Towards a resentment-driven model of intergroup conflict: using the incel phenomenon to conceptualize resentment as the driving factor for ideologically motivated extremism

This article outlines a new model for the initiation of intergroup conflict, in which resentment is theorized as the motivating factor. This model – drawing from existing theories in social psychology and international relations – describes the process by which members of a group become willing to engage in violent conflict with a target group, beginning with feelings of resentment arising from a perceived experience of victimization. The model is then applied to the involuntary celibate (incel) ideology and the trend of mass shootings perpetrated by incels, with two case studies.