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Chapter 7 - Recruitment to QAnon

Ordinary Persuasion and Human Agency or “Brainwashing”?

from Part II - Recruiting and Maintaining Followers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 September 2023

By
James T. Richardson
Edited by
Monica K. Miller
Monica K. Miller
Affiliation:
University of Nevada, Reno
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Summary

This chapter examines research about recruitment to political and new religious movements from the 1960s, 70s, and 80s, contrasting those results with the meager research base on participants in QAnon, noting similarities and differences. The major finding from the earlier research was that young people participated of their own volition as an expression of their human agency. They were not “brainwashed”. This key finding is generally applicable to QAnon participants, although QAnon devotees are typically older and often were recruited through social media and the internet. Social psychological theories such as “foot-in-the-door” and what happens when prophecies fail are applied to QAnon recruitment as well. The chapter ends with suggestions for research needed to fully understand QAnon recruitment.

Keywords

QAnonrecruitmentinternethuman agency“brainwashing”new religious movementsfoot-in-the-doorwhen prophecy failsDonald Trump
Type
Chapter
Information
The Social Science of QAnon
A New Social and Political Phenomenon
 , pp. 104 - 120
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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