The neo-Nazi doxa, the deep state, and COVID-19: neo-Nazis’ ambivalent relations to Big Pharma and the anti-vaccine movement

ABSTRACT This article explores the role of conspiracy theories in the neo-Nazi movement. The focal points of the study are the core conspiracy theories within the movement and the interface with other conspiracy theories of less ideological importance such as ‘Big Pharma.’ The study is based on interviews with six active neo-Nazis in the context of the Swedish-dominated Nordic resistance movement. The informants were all senior in the movement with long experience as neo-Nazi officials. In addition, the empirical material also depicts a unique internal strategy document from the movement that instructs all activists on how to talk and how to avoid talking about various forms of conspiracy theories. The study shows that conspiracy theories, such as the claim of a ‘great replacement’ and ‘the deep state,’ serve as a doxa for the movement. This doxa is not the consequence of the movement but rather a precondition for it.


Introduction
Conspiracy theories (CTs) lie at the heart of the neo-Nazi movement. The conspiratorial mindset of the Nordic resistance movement can be examined through an investigation into three important and interlinked 'theories' (Mattsson & Johansson, 2022). The most central CT that distinguishes the Nordic resistance movement from other political movements is the belief in a Jewish world conspiracy that more or less explains everything. This CT is also closely linked to the Holocaust denial. Another widespread CT is the claim that white people are being replaced by non-white people in regions and nations that are considered white territories. According to this view, this replacement is the result of a deliberate action to extinguish white people. Migration is not seen as individuals' actions to improve their living conditions by moving to geographical areas that might be better places to live in or nurture a family life. Instead, migration is portrayed as an outcome of the Jewish conspiracy, via the installment of a left-wing liberal ideological dream of multicultural societies in the Western world. The replacement theory has been at the The idea that there is a causethe Jewish world conspiracyand an effectthe Great Replacementchallenges members of the Nordic resistance movement to seek evidence to prove their belief. The so-called Jewish world conspiracy is often offered as the sole explanation for any hardships, failures, and challenges faced by white people, and it has been so for more than a century within the Nazi movement. As such, antisemitism, for examplethat is, the imagined struggle between the neo-Nazis and 'world Jewry' is what Griffin (2012, p. 47) would define as the meaning making process involving ' … restor[ing] a sense of higher communal purpose.' Thus, it also challenges the movement to draw strict boundaries between 'true' and 'false' conspiracies. The whole idea of powerful elites, developing plans for a dystopian future, feeds on the ideological production and distribution in the Nordic resistance movement. In a closed and subcultural context, these ideas are not met with any critique or debate but are kept as holy foundations of a specific worldview. From a neo-Nazi perspective, if people start to believe that white people are about to be replaced, they will soon stop asking 'By whom?' and instead ask 'Who is behind all this?' Then, they must prepare themselves to provide a credible answer. The neo-Nazi movement is, at its core, rooted in conspiracy theories, but there is a lucidity to it that we need to scrutinize. This is of particular importance in relation to how the CT on the great replacement has migrated from particular neo-Nazi milieus into mainstream society via far-right movements and organizations, and last but not least, on-line mobilization (Ekman, 2022).
The neo-Nazi movement is partially endorsed by individuals who tend to be attracted to various conspiracy theories. These include people who like to claim that the moon landing never occurred, that the world is controlled by the Illuminati, and that Big Pharma is using mind control, among others. Clearly, this poses a problem for the Nordic resistance movement. An eventual acceptance of various CTs will attract people who are mostly interested in nurturing such notions of worldwide conspiracies. In this article, we will investigate and analyze the border work done by the NRM in order to defend and make the doxa credible; in particular, this applies to the internal conflicts regarding how to define a CT and how to defend the rationales underlying this movement.
In this article, we will draw upon interviews of six active neo-Nazis within the Nordic resistance movement to investigate the intersection between the core of the neo-Nazi ideological conviction and other conspiracy theories related to the so-called Big Pharma. The following research questions guided the study: (1) How do members of the Nordic resistance movement (NRM) address key issues in their core ideological conviction? (2) How do key officials of the NRM organization reason on conspiracy theories? (3) How do members of the NRM relate to other conspiracy theories? (4) How can the NRM relations to conspiracy theories be theorized?
