This article considers the implications of the mainstreaming of ‘right-wing extremism’ for what, and whom, we understand as ‘extreme’. It draws on ethnographic research (2017-2020) with young people active in movements routinely referred to in public and academic discourse as ‘extreme right’ or ‘far right’. Based on interviews, informal communication and observation, the article explores how actors in the milieu understand ‘extremism’ and how far this corresponds to academic and public conceptualisations of ‘right-wing extremism’, in particular cognitive ‘closed-mindedness’. Emic perspectives are not accorded privileged authenticity. Rather, it is argued, critical engagement with them reveals the important role of ethnographic research in gaining insight into, and challenging what we know about, the ‘mind-set’ of right-wing extremists. Understanding if such a mind-set exists, and if it does, in what it consists, matters, if academic research is to inform policy and practice to counter socially harmful practices among those it targets effectively.

本文考虑了“右翼极端主义”主流化对我们理解为“极端”的对象和人的影响。它借鉴了人种学研究（2017-2020 年），年轻人积极参与公共和学术话语中经常被称为“极右翼”或“极右翼”的运动。基于访谈、非正式交流和观察，本文探讨了环境中的行为者如何理解“极端主义”，以及这与学术和公众对“右翼极端主义”的概念化的对应程度，特别是认知上的“思想封闭”。主位观点没有获得特权的真实性。相反，有人认为，与他们的批判性接触揭示了民族志研究在洞察和挑战我们所了解的右翼极端分子“思维定势”方面的重要作用。