“Radical” Religious Conversion, From a Quest for Meaning to Rediscovered Purity

We propose in this contribution to question the processes leading young French people, living in a landlocked neighbourhood of an average French city, to “radical” religious conversion. To do this, we start from the following postulate: conversion to radical Islam responds to a psychosocial logic combining individual and societal factors. In order to identify this phenomenon more precisely, we undertook field research based on qualitative methods. Comprising observations and interviews conducted with 16 people engaged in a process of conversion, this study makes it possible to structure the process into five sequences: a quest for meaning following a biographical shock; a meeting with a proselyte or a preacher; a commitment to a “radical career”; sustained commitment associated with stigma reversal; and the adoption of a proselytizing posture to jihadism or repentance.