In the following section, we take a closer look at the discourse on conspiracy theories. Thereafter follows a section on relevant research in the area of right-wing movements and CT. We then examine methodological and theoretical issues. The main part of the article is focused on the empirical study, followed by concluding remarks and a general analysis of the results of this investigation.

What is a conspiracy theory?
According to Douglas and Sutton (2015), a conspiracy theory may be outlandish, unproven, or true. Outlandish CTs include the claim that the moon landing was fake, unproven ones might include the claim that the spread of the SARS-CoV2 virus started in a lab in Wuhan, and a true one is the so-called Watergate affair. In this article, we focus on CTs that are outlandish. Van Prooijen (2018) stated that a CT is based on 'the belief that a number of actors join together in secret agreement, in order to achieve a hidden goal which is perceived to be unlawful or malevolent' (p. 5). Conspiracy theories develop organically, collecting and systematizing different forms of 'evidence,' systematically uncovering patterns, and searching for a hidden agenda. Endorsing one CT increases the likelihood of endorsing another one (Van Prooijen, 2018). Furthermore, there is a strong tendency to develop conspiratorial mindsets, where different CTs are connected and intertwined. Conspiracy theories are characterized by a strong belief in a hidden or invisible agenda. Nothing is as it seems, and everything is tightly and mystically connected (Butter & Knight, 2020). Avramov et al. (2020) define CTs as follows: Conspiracy theories are narrative creations of the human mind, and their existence is rather natural as they are invented to explain societal events that otherwise are either too complex or too obscure.
The term conspiracy theory was introduced in the Oxford English Dictionary in the 1990s (Byford, 2011). However, this phenomenon is not new. Conspiracy theories tend to appear in turbulent times (Douglas et al., 2019). The most popular CTs are those pointing at conspiracies by the Illuminati and the Freemasons, or pointing out the Jewish world conspiracy, for example (Byford, 2011). Today, many competing CTs coexist. Old and new forms of CTs are often combined. Contemporary CTs target Big Pharma (the pharmaceutical industry), the Bilderberg group, Bill Gates, the militaryindustrial complex, lobbyists, the New World Order, and so on. Many CTs contain elements of antisemitism. CTs consist of a warped explanatory logic that is not amenable to rational discussions. CTs also build on numerous pieces of evidence, put together in a cognitive world map and puzzle. One way of distinguishing between different forms of CTs is to draw a line between (1) CTs as a tradition of explanation, (2) accounts of 'real' conspiracies, and (3) suspicions about political corruption (Byford, 2011).
In this article, we look closer at CTs as a narrative tradition of explanation and of creating patterns of meaning. According to Knight (2000), CTs in the 1950s were more specific. Since the 1960s, CTs have become more diverse and general. Through CTs in popular culture, there is a growing popularization of a paranoid style of thinking. In a more positive vein, CTs have been regarded as providing a safe haven in an uncertain world. Thus, they can be regarded as popular attempts to address global problems. Instead of searching for explanations to CTs that are rooted in personality types or pathological traits, we should, according to Butter and Knight (2020), try to understand and analyze CTs. According to Lee (2020), CTs are a common component of the worldview offered by extremist groups. Lee also argues that when such a group feels threatened, the explanatory power of a CT is needed to create a new world order. A CT offers the possibility of casting oneself as a hero, defending the right cause. People who feel disconnected from society search for explanations and malign their opponents.

