The Symbolic Boundary Work of Incels
Subcultural Negotiation of Meaning and Identity Online
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2153603 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jan Christoffer Andersen (0000-0002-0981-9034, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 44 |
| Issue | 7 |
| Pages | 1081-1101 |
| Publication date | 2023-07-03 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Deviant Behavior (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0163-9625 • E-ISSN: 1521-0456 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/01639625.2022.2142864 |
| OpenAlex | W4308441078 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 28 |
| References cited | 70 |
This article explores the boundary work of incels (involuntary celibates), to counter negative media coverage and online ridicule. Attempting to claim rational status, incels have created alternative information channels that reframe their situation of involuntary celibacy as a legitimate life circumstance. I examine the symbolic boundaries within the incel subculture, using the Incel Wikipedia page as a specialized encyclopedia for their online milieu. After describing the incel worldview and subcultural identity, I analyze how incels engage in boundary work to differentiate and solidify their status – categorizing themselves and other people. The article draws on theories of narrative and cultural criminology to present how incels negotiate their identity by establishing symbolic boundaries that exclude out-groups such as women, sexually successful men, and mainstream society. It concludes by considering how boundaries within the in-group are based on degrees of inceldom, gender, and violent actors. As a site of resistance, the boundary work of the incel wiki reveals how the social incel identity is formed and given meaning by contrast to symbolic others. I argue that narrative and cultural criminology can help us unravel the online ecosystem by analyzing the negotiation of external and internal subcultural boundaries
Aesthetics · Boundary-work · Cognitive reframing · Epistemology · Identity (music · Identity negotiation · Linguistics · Mainstream · Meaning (existential · Narrative · Negotiation · Political science · Psychoanalysis · Social science · Sociology · Symbolic interactionism · The Symbolic · Crime, Deviance, and Social Control · Gender Studies · Gender, Feminism, and Media · Hate Speech and Cyberbullying Detection · Law · Psychology · Social Psychology
“I’d Avoid This Site If I Were Black”
Incel Identity Development
Exploring Incel Motivations and the Relationship to Gender-Based Violence
Hierarchized masculinity, appearance, and radicalization
“We, the conspiracy theorists.” How people do symbolic boundary work in the “Great Reset” debates across social media platforms
Mobilization of Sexual Violence within the Manosphere
Deviance and youth identity formation in online community a comparison of two online music communities in Nigeria
And they say Leftists have no sense of humour’
Rape Isn’t Real, and If It Is, Foids Deserve It’
What makes an incel? An interview study of current and former incels
The future of our nation’s in her hands”
Digital Subcultural Diffusion Theory
Subcultural Hierarchy and Policing amongst Incels in Online Forums
Be Dog Have Fun”
Don't Work for Soyciety
When are conceptual innovations empowering? The case of incels
Incel Epistemology
The Incel Subculture
Constructing Difference
Cultural criminology, counter-extremism and the contemporary far right
Exploring incel group dynamics
Rituals of resentment
Le petit carré solitaire
Gender knowledge production and epistemology in the incelosphere
A Few Millimeters of Bone
To Alleviate Stigma
I didn't Leave Inceldom; Inceldom Left me
From Stacys to Foids, a Discursive Analysis of the Incel's Gendered Spectrum of Political Agency
Letting Stories Breathe
Anatomy of Criticism
Exploring Misogyny across the Manosphere in Reddit
Ethnic groups and boundaries
Club cultures
Morphology of the Folktale
Cultural Criminology
Online hatred of women in the Incels.me forum
‘The pussy ain’t worth it, bro’
Toxic Geek Masculinity in Media
The Incel Rebellion
Stacys, Beckys, and Chads
Narrative habitus
The importance of stories untold
A narrative approach to studying symbolic boundaries among drug users
Modern Love
Taking the black pill
Special issue on online misogyny
The monstrous-feminine in the incel imagination
It Gets Better”
In(cel)doctrination
Ironic humor on social media as participatory boundary work
A bene placito
If i cannot have it, i will do everything i can to destroy it.' the canonization of Elliot Rodger
I Don’t Hate All Women, Just Those Stuck-Up Bitches”
Incel (E)motives
Assessing the Threat of Incel Violence
Status inconsistency in organizations
Stories of Violence
Delinquent Boys—The Culture of the Gang
Confronting Incel
Why War
City Limits
Castration, the archive, and the incel wiki
Cultural Criminology and the Politics of Meaning
Cultural Criminology
Masculinity, aggrieved entitlement, and violence
Status Consistency and Right-Wing Extremism
How Threats to Masculinity Sequentially Cause Public Discomfort, Anger, and Ideological Dominance Over Women
Status Crystallization
Vigilante disparaging humour at r/IncelTears
From "Incel" to "Saint
Been A Heavy Life
Culture Warlords
The Study of Boundaries in the Social Sciences
The Sociology of Storytelling
The Study of Identity As Cultural, Institutional, Organizational, and Personal Narratives
Laughter in Stories of Crime and Tragedy
From Chads to Blackpills, a Discursive Analysis of the Incel's Gendered Spectrum of Political Agency
The bullying-school shooting nexus
Internet-Based Radicalization as Enculturation to Violent Deviant Subcultures
Subculture Theory
| Unique citing works | 28 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 9,33 |
| Citation span | 2023 - 2026 (4) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 28 |