NCJ Number
172345
Journal
Deviant Behavior Volume: 18 Issue: 2 Dated: (April-June 1997) Pages: 185-198
Date Published
1997
Length
14 pages
Annotation
This article attempts to explain a series of brutal attacks by the Ku Klux Klan on the citizenry of Macon, Georgia.
Abstract
The article applies the ideas presented by Kai Erikson (1996) in Wayward Puritans to explain a series of brutal attacks by the Ku Klux Klan on the citizenry of Macon, Georgia, episodes that brought national attention to that town. What made these attacks so unusual was their victims; most of whom were White Anglo-Saxon Protestants accused by the Klan of engaging in immoral behavior. Rather than viewing the Klan's actions as deviance that was sanctioned by outside sources, the article focuses on the attacks as attempts by the Klan to eradicate deviance from within their own community. The article uses historical data from newspapers, Klan speeches and Congressional hearings, and explains the Klan's drive against immorality in terms of Erikson's notions of boundary crises leading to crime waves that ultimately serve to clarify the distinctions between social groups. Notes, table, references