Conspiracy theories in extremist movements
There have been many efforts to explain the press and the role of CTs within extremist movements. There have been attempts to explain how certain individuals are attracted to CTs and how CTs contribute toward holding extremist movements together on an ideological level. Hardin (2002) launched the term 'crippled epistemology' to explain the social psychological setting around extremist movements and their relation to CTs. Crippled epistemology is the individual absence of relevant and correct knowledge about matters of great importance to the individual extremist or to the extremist movement as such. Put simple, there are matters that extremists deeply care about but have very little knowledge about, and what they do know is largely incorrect. Douglas et al. (2017) argued that people are attracted to CTs rather than to other explanations or sources of knowledge when CTs fulfill social psychological needs such as a will to understand something without any doubts, the need to sense control and meaning in relation to a matter, and the need for recognition among peers. These factors lead to strong bonds between individuals in movements upholding and spreading CTs. In the 1970s, Billig (1978) interviewed 11 party members of the National Front in Great Britain. He stated, Listening to the voices of National Front members, one hears the living continuation of an old political tradition, which surprisingly still manages to perpetuate itself in the latter half of the twentieth century. Billig (1978) found that the interviewees believed in the existence of a Jewish world conspiracy. However, he also observed variations in how different individuals constructed their worldviews. Some party members tried to dissociate themselves from the original Nazi movement in Germany. Other members reasoned that it is more important to consider what Jews do, rather than who they are. Consequently, they were critical of Zionism and finance capitalism, not Jews in general. Although the members tried to chisel out a middle path, they often ended up searching for causal attributions and explanations. Billig (1978) identified several contradictions in the arguments developed by the party members. He discussed this in terms of ideological dilemmas. People are well aware of the negative connotations that prejudices have. Consequently, they try to reason in terms of 'I am not against immigrants, but … !' According to Billig et al. (1988), dilemmas are born out of a culture that produces more than one possible ideal world, a world built on contingency and uncertainty. In this sense, people are continually confronted by dilemmas.
In attempting to explain the existence of CTs in extremist movements, researchers tend to rely on psychological profiling and psychiatric diagnoses (see, for example, Radkiewicz, 2016). Forgas and Baumeister (2019) used the concept of gullibility to explain CTs. A gullible person is easily tricked and manipulated. Gullibility co-varies with excessive confidence in the self, acceptance of any kind of information supporting a certain belief, and a general lack of skepticism. Similarly, Faccini and Allely (2016) attempted to explain terrorism and violent behavior using the case of Anders Breivik. They argued that developing a risk assessment tool that assesses how narcissistic personality disorders and antisocial personality traits functionally contribute to mass violence will facilitate the identification of potential terrorists at an early stage. In a more nuanced way, Gøtzsche-Astrup and Lindekilde (2019) suggested that instead of asking if mental health issues play a role in radicalization, we should ask how and when this is the case. This approach also suggests adopting a less polarized perspective on psychiatric diagnoses. Though not meeting the criteria for narcissistic personality disorder, for example, individuals can show subclinical yet problematic behavior. To capture people who do not fall into a clear diagnostic category, the authors argue that we need to expand the notion of 'normality.'

Theoretical considerations
The focus of this study lies in a particular subculture. The concept of subculture has a long history in youth studies and criminal sociology (Johansson & Herz, 2019). It is commonly used to describe and analyze subgroups in society. These groups are characterized by a conflictual and oppositional relation to society. Through attitudes, values, symbols, and clothes the inhabitants of a subculture express resistance and take on a specific identity and position. There is often an intrinsic and complex relation between subcultures and the mainstream or common culture. Subcultures are often spectacular and expressionistic and there are strict boundaries between what is 'sub' and what is dominant in society, but subcultural elements are often gradually absorbed and normalized in society. Young people frequently use their belonging to a subculture as a transitional space, spending months or years in this space and thereafter returning to 'society' (Johansson & Herz, 2019). Some subcultures tend to disappear, whereas others are more consistent and durable over time. In this article, we study contemporary neo-Nazi subcultures and movements. There are no strict boundaries between the neo-Nazi movement as a social movement, organized parties, and specific subcultural expressions. Quite the other way around, the neo-Nazi movement and the early Nazi movement always maintained a confluence between its formal organizations and the subcultural expressions (Lööw, 2004). As this implies, the relation between 'sub' and dominant has varied considerably historically.
Hence, the study of the NRM situates a strong case in that such a case provides the wellorganized structure of a neo-Nazi movement while, simultaneously, the members are largely, not at least bodily, expressing their subcultural affiliation.
