ABSTRACT
Taking into account the cultural dimensions of extreme-right parties, this chapter attempts to open the cultural ‘black box’ of these organizations through the comparison of two groups of young Italian activists inside Alleanza Nazionale and Lega Nord. It is shown that their collective cultural frames are not totally new and are composed of three main elements: an ideal model of society, a legendary narrative and a symbolic territory, which are inspired by old ideological references. But to understand why young activists appropriate such elements, it is worth examining the different ways in which party members experience their political involvement, their family socialization and their social origins. The mechanism that allows the individual appropriation of the above-mentioned elements is driven by certain shared biographical, familial and social experiences. Thus, in the case of the AN the transmission of intimated (family) memory is closely associated with political commemoration of past events, whereas in the case of the LN, the lack of family memory among young activists is compensated with topographical and historical inventions promoted by the party organization.
