Dr. Peter Simi
Professor
Sociology, Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences
Office Location: Roosevelt Hall 217
Office Hours: M 2:00-4:00pm *or by appointment
Phone: (714) 744-7611
Email: simi@chapman.edu
- Education:
- Washington State University, Bachelor of Arts
University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Master of Arts
University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Ph.D.
Biography
Pete Simi is a Professor of Sociology at Chapman University. He has studied extremist
groups and violence for more than 25 years, conducting interviews and observation
with a range of violent gangs and political extremists. Dr. Simi is a member of the
NCITE at the University of Nebraska, Omaha which is the newest university-based research
center funded by the Department of Homeland Security and committed to the scientific
study of the causes and consequences of terrorism in the United States and around
the world. Simi is co-author of two book manuscripts, American Swastika: Inside the White Power Movement’s Hidden Spaces of Hate and Out of Hiding: Extremist White Supremacy and How It Can be Stopped, and frequently serves as an expert legal consultant on criminal and civil cases
related to political extremism.
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Recent Creative, Scholarly Work and Publications
- Simi, Pete, Gina Ligon, Seamus Highes, and Natalie Standridge. 2024. "Rising Threats to Public Officials: A Review of 10 Years of Federal Data." CTC-Sentinel 17, 5.
- DeMichele, Matthew, Pete Simi and Kathleen Blee. 2024. “Becoming an Ex-Extremist: Stopping the Hate and Embracing a New Identity.” British Journal of Criminology, 1-16, htps://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azae035
- Simi, Pete, Robert Futrell, and Adam Burtson. 2024. “How Threat Mobilizes the Resurgence and Persistence of US White Supremacist Activism: the 1980s to the Present.” Annual Review of Sociology, v. 50.
- Blee, Kathleen, Robert Futrell, and Pete Simi. 2024. “A Constellation Approach to Understanding Extremist White Supremacy.” Mobilization 28:435-444.
- Simi, Pete and Robert Futrell. 2024. American Swastika: Inside the White Power Movement’s Hidden Spaces of Hate. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. (third edition) - Substantial Revision
- Blee, Kathleen, Robert Futrell, and Pete Simi. 2024. “A Constellation Approach to Identifying Extremism in US Conservative Movements.” Berkeley Journal of Right-Wing Studies.
- Bader, Chris and Pete Simi. 2024. “How Many Americans Support Political Violence? A State of the Science Assessment.” National Counterterrorism, Innovation, technology, and Education Center (NCITE).
- Pete Simi and Steven Windisch. 2020. “The Culture of Violent Talk: An Interpretive Approach.” Social Science, 9.
- Latif, Mehr, Kathleen Blee, Matthew DeMichele, and Pete Simi. 2020. “Do White Supremacist Women Adopt Movement Archetypes of Mother, Whore, and Fighter?” Studies in Conflict and Terrorism.
- Simi, Pete.2020. “Unpacking the Links between Ideas and Violent Extremism.” George Washington University, Program on Extremism: 1-11.
- Hoffman, Dennis and Pete Simi. 2020. “Requiem for a Report.” Omaha Star. Op ed.
- Scrivens, R., Windisch, S., & Simi, P. Forthcoming. “Former Extremists in Radicalization and Counter-Radicaliaztion.” In M. Deflem and D. Silva (Eds.), Sociology of Crime, Law, and Deviance - Vol. 25: Radicalization and Counter-Radicalization (pp. 207-222) Bingley, UK: Emerald Publishing.
- “Active Abeyance, Political Opportunity, and the ‘New’ White Supremacy.” In Mobilization. Edited by Hank Johnston and Pamela Oliver.
- Why White Supremacist Women Become Disillusioned, and Why They Leave.” The Sociological Quarterly, published online, June 27.
- Windisch, Steven, Pete Simi, Kathleen Blee, and Matthew DeMichele. Forthcoming. “Understanding the Micro-Situational Dynamics of White Supremacist Violence in the United States.” Perspectives in Terrorism.
- Fahey, Susan and Pete Simi. Forthcoming. “Pathways to Violent Extremism: A Qualitative Comparative Analysis of the US Far-Right.” Journal of Dynamics of Asymmetric Conflict.
- Latif, Mehr, Kathy Blee, Matthew DeMichele, and Pete Simi. Forthcoming. “How Emotional Dynamics Maintain and Destroy White Supremacist Groups.” Humanity & Society.
- Simi, Pete, Steven Windisch*, Daniel Harris*, and Gina Ligon. Forthcoming. “Anger from Within: The Role of Emotions in Disengagement from Violent Extremism.” Journal of Qualitative Criminal Justice & Criminology.
- Blee, Kathy, Matthew DeMichele, Pete Simi, and Mehr Latif. Forthcoming. “How Racial Violence is Provoked and Channeled” Socio.
- Simi, Pete, Kathy Blee, Matthew DeMichele, and Steven Windisch. 2017. “Addicted to Hate?: Identity Residual among Former White Supremacists.” American Sociological Review. https://doi.org/10.1177/0003122417728719 DOI: 10.1177/000312241772871
- Evans, Mary, Amy Anderson, and Pete Simi. 2017. “An Examination of the Relationship Between Height and Delinquency.” Journal of Developmental & Life Course Criminology, 1-18.
- Bubolz, Bryan and Pete Simi. 2017. “The Problem of Overgeneralization: The Case of Mental Health Problems and US Violent White Supremacists.” American Behavioral Scientist.
- Windisch, S., & Simi, P. Forthcoming. “Trends in Neo-Nazi Music.” In S. Brown and O. Sefiha (Eds.), Routledge Handbook of Deviance. New York, NY: Taylor & Francis.
- Futrell, Robert, Pete Simi, and Anna Tan. Forthcoming. “Political Extremism and Social Movements.” The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Social Movements edited by David Snow, Sarah Soule, Hanspeter Kriesi, and Holly McCammon. Wiley.
- Simi, Pete and Bryan Bubolz. 2016. “Far Right Terrorism in the United States.” In Handbook of the Criminology of Terrorism edited by Gary LaFree and Joshua Freilich. Wiley Press.
- Windisch, Steven*, Pete Simi, Gina Scott Ligon, and Hillary McNeel*. 2016. “Disengagement from Ideologically-Based and Violent Organizations: A Systematic Review of the Literature.” Journal for Deradicalization, 9:1-38.