Inspired by Pierre Bourdieu, we use the concept of subcultural fields to zoom in on the neo-Nazi subculture. In contrast to the dominant societal fields studied by Bourdieudistinguished by certain compositions of economic, cultural, and social capitalthe subcultural field has a different type of social and cultural logic (cf. Bourdieu, 1986). Aware of this, we delve into some of Bourdieu's insights into how fields are organized and structured. First, we distinguish between positionswhere individuals can inhabit a number of different and, often, hierarchically arranged positionsand dispositions (habitus). The habitus is the more or less stable style and taste, situating the individual in a specific field. In the subcultural field, the habitus is formed through an interaction between socioeconomic factors and contextual belongings (growing up in a certain local society). The anchoring and attachment to the field are expressed by certain practices, discourses, and representations. Belonging to a subcultural field also means being rooted in a certain doxa.
The universe of the doxa is precisely whatever there is no need to discuss, because it goes without saying, because of the fact that the mental structures are so in harmony with the objective structures that, as they say, there's no problem, there's no need to ask, that's how it is. (Bourdieu, 1986) Additionally, in line with Bourdieu, there has been a discussion on subcultural capital (Jensen, 2006;Kelly et al., 2015;Leonard, 2008). By drawing symbolic boundaries, people create distinctions and representational markers, defining the content and boundaries of a certain subcultural field. The inhabitants of a subcultural field coalesce around a set of tastes, ideas, practices, and styles. The elements of subcultural capital are embedded into routine everyday practices. However, the rather loose use of the concept of subcultural capital in youth studies has been critiqued (Jensen, 2006). Jensen (2006) argued that it is important to investigate the relation between subcultures and the socio-structural positions of the participants. In the subcultural field of the neo-Nazis there is a clear doxa, and belonging also means adhering to this doxa and being able to formulate and express certain key ideas and values.
Due to the limited scope of this study and the small sample employed, we were not able to thoroughly investigate the socioeconomic and structural aspects of the informants' dispositions. We primarily focus on the doxa and the struggle to define the symbolic boundaries of the subcultural field. We look closer at the struggle for classification, that is, ' … the fight between rival views of where to draw lines and between the conflicting principles cited in order to draw up a hierarchy of groups' (Bourdieu, 2018).

Materials and methods
The present study is designed as a case study with the intention of extracting particular features from the case to develop knowledge that can help theorize the role of CTs in the neo-Nazi movement (Denscombe, 2014). The six informants are all members of a contemporary neo-Nazi movement, the Nordic resistance movement, either with senior positions or occupying other significant roles. They are all middle-aged men, ranging in age from approximately 40 to slightly over 50 years. They also share a common history in the movement in the sense that they have all been involved for a long period, in most cases since the 1990s or shortly after the turn of the millennia. The informants were recruited as a part of a longitudinal research effort initiated in 2016, which is still on-going. The informants have been interviewed several times in the project about various themes; thus, it has been possible to validate data over time and also establish mutual trust. All the study informants were interviewed individually, and each interview lasted approximately 60 min. The interviews, conducted in Swedish, were transcribed verbatim and then analyzed on a textual level to identify commonalities, differences, reoccurring themes, and particularities in phrasings and arguments (Braun & Clarke, 2006). This enabled us to identify patterns among the informants' reasoning and to investigate their common core beliefs and variations in relation to CTs.
The statements of the informants cannot be accepted at face value, and it should be considered that interviewing neo-Nazis about CTs is difficult due to the nature of the topic. Thus, there was a need to triangulate the interview data (Yin, 2006). Since it was not a matter of reasoning with the informants or criticizing their convictions, our aim, as stated earlier, was to understand the role of CTs. Some of the informants provided us with an internal strategy document from the supreme leadership of the movement instructing the activist on how, when, and which CTs they should or were allowed to discuss and which not. These two sets of data, interviews, and the internal strategy document helped to validate both the data and the analyses.
