Purity spiral

Social feedback loop leading to extremism

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A purity spiral is a theory which argues for the existence of a form of groupthink in which it becomes more beneficial to hold certain views than to not hold them, and more extreme views are rewarded while expressing doubt, nuance, or moderation is punished (a process sometimes called "moral outbidding").[1] It is argued that this feedback loop leads to members competing to demonstrate the zealotry or purity of their views.[2][3]

A purity spiral is argued to occur when a community's primary focus becomes implementing a single value that has no upper limit, and where that value does not have an agreed interpretation.[4]

> One aspect that stands out in all purity spirals is the vanity of small differences, and the punishing of people for the most minor transgressions.

Gavin Haynes, Spiked, 10 February 2020[1]

## History

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The term purity spiral was coined in one of the first systematic sociological accounts of victimhood culture, The Rise of Victimhood Culture: Microaggressions, Safe Spaces, and the New Culture Wars, where it is described as a form of infighting among both activists and members of victim groups.[5]

In a 2020 BBC documentary about purity spirals, British journalist Gavin Haynes said that purity spirals punish people for "the most minor transgressions," and noted that they make it socially unacceptable to express a preference contrary to the group's.[1][4] Turkish-American academic Timur Kuran described this phenomenon in his 1995 book Private Truth, Public Lies, calling it preference falsification, and further noted the lack of incentives and systems to disrupt purity spirals, pointing out that even a small amount of opposition or doubt can lead to a greater wave of questioning within the group. French philosopher René Girard also described many of the principles of the purity spiral, including mimetic rivalry and the scapegoat mechanism, in his 1972 book Violence and the Sacred.[1]

## Notable examples

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Some examples of settings, groups, and eras where purity spirals have occurred:[1][2]

* The Khmer Rouge
* The Cultural Revolution, Mao's Red Guard and mass denunciations
* The French revolution
* Instagram knitting circles[4]
* Stalin's Show Trials[6] \- demonstration of increasingly extreme loyalty tests are required to maintain normalcy.
* Madkhalism
* McCarthyism

## See also

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* Chilling effect – Discouragement of exercising rights by threats of legal sanctions
* Group think – Psychological phenomenon that occurs within a group of peoplePages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
* Herd behavior – Behavior of individuals acting in a group
* Herd mentality – Tendency to adopt group beliefs and behaviors
* Moral panic – Fear that some evil threatens society
* Spiral of silence – Political science and mass communication theory
* The Power of the Powerless – Political essay by Václav Havel
* René Girard – French anthropologist and philosopher (1923–2015)
* Violence and the Sacred – 1972 book by René Girard

## References

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1. ^ a b c d e Gavin Haynes. "The purity spiral", Spiked, 10 February 2020.
2. ^ a b Campbell, Bradley; Manning, Jason (2018). "Opposition, Imitation, and the Spread of Victimhood". The Rise of Victimhood Culture: Microaggressions, Safe Spaces, and the New Culture Wars. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 9783319703299.
3. ^ Gavin Haynes. "How knitters got knotted in a purity spiral", UnHerd, 30 January 2020.
4. ^ a b c Gavin Haynes. "The Purity Spiral", BBC, 11 February 2020.
5. ^ McAfree, Kevin (Spring 2018). "Honor, Dignity, Victim: A review of The Rise of Victimhood Culture: Microaggressions, Safe Spaces, and the New Culture Wars by Bradley Campbell and Jason Manning". Skeptic. 23 (2).
6. ^ Gavin Haynes. "The purity spiral: how the woke police are ruining Young Adult publishing" (archived), The Telegraph, 10 February 2020.

* v
* t
* e

Conformity

Enforcement|

| Proscription|

* Damnatio memoriae
* Dissident / Dissenter
* Exile
* Émigré
* Homo sacer
* Ostracism
* Blacklisting
* Cancel culture
* Censorship
* Deplatforming
* Outcast
* Outlaw
* Civil death
* Vogelfrei
* Persona non grata
* Public enemy
* Enemy of the people
* Enemy of the state
* Scapegoating
* Shunning

|

Governmental pressure|

* Authoritarianism
* Nationalism
* Left-wing nationalism
* National conservatism
* Totalitarianism
* Tyranny of the majority

Group pressure|

* Bandwagon effect
* Brainwashing
* Closure (sociology)
* Collectivism
* Consensus reality
* Culture shock
* Dogma
* Echo chamber
* False consensus effect
* Fear of missing out
* Groupthink
* Hazing
* Herd mentality
* Identification (psychology)
* Indoctrination
* Invented tradition
* Memory conformity
* Mere-exposure effect
* Milieu control
* Mobbing
* Normalization
* Normative social influence
* Passing (sociology)
* Patriotism
* Peer pressure
* Pluralistic ignorance
* Propaganda
* Psychosocial issue
* Purity spiral
* Operant conditioning
* Rally 'round the flag effect
* Social construction of gender
* Social contagion
* Addiction
* Behavioral
* Crime
* Hysterical
* Suicide
* Emotional
* Social influence
* Social integration
* Socialization
* Spiral of silence
* Teasing
* Toxic positivity
* Untouchability

Individual pressure|

* Authoritarian personality
* Authoritarian leadership style
* Right-wing authoritarianism
* Control freak
* Obsessive–compulsive personality disorder

Conformity|

* Compliance
* Communal reinforcement
* Countersignaling
* Creeping normality
* Herd behavior
* Internalization
* Normalization of deviance
* Obedience
* Preference falsification
* Social proof
* Social reality

Experiments|

* Asch conformity experiments
* Breaching experiment
* Milgram experiment
* Stanford prison experiment

Anticonformity|

* Alternative media
* Anti-authoritarianism
* Anti-social behaviour
* Self-segregation
* Civil disobedience
* Cosmopolitanism
* Counterculture
* Culture jamming
* Deviance
* Devil's advocate
* Dissent / Defection
* Political
* Eccentricity
* Eclecticism
* Hermit
* Idiosyncrasy
* Individualism
* Insubordination
* Pueblo clown
* Rebellion
* Red team
* Satire
* Shock value

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