Incels in the Italian Manosphere

Incel and red pill online groups are expanding rapidly in Italy, where narratives of self-victimization, hate speech, and violence against women are propagated among young men facing economic hardship and diminishing prospects. This book provides a timely, comprehensive analysis of these groups by examining the ‘negative solidarity’ rooted in the economic and social challenges impacting young middle-class masculinities. Based on a rich digital ethnography, author Annalisa Dordoni delves into the economic conditions that affect the life paths and narratives emerging from Italian incel groups. Mapping the manosphere and its subgroups alongside economic and labour transformations that influence masculinity, such as the rise of service-based economies, increased job precariousness, lack of access in youth work opportunities, and middle-class impoverishment, Dordoni examines incels’ self-victimization narratives. The chapters explore how hate speech and violence are justified, co-created, re-produced, socialized and reinforced online within these narratives of a supposedly female-dominated society. This publication fills an urgent gap in the study of Italian manosphere groups, providing a detailed, context-specific account of how these discourses are shaped by Italy’s unique socio-economic landscape. Highlighting how tackling the real-life economic and social challenges young men face is essential for the urgent need to prevent further propagation of gender-based violence and hate online, this book is invaluable to scholars, policymakers and those working in fields of economic and labour sociology, gender studies, and youth studies.