All informants provided informed consent to participate in the study, in accordance with the Swedish research council's instruction and after ethical review (Swedish Research Council, 2017). This means that all names have been changed; we have not provided any information on what roles the informants have in the Nordic resistance movement or where they live, apart from that they are all living in Sweden, nor have we specified their individual ages.

The architecture of the ideological foundation
The informants of this study were willing to share all sorts of conspiracy theories on how the world is being manipulated on a global and local level, from their personal convictions to their personal experiences. They also talked about peers who they think exaggerate their claims, that is, peers focusing on less important issues, or who even 'went down the rabbit hole' of conspiracies. During the interview process all six informants were enthusiastic and engaged in talking about issues like 'Big Pharma,' '5G radiation,' 'fraud science,' 'climate hoax,' and so on. When asked about the most crucial threats posted to them, they all had the same answer. It should be noted that they were somewhat confused that they needed to explain this matter; to them it is not only a reality, and they sense that the so-called white population at large has finally gotten around to see what is going on. However, we must not forget that fewer and fewer white children are being born in this country. There is a process of niggerization going on. With mass immigration and mass invasion, people are flooding in, and it is the colored niggers who are breeding. And race mixture is something I just cannot stand even to talk about. And yeah, the schools and everything, this is not a conspiracy theory, as claimed in the papers. I get so provoked when I read such things. When young Swedes sort of [hit the street], it is a jungle that encounters them. (Martin) They were all very upset upon describing what to them is a replacement of white people. They articulated the claimed phenomena with different passion and with some variation in reasoning. While some talked in general about 'race mixture' and 'flooding' like Martin, others, like Sven, used a seemingly more reasoning tone.
The population growth in Sweden last year was about 99,000, of whom 98,000 were of foreign race or origin. The Swedish population is not growing at all. The white population in Sweden is declining, with more [white] people dying than being born. So, it is simple math; if this continues, there will not be any white people around. (Sven) They are all obviously very upset with the claimed replacement of white people, but the immigrants are not to be blamed. Immigrants are seen as descents from inferior races, and violence and social unrest are expected when they arrive in Sweden. The real problem is those who are regarded as orchestrating the replacement.
The more I read and heard, the more I started to collect the facts … [the more I started to understand] that they lie about all sort of things, particularly all the half lies to hide the looting of our people … / … / … when you pay your taxes, and taxes on taxes, and fucking hell taxes on everything, who benefits from it? If they had not been here, if we had no immigration, we would not have the problems we have today. It is simple logic … Then, you start to be radicalized and you start to figure things out. 'Who owns the media?' 'Who owns the banks?' They point at something, [wanting us to look away] 'Who are those doing that?' Well, it is not too hard, without looking too far to see who is behind all this. Then, you get extremely critical to the Jewish power … / … / … and I get so upset with the government, media, and politicians. The teachers that lied to us, but they do not know any better, they [themselves] have been brainwashed. (Petter) According to our informants, the growing population in Sweden that originates from outside Europe is not a result of migration due to immigrants' choice to seek better life opportunities. It is the result of a deliberate act of the so-called Jewish power to destabilize the Western world with the aim of controlling the entire world. On a psychological level, they believe that something that appears so despicable to them is despicable to all other 'white' people as well. As it apparently is not the case, there is a need for an explanation, and a simple one; white people have been manipulated. In this sense, there is no such thing as racism, and claims of antisemitism are understood as something that is used to manipulate white people.
No, I am not an antisemite. I think that you should be allowed to criticize Jewish power, which is sustainable in so many areas, but I do not hate Jews or other races for that matter. / … / If you question mass immigration, then you are seen as a racist. To me, that is just fucking manipulation, just as with antisemitism. No, you are not an antisemite / … / if you do not fancy the idea of allowing millions of people to your country from totally different cultures, with totally different values and mentalities. (Magnus) At the core of our informants' beliefs are two elements: first, the imagining of a replacement, that is, immigration from outside Europe which is ultimately all-bad and which this can only be happening due to the second element, a weakening of the white race, with 'Jewish power' undermining the 'true will' of the 'white people.' These two elements form a doxa that our informants have bought into. This doxa, as discussed at the beginning of the article, unites all forms of right-wing extremist milieus, with some variations in its expression. Without this doxa, the neo-Nazi movement would have no core ideology, and it is a prerequisite of this doxa that the neo-Nazi movement cannot exist without, what are commonly seen as, conspiracy theories. This also helps to explain the expected influx between the neo-Nazi movement and other social movements constructed around conspiracy theories, a matter that we continue to scrutinize in the following section.

