SOAS Research Online

Abstract

This research investigates the negative experiences of refugee, asylum-seeking, and host communities in Lebanon and Germany and their vulnerability to Cognitive Opening, a response to a catalytic experience where individuals become willing to expose themselves to alternative beliefs or worldviews. Social strain perceived as high in magnitude, recent, and extended in duration can induce cognitive and emotional availability to alternative, previously unheld views. Against the backdrop of protracted displacement, this research bridges current debates on strain theories, investigating how respondents may be susceptible to Cognitive Opening in response to compounded social strain. Advancing the discourse on the complex social dynamics amongst people seeking asylum, refugees, and host communities, this research provides a novel perspective on theories of criminology and radicalisation, highlighting the cognitive and ideological transformations that may emerge from enduring systemic strain. This theoretical contribution extends beyond displacement contexts, offering broader implications for understanding how prolonged social strain can reshape belief systems in various socio-political environments. Through a reconceptualisation of extant theories, it asks: What negative experiences – independently or in combination – need to be present for an individual to experience subjective strain, and what types of subjective strain – independently or in combination – increase the potential for Cognitive Opening? This research deploys Qualitative Comparative Analysis, a configurational, case-based approach for analysing causality, to interrogate the intersections of an individuals’ social, economic, and political matrix. The purpose of this research is to locate an ideational formula to address social strain within and amongst refugees, people seeking asylum and host communities.