The analysis of jihadist commitment is too often presented as a simple psychological dynamic operating on a strictly individual level. By adopting a more anthropological perspective and using the “Clain family” as a case study (some of whose members—brothers Fabien and Jean-Michel Clain—claimed responsibility for the Paris attacks of November 13, 2015 in France), our analysis shows how jihadist activism is embedded in ordinary social institutions and social structures, notably that of the family. In this case, radical Islamism followed by jihadist involvement serves to reknit a family project that has fallen into disarray, before these same family structures are themselves mobilized and made available to the objectives of the jihadist group. These findings shed light on certain processes of reciprocal engendering between the family group and the jihadist group, and of hybridization and quasi-undifferentiation between the two types of group structure.

Handbook of Understanding Terrorism