The interface between the neo-Nazi CT and other theories
One of the informants, Sven, expressed his discomfort that people who are driven by CTs are becoming neo-Nazi activists.
Well, I think that it is no surprise that a movement that is understood as a bit extreme, and if you like, a bit outside of mainstream society, will attract people who are just like that. I mean, people who see themselves as being outsiders … . You will meet these people among us, I mean, people with somewhat distorted minds when it comes to science, medications, vaccines, and so on. Also, people with other conspiracy thinking, you know, people who believe that you should question everything. I have heard some really strange things [from peers within the movement], that Estonia never sank [an Estonian passenger ferry that sank on September 28, 1994, with 852 casualties], it never happened, and no one died. Now during the pandemic, some are claiming that it is all just a hoax. There is no virus, and no one has died … . It is not within the interests of our organization to propagate these theories.
Sven continues to explain that the movement, on the one hand, loses credibility for its ongoing quest to deny the Holocaust and reveal how the Jews are running the world from behind the curtain. On the other hand, the ongoing debate on a multitude of possible conspiracies causes internal conflicts between activists.
Consequently, the supreme leadership of the Nordic resistance movement has issued instructions on how to relate to various CTs. This instruction was circulated in January 2021. The instruction is titled, 'How to Relate to Controversial Topics' and is a ninepage-long list of topics that are off-limit, and the reasons why. The first, and by far most important, argument concerns trustworthiness when denying the Holocaust: It cannot be emphasized enough how important it is that we keep people's trust when we question the 'Holocaust.' The so-called extermination of the Jews, which lays guilt on our race and conducts psychological warfare against us, is keeping our people in a death grip, and is one of Zion's foremost weapons in its struggle to annihilate us and neutralize all resistance. To dispel this problem, to show that it is a hoax, and make people realize that it has no relevance today, is key to our success … . As it is, it is controversial enough to talk about the 'Holocaust,' so to gain maximum impact on this matter, we must not put ourselves in a position where we are seen as oddballs who see conspiracies all over. (Internal instruction from the supreme leadership of the Nordic resistance movement on how to discuss controversial matters, our translation) Reading this, it becomes obvious that there is a growing irritation in the movement, with members propagating different CTs. The leadership of the Nordic resistance movement advocates for a less incestuous relationship with the plethora of CTs, and for sticking to the 'truth,' and to the ideaat least in the eyes of the Nordic resistance movementof a real Jewish world conspiracy.
To the leadership of the Nordic resistance movement, this is about remaining trustworthy in their antisemitic rhetoric. It also becomes clear that these issues are of major concern because there is a need for instruction. It is also clear that the controversies are caused by apologists of CTs: We have, over the years, seen clear examples of people who devote themselves to alternative theories; they create a group-within-the-group, and in some cases act aggressively toward others, and have thus been subversive within the organization. This is a major risk for a hierarchical organization such as the Nordic resistance movement, and all such tendencies must be fought with full force! What we are talking about is people who set themselves against orders from our leaders, who engage in comment sections [in their webpages and social media] and question our message from our own radio programs or news articlesthey use specific workgroups and bombard them with conspiracy theories … . What is significant for such a group-within-a-group is that they form themselves together and protect each other and recommend their own people for various positions within the organization. (Internal instruction from the supreme leadership of the Nordic resistance movement on how to discuss controversial matters, our translation) What we learned is that the circulation of CTs within the Nordic resistance movement threatens the internal discipline and shakes the hierarchy. In the instruction, they continued to list all topics that are off limit and that need permission to be discussed. They concluded their argument by stating that conspiracy theories contribute toward bringing disillusionment to the activistsomething that is deeply demoralizing and contributes to disengagement. The Nordic resistance movement has been able to convey the message of the white genocide/great replacement theory to the mainstream political debate in Sweden. However, they are still struggling to convey the message that the 'deep state' is rooted in the Jewish world conspiracy. This message, touching at the core of all problems, according to NRM, is much harder to convey, as it is undermined by activists who cannot control themselves and will not be controlled by the leaders when they are propagating all sorts of CTs. In this sense, there is an ongoing struggle to define the boundaries of the field and protect the doxa of the neo-Nazi subculture.

