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Missing Links: an Examination of Collective Identity and Ritual in the American Militia Movement

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Missing Links: an Examination of Collective Identity and Ritual in the American Militia Movement MISSING LINKS: AN EXAMINATION OF COLLECTIVE IDENTITY AND RITUAL IN THE AMERICAN MILITIA MOVEMENT By Daniel Thomas Petrin Bachelor of Science in Psychology Oklahoma State University Stillwater, Oklahoma 2011 Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate College of the Oklahoma State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE July, 2011 MISSING LINKS: AN EXAMINATION OF COLLECTIVE IDENTITY AND RITUAL IN THE AMERICAN MILITIA MOVEMENT Thesis Approved: Dr. David Knottnerus Thesis Adviser Dr. Gary Webb Dr. Andrew Fullerton Dr. Mark E. Payton Dean of the Graduate College ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page I. INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................1 Why Study the Militia? ............................................................................................1 What is the Militia Movement? ..............................................................................3 A History of Two Key Far-Right Groups in the United States................................4 The Ku Klux Klan ..............................................................................................5 The Klan’s Contribution ....................................................................................8 The Posse Comitatus ..........................................................................................8 II. THEORY .................................................................................................................12 Smelser’s Theory of Collective Behavior ..............................................................13 Mythic/Ideological DNA .......................................................................................15 Structural Ritualization Theory..............................................................................17 III. LITERATURE REVIEW ......................................................................................20 The Modern Militia Movement .............................................................................21 Two Prolific M/I DNA Systems ............................................................................25 Constitutionalists....................................................................................................26 Christian Identity ...................................................................................................27 CONS Militia Use of History ................................................................................30 CI Militia Use of History .......................................................................................32 CI, CONS Militias: Ideology, History, and The Second Amendment...................33 A Demonstration of Theory ...................................................................................36 A Few Other Noteworthy Issues ............................................................................39 IV. METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................41 Research Propositions and Coding Categories ......................................................47 iii V. RESULTS AND ANALYSIS .................................................................................51 Research Proposition I Results ..............................................................................57 Research Proposition II Results .............................................................................58 Research Proposition III, IV Results .....................................................................66 Research Proposition V Results .............................................................................74 Research Proposition a Results ..............................................................................77 VI. CONCLUSIONS ...................................................................................................84 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................88 iv LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1.................................................................................................................................58 2.................................................................................................................................64 3.................................................................................................................................66 4.................................................................................................................................75 5.................................................................................................................................77 6.................................................................................................................................83 v LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1.................................................................................................................................53 2.................................................................................................................................55 vi CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION: WHY STUDY THE MILITIA? Sociologists are in a unique position when it comes to studying terrorism. Terrorism, its consequences, and the groups associated with it are all social in nature. The news is frequently peppered with coverage of terrorist threats ranging from al Qaeda to Russian Separatists. Recently, a Senate hearing addressed the threat posed by Muslims in the United States being radicalized via the internet (Lubold, 2010). This same possibility was addressed by an earlier F.B.I. report (2006). The focus on Islamic and foreign terrorist groups may be