ABSTRACT
The aim of this paper is to provide a novel as well as radical perspective that helps to elucidate the fundamental function civic values fulfil within society through an embodied model that provides a framework, both theoretical and practical, for the shaping of the subject’s political culture and habits. We examine the cognitive basis of the notion of civic values and rational choice theory, arguing that, when confronted with the “terrorist dilemma”, the latter appears as an ill-formed scientific framework. We propose an embodied approach to the concept of political culture through ecological psychology, arguing that it not only offers a better scientific framework for the study of political culture and habits but also that this framework shows the profound limitations of the notion of civic values in the first place. We consider the implications for public policy in regards to the prevention of radicalisation, contrasting the public policy outcomes that derive from orthodox and our proposed model, examining specific cases such as the 2018 Toronto van attack.