Big Pharma and the skeptical attitude
Well aware that the formal organization wants to distinguish itself from different kinds of CT movements, some members are still attracted to the ideas of a Big Pharma conspiracy, and reasoning on COVID-19, they ventilate their own frustration and doubts. Existential threats and global disasters are all looked upon from the same perspective, using a simple and straightforward causal explanatory model. Uncertainty is handled through a foundational neo-Nazi worldview, where certain causal and explanatory mechanisms are repeatedly installed and used to reduce ambivalence. When asked about COVID-19, Martin said: So, what is COVID-19? Well, it's not the plague, people do not fall down and die on the streets. It is a more severe cold, and people over a certain age and with underlying diseases, or yes, complications, die. But I look at this, well. I have looked at it from the beginning as the work of the Jews, how they always work, that it is a test balloon, and then you see how far you can pull this thing off, and so you have managed to stir up things enough to push through the repressive laws you wanted. And then we will see where this gets us. (Martin) Bauman (1990) defined ambivalence as the possibility of assigning an object or event to more than one category: 'The main symptom of disorder is the acute discomfort we feel when we are unable to read the situation properly and to choose between alternative actions.' In the neo-Nazi worldview, ambivalence is reduced, and uncertainty is replaced by certainty. Behind all global problems and pandemics, there is always a hidden agenda and a rational actor deliberately installing these conditions on humanity. The actor is sometimes Big Pharma, or the deep state, and behind all this, we always find the Jewish world conspiracy.
No, once again, we do not want this conflict to get inside our walls, so to speak. However, I think we should be able to welcome both those who think it's okay with the vaccine, and those who absolutely do not think it's okay. We are facing an existential struggle, and we need to survive as people. Consequently, we cannot risk mixing things up. But I myself think that the system is quite rigged, the whole western system, and the entire pharmaceutical industry. The idea is to deliberately poison us, because killing people generates no money. Very healthy people do not generate money; those who generate money are the ones who are half sick, in between, and that is where they want to take us. Big Pharma wants us to be half sick, to go and nibble pills, and take all the vaccines they produce. (Mikael) The fundamental problem with trust, suspicions toward Big Pharma, and alien vaccine products, contribute to a more positive relation to the anti-vaccine movement. The two movements share a common suspicion toward Big Pharma and other hidden power structures.
It would have made a difference if we had, perhaps, had a vaccine produced in Sweden, which we trust. This would have been another matter. Yes, and then, as in my case, I am not completely and categorically against all vaccines. There are certainly some benefits to vaccines. But I also think it's a bit of a non-issue. As I see it. But it has become … Now, in connection with this, with these corona vaccines and all that, it has become … People have talked about it, and you can see this in the commentary fields everywhere, that is, ordinary people who are fucking skeptical.
[laughs] Actually. (Andreas) In this worldview, there is no room for the undecidable or strangers (Bauman, 1990). There are friends and enemies, and the members of the Nordic Resistance Movement are inclined to treat vaccine opponents as friends. At the same time, they also need to defend their own positions and subcultural spaces. Consequently, they treat the vaccine question and Big Pharma as less important than their core ideological questions and opponents. Concurrently, as key leaders in the movement try to defend the doxa and to instruct their followers to reject what they regard as more unrealistic CTs, there are repeated attempts to integrate theories of Big Pharma and the anti-vaccine movement into the doxa.

The grip of the doxa
We are living in a late modern society that, according to Rosa (2013), is characterized by acceleration. Technological development has made communication and transportation much faster and more efficient, to the degree that most of mankind is aware of living conditions in other parts of the world, and it is more feasible than ever to physically get there. Rosa (2013) argues that this condition has gradually and with increased acceleration altered the preconditions for human lives, societies, and identities. While mankind has always migrated, this is now done with larger numbers of people, over larger areas, and in less time. Globalized acceleration is a result of mankind's scientific achievements, and it comes with many consequences for the better and for the worse.
Our informants, on an ontological level, are unable or totally unwilling to see this acceleration in late modernity as a non-planned and unintended repercussion of scientific and technological progress. They read it as a political will, a will that by its intention has created the technological means, and not the other way around. This leaves them with a crippled epistemology that encourages them to ignore rational analyses of globalization and instead invest significant amounts of time trying to prove that there is an overall and unified intention behind the development of acceleration and globalization in late modern society. Everything that they despise in the society that they live in must be explained as intentionally conducted. Since they have the answerthat Jewish power is seeking world domination and thus needs to weaken the only potential threat to that domination ('white people')before the question, there is no other direction for our informants than get into the rabbit hole of conspiracy theories.
The right-wing extremist movement as a whole has always resisted modernity, regardless of whether the ideal was the longing and yearning for an imagined past, when white people lived in ethnically homogenous areas, or a radical desire to create a new world order of a pure white race. Thus, the right-wing extremist doxa unites the movement, not by the degree of fear of the changing world, nor by what they want to achieve or how to achieve it, but by how they explain the reasons for globalization and migration. The doxa is powerful in its capacity to keep the movement together at an ideological level. The unavoidable repercussion of the doxa is the installation of mistrust of society into the subcultural space. After all, in their view, liberal democracy is nothing but a tool for 'Jewish power,' and as such, it must be overthrown.
However, this complex relation toward society also causes conflicts within the movement in relation to other CTs. Using a crippled epistemology to explain the most important and fundamental questions, it was not surprising to find that there is a conflict among them when it comes to other CTs. All CTs that they brought up in the interviews revolve around the notion that the government is ultimately the enemy of the people, serving the interests of an elite, and this they all agreed upon. When the crippled epistemology gradually inspires and drives each one of them to develop conspiratorial mindsets, they will only part from each other based on the urge to either identify as many examples as possible on how the government poses threats to the white people, or the decision to stay focused on the core of the doxa. In the interviews, we came across different examples of how this is negotiated within the movement. On the one hand, it is necessary to defend the doxa and to maintain a distance toward certain types of conspiracy groups. On the other hand, the temptation to delve into and join, for example, anti-vaccine groups, is strong. The ongoing struggle to sustain the boundaries of the subcultural field is thus threatened by these temptations to join other groups and to participate in other fields. This shows that there are rather weak and unclear boundaries between different subcultural fields. To defend the field of the neo-Nazi subculture and uphold the doxa, there is apparently a need to defend the boundaries of the field and to distinguish between the doxawhich is regarded as an almost sacred part of the movement's ideologyand conspiracy theories at large. To defend the truth claims inherent in the doxa, it is necessary to keep a distance toward what are seen as CTs. What we have studied here is the ongoing struggle to keep certain subcultural fields separate and apart. The ambition of shifting from being a subcultural phenomenon, occupying a place in the periphery, to the mainstream of society, demands a certain distance from what are commonly seen as conspiracy theories. The results of this study indicate that the national socialist movement entails great difficulties in defending its members' doxa, avoiding falling into the rabbit hole of conspiracy theories. The structural and ideological similarities and affinities with other conspiracy theories and the urge to identify the core cause of all the evils identified by the movement (the Jewish world conspiracy) drives them into the arms of a whole bunch of other subcultures and CTs. These social and cultural mechanisms also maintain and reproduce the subcultural field, making it increasingly difficult to reach out to the mainstream and access political further. However, this study contributes, despite the small sample of informants, as a case study to reveal some of the strategies from the neo-Nazi milieus to convey their messages to mainstream society. Taking into account the spread and role of CTs, which just a few decades ago seldomly reached a greater audience, we would like to underline the importance of further research on this matter.

Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).