, and Nimby Protest in the U.S. Chemical‐Weapons Disposal Conflict
This paper offers elaborations on current knowledge about social‐movement framing processes and cognitive liberation, especially regarding technical controversies and not‐in‐my‐backyard (NIMBY) protest. The social‐constructionist lens of the framing perspective also allows refinements in conventional explanations of NIMBY conflicts. Attention is given to the dynamics of emergence, continuity, and change in framing strategies over time in controve…
Technical Adversarialism and Participatory Collaboration in the U.S. Chemical Weapons Disposal Program
There has been a great deal of theoretical discussion about the merits and faults of greater public involvement in technology policy decisions but comparatively less case-based empirical consideration. This article assesses the theoretical and practical implications of two decision styles—technical adversarialism and participatory collaboration—in decision making on the U.S. Chemical Weapons Disposal Program. This case is useful in that it allows…
Protest as Terrorism: The Potential for Violent Anti-Nuclear Activism
This article examines the potential threat of terrorism toward the Nevada Nuclear Test Site and the proposed Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository by domestic protest groups, particularly anti-nuclear activists. The analysis is based on the history of direct action anti-nuclear campaigns against the facilities, particularly the Nevada Test Site, and suggests that violence as a form of protest, particularly the type of violence that is aimed at …
Free Spaces, Collective Identity, and the Persistence of U.S. White Power Activism
Journal Article Free Spaces, Collective Identity, and the Persistence of U.S. White Power Activism Get access Robert Futrell, Robert Futrell Direct correspondence to: Pete Simi, Department of Criminal Justice, Durham Science Center, 6001 Dodge Street, Omaha, NE 68182-0149. E-mail: [email protected] Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic PubMed Google Scholar Pete Simi Pete Simi Search for other works by this author on: Oxf…
Labor and the Environmental Movement: The Quest for Common Ground
Understanding Music in Movements: The White Power Music Scene
Relying on the analysis of ethnographic and documentary data, this article explains how U.S. White Power Movement (WPM) activists use music to produce collective occasions and experiences that we conceptualize as the movement's music scene. We use the concept “music scene” to refer to the full range of movement occasions in which music is the organizing principle. Members experience these not as discrete events, but as interconnected sets of situ…
Gambling and Globalization: Sociological Perspectives on ‘the House’ and ‘the Players’
In this article, we explore a few ways in which the age‐old impulse to gamble has evolved into a global force. We start out by critically summarizing historical and foundational thinking on gambling in society, and then move into contemporary perspectives on the gambling act. We then focus upon two important actors in these global stages: ‘the house’ (the businesses that profit from gambling) and ‘the players’ (the individuals who, for the most p…
Negotiating White Power Activist Stigma
This article uses extensive ethnographic data on the U.S. white power movement (WPM) to describe the interactional aspects of managing activist stigma in everyday settings. We describe their stigma management as a form of everyday resistance. In the face of strong cultural codes against extreme racism, they conceal their Aryan identity to avoid the constant ire, indignation, and conflict they face from others. But, concealing their activist ident…
Neighborhood Connections, Physical Disorder, and Neighborhood Satisfaction in Las Vegas
This study helps to disentangle the mutual effects of neighborhood disorder and social cohesion on how residents evaluate their neighborhoods. We draw upon data from the 2009 Las Vegas Metropolitan Area Social Survey to understand how neighborhood cohesion, physical disorder, and perceptions of crime and safety influence neighborhood satisfaction and neighborhood quality of life among residents in the dynamic, yet understudied, urban context of L…
American Swastika: Inside the White Power Movement's Hidden Spaces of Hate
This second edition of the acclaimedAmerican Swastikaprovides an up-to-date perspective on the white power movement in America. The book takes readers through hidden enclaves of hate, exploring how white supremacy movements thrive nationwide and how we can work to prevent future violence. Filled with powerful case studies, interviews, and first-person accounts, the book explains the differences between various hate groups, then shows how white su…
Parenting as Activism: Identity Alignment and Activist Persistence in the White Power Movement
This article addresses the relationship between identity and activism and discusses implications for social movement persistence. We explain how individuals negotiate opportunities as parents to align and extend an activist identity with a movement's collective expectations. Specifically, we focus on how participants in the U.S. white power movement use parenting as a key role to express commitment to the movement, develop correspondence among co…
The [Un]Surprising Alt-Right
Robert Futrell and Pete Simi on the simmering sentiments and political fortunes of White supremacists.
Ecological Death Reform and Death System Change
This article elaborates on Robert Kastenbaum's death system analysis by explaining social change efforts among Ecological Death Advocates (EDAs), a diverse group of designers, scientists, spiritualists, and entrepreneurs who seek to develop more environmentally sensitive and humanistic alternatives to contemporary death management practices. Drawing from online and documentary data, we highlight EDAs claims about problems with conventional death …
Out of Hiding: Extremist White Supremacy and How It Can be Stopped
Out of Hiding: Extremist White Supremacy and How It Can Be Stopped explains how white supremacist extremism endures, the varied forms it takes, its relationship with systemic racism, and what to do about it. The book draws on more than 30 years of extensive data and direct experiences with extremists to describe how white supremacy moved into the spotlight during the first two decades of the 21st century. The argument focuses on three moments bet…
A Constellation Approach to Understanding Extremist White Supremacy
Reflecting on long-term intensive ethnographic fieldwork, we sketch a “constellation” framework for understanding U.S. extremist white supremacy. Rather than tracing fluctuating people and organizations to explain the persistence of white supremacist extremism, we suggest that focusing on a core set of practices, ideas, and emotions offers a more complex, nuanced, and useful interpretation. We contrast our constellation framework with more typica…
How Threat Mobilizes the Resurgence and Persistence of US White Supremacist Activism: The 1980s to the Present
Despite a centuries-long history of violent mobilization, white supremacist activism (WSA) has received relatively little sociological attention outside a small, specialized subfield. Disciplinary interest began to change after Trump's 2016 election; the 2017 violent attack in Charlottesville, Virginia; and the January 6, 2021, insurrection. In recognition, this review article focuses on what has been learned about contemporary WSA since the 1980…
Political science (16 works) · Sociology (14 works) · Law (13 works) · Politics (8 works) · Computer Science (7 works) · Law (7 works) · Aesthetics (5 works) · Psychology (5 works) · White (mutation) (5 works) · Epistemology (4 works)