Radicalization and Transformative Learning: Explored Through Honneth’s Recognition Theory

This paper builds on experiences of working with radicalized community groups on the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland during the 1980s. This paper explores models of radicalization that understand radicalization as a struggle for recognition. Honneth, relying on Dewey, helps us elaborate connections between understanding and addressing the challenges of radicalizations today. Honneth’s recognition theory; his work on democracy and freedom that reinvigorates Dewey’s theory of democracy, are at the core of the argument presented here. Transformative learning (TL), having built on the work of these same allies, can be interpreted as a way of addressing distorted recognitions that motivate radicalized individuals and groups. The paper concludes with suggestions for addressing this phenomenon at the level of individual, community, and society.