The far right and the body

Abstract

The establishment and maintenance of political ideology are deeply intertwined with physical culture. Across the political spectrum, regimes have sought to shape subjectivity by targeting the body—the site where ideology is both produced and enacted. Physical culture has long been a tool for forging new social orders, from the nationalist Sokol movement in the Austro-Hungarian Empire to Soviet mass gymnastics and Nazi physical education programs, all of which sought to instill state or nationalist ideologies through bodily discipline. In recent years, particularly since the COVID-19 pandemic spurred a rise in home fitness training, far-right groups have increasingly used online fitness communities as recruitment hubs, while transnational networks like Active Clubs continue to transform their participants—primarily men—into "white warriors" for their ideological cause. This panel examines the relationship between right-wing ideology and narratives of physical strength. Jason Luger explores how muscular masculinity ideals materialize in spaces like the “Bali Time Chamber” retreat, reflecting broader societal shifts driven by economic precarity and alienation, where far-right ideologies shape male embodiment beyond liberal democratic constraints. Xander Kirke analyzes how myth is not only expressed through language and imagery and performed through the physical body, particularly in workouts, where exercise becomes a site for enacting political subjectivities that offer ontological security amid existential anxieties. Kris Orszaghova expands this discussion by examining how music genres like brostep actively shape bodies and affect (hyper)masculine identities in far-right athletic training spaces .Together, these contributions highlight the powerful role of physical culture in far-right ideology, demonstrating how bodily practices, spaces, and soundscapes function as tools for ideological formation and reinforcement.

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Play Hard, Train Hard: Brostep and Physical Culture	View Paper Details
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