A young man filled with helplessness is drawn to a charismatic leader promising the return to a time when people like him ruled the world.

Sound familiar? How about this one:

A precariously employed young man joins a group advocating for traditional gender roles and men no longer having to compete with women for work.

Both scenarios describe the radicalisation of a young man and their embrace of extremist ideology. And both could apply to radical Islam or the kind of masculinist ideologies represented by far-right male-only groups like the Proud Boys, according to the head of the Institute of Religion, Politics and Society at the Australian Catholic University, Dr Joshua Roose.

"They have far more in common with each other," he told Hack.

They're both about recapturing past greatness - a time when men ruled the world, or when Islam ruled the world.

We've being writing about the Proud Boys lately because its founder, Gavin McInnes, plans to visit Australia on a 'comedy tour' next month.

It looks like the tour is going ahead despite the FBI listing the group as an "extremist group with ties to white nationalism". Members are up on riot, gang assault and weapons charges after a street brawl with anti-fascist protesters in New York last month.

On Thursday, McInnes formally quit the Proud Boys, although it's not clear what this will mean for the group, which is pretty loosely organised anyway.

The former head of Australian Border Force, Roman Quaedvlieg, says the government should deny McInnes an entry visa, as it has done in the past for holocaust deniers, pick up artists, anti-vaxxers, and preachers of radical Islam. He says there is a strong risk he will incite violence.

It's hard to judge the number of Proud Boys supporters in Australia. Facebook deleted the group's pages a few weeks ago. McInnes claims he has many Australian supporters. A petition in favour of his visit has 21,000 signatures (although many could be from overseas).

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Whatsapp A man wearing a Proud Boys scarf at a rally for President Trump in North Carolina.

Although the Proud Boys are anti-Muslim, and define themselves against the perceived threat of Islam, their ideology has a lot in common with radical Islam, according to ACU's Dr Roose.

"These groups are amongst the first to call Islam out as misogynistic and homophobic and yet they practice the same forms of discrimination," Dr Roose told Hack.

"These groups, because of their origins in terms of alienation, anxiety, and distancing from the wider mainstream community, actually have more in common with western Islamic State foreign fighters than they do with mainstream political discourse.

"There's involvement in some form of criminality, there's a sense of helplessness and despair and a lack of leadership in their life.

"That's filled out by this narrative. If you're a young white guy the narrative might be the alt-right Proud Boys narrative or the United Patriots Front narrative.

"If you're a young Muslim guy it might be the Islamic State narrative."

Masculinist ideologies have the momentum

Consider these recent world events:

Milo Yiannopoulos tells UK Parliament feminism is "vindictive" and "man-hating"

Nigel Farage says feminism has been "hijacked by some people who seem to have a rather anti-men and somewhat negative agenda"

Donald Trump says Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh was the victim when a woman alleged he had raped her

Mr Trump boasts of his masculinity in the "grab em by the pussy" tape of the 2016 US election campaign (the tape was from 2005)

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte says he would have been the first in line to rape an Australian nun murdered in a prison riot

Mr Duterte kisses a woman on stage in front of her husband

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi boasts about having a 56-inch chest and glorifying traditional Hindu masculinity and gender roles

Russian President Vladimir Putin asserts an old-world masculinity through shirtless photo-ops, reinvigorating the Russian Orthodox Church, and demonising LGBTI people

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Whatsapp Altercation between alleged members of Proud Boys and counter-protestors at a rally in Philadelphia on November 17.

There are all examples of masculinist ideologies become increasingly vitriolic and pervasive in mainstream political discourse in the last five years, Dr Roose said.

"Worldwide there's a really strong symbiotic relationship between the new populism and a reassertion of masculinity," he said.

"[This reassertion] is in terms of making men breadwinners and bringing men back to the fore of society and reasserting men's rights.

It's about masculinity as central to the nation.

And recently, there have been examples of fatal shootings where the gunman appears to be motivated by these ideologies.

Earlier this month, a gunman shot two and injured five in a Florida yoga studio after filming a video voicing hatred of women and black people.

In Toronto in April, a driver mowed down 10 people and injured 13 others. Minutes earlier a suspect had posted to Facebook: "The Incel Rebellion has already begun!"

Incel stands for involuntary celibate - an online subculture of young men who say women are the enemy because they deprive them of sex and attention.

The Toronto attack was allegedly inspired by Elliot Rodger. In 2014 in California, Rodger distributed a 141-page manifesto about his deep loathing of women, and frustration about remaining a virgin, before embarking on a stabbing and shooting spree that left six dead.

He has been virtually canonised by some fringe communities online.

'The footsoliders of modern American fascism'

The rise of these ideologies is being driven by economic factors, Dr Roose says.

Precarious employment, casualised labour, the decline of manufacturing, and the long-term effects of the Global Financial Crisis have created a pool of men alienated from society and vulnerable to being radicalised.

This has affected both the white and blue collar workforces.

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Whatsapp Alleged members of Proud Boys at a rally in Philadelphia on November 17.

"It goes goes back 20 to 30 years to the embrace of neoliberalism and the emergence of the so-called New Economy," Dr Roose said.

"Men who worked in jobs that were previously quite safe, they had a job for life and women were in the home.

"There was a sort of defended place for working class men in society.

"What's basically happened over time is as we've seen the rise of precarious work we've seen casualised labour, we've seen entire industries and areas of the economy entirely shut down with men expelled from the economy."

"On the other side we've seen men who have previously worked in offices and the white collar sector are also finding they're now in competition with women where previously they had a birth right to mid-level mid-management jobs.

"Men in the economy are increasingly finding themselves marginalised.

Over time that's led to some groups coalescing around masculinity as an organising feature.

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Whatsapp The Manhattan street brawl. An anti-Trump protester cowers on the sidewalk.

The next step, Dr Roose said, could be groups like the Proud Boys becoming paramilitary forces, sanctioned by the state. This process of adoption is already underway, he said.

In October, the Manhattan Republican Club invited McInnes to address them.

"Let us scum in," he told the Republican power brokers.

Outside, his supporters fought protesters. Before and after the Manhattan brawl, Republican figures defended and promoted the far-right group.

Some have called Proud Boys the "foot soldiers" of modern American fascism.

"These people have read Mein Kampf and the history and origins of national socialism - it would be an absolute mistake to not assume that's what they've read, that's what they're inspired by, and that's what they're attempting to achieve," Dr Roose said.

"What they're trying to do is build effective paramilitary organisations and gain legitimacy and then have them become an arm of the state.

"McInnes wants to become an arm of the Republicans and he sees no better opportunity for this than under Trump."