Dialogues with White Supremacists
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UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations 1-1-1999 Amerikan dreams: Dialogues with white supremacists Pete George Simi University of Nevada, Las Vegas Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/rtds Repository Citation Simi, Pete George, "Amerikan dreams: Dialogues with white supremacists" (1999). UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations. 1031. http://dx.doi.org/10.25669/vfnh-zve7 This Thesis is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It has been brought to you by Digital Scholarship@UNLV with permission from the rights-holder(s). You are free to use this Thesis in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s) directly, unless additional rights are indicated by a Creative Commons license in the record and/ or on the work itself. 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AMERIKAN DREAMS; DIALOGUES WITH WHITE SUPREMACISTS by Pete Simi Bachelor of Arts Washington State University 1994 A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Arts Degree Department of Sociology College of Liberal Arts Graduate College University of Nevada, Las Vegas August 1999 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. DMI Number: 1396415 UMI Microform 1396415 Copyright 1999, by UMI Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. UMI 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, MI 48103 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Thesis Approval UNIV The Graduate College University of Nevada, Las Vegas A ugust s 19 99 The Thesis prepared by P e te Sim i Entitled Amerikan Dreams; Dialogues with White Supremacists is approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts ___________ mOTionCommittee Chair Dean of the Graduate College Examination(animation Committee Member M Examination (Meanonitee Member Graduate C ollie Faculty Representative 11 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ABSTRACT AMERICAN DREAMS: DIALOGUES WITH WHITE SUPREMACISTS by Pete Simi Dr. Simon Gottschalk, Examination Committee Chair Professor of Sociology University of Nevada, Las Vegas The following is an ethnographic study of white suprennacy. Using a cultural studies approach, I focus on ideology and how members of the openly white supremacist Army of Israel (AOI) practically accomplish aspects of their ideology on a daily basis. Further, I juxtapose the articulations of white supremacy by members of the “extreme” right with more “mainstream” culture, situating the AOI’s virulent form of white supremacy within a pattern of thinking and behavior that exists on a continuum embedded within the larger culture, including our political and economic institutions, everyday practices and unconscious (Ansley 1997; Feagin and Vera 1995; Kovel 1970; Fanon 1967). Ill Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT...............................................................................................................................üi CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION........................................................................................... 1 The First Meeting................................................................................................................ 1 The Patriot Right in America.............................................................................................. 7 The White Supremacy Movement .................................................................................. 10 The Ku Klux Klan ............................................................................................................. 12 Nazis in the U S................................................................................................................... 15 Christian Identity ................................................................................................................18 Skinheads ........................................................................................................................... 20 Militia Movement............................................................................................................. 21 Social/Political/Economic Context................................................................................. 24 Economic Transformations.............................................................................................. 26 Social and Political Transformations............................................................................... 27 Ruby Ridge ........................................................................................................................ 29 Waco.................................................................................................................................. 31 CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW...............................................................................34 Ideology............................................................................................................................. 34 Louis Althusser.................................................................................................................. 35 Antonio Gramsci............................................................................................................... 39 Birmingham School............................................................................................................42 Classical Research............................................................................................................ 52 Pluralist Theory................................................................................................................ 53 Contemporary Research................................................................................................... 59 Macro Examinations......................................................................................................... 59 Content Analysis............................................................................................................... 65 Ethnographic Approaches................................................................................................ 67 Journalistic Accounts........................................................................................................ 77 CHAPTER 3 METHODS.................................................................................................... 81 Getting Started .................................................................................................................. 84 The Tools........................................................................................................................... 86 Interaction and Fieldwork ................................................................................................ 92 IV Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Interviews ............................................................................................................................. 94 Postmodernism.................................................................................................................... 97 Self-Reflexivity .................................................................................................................. 102 Intertextuality ...................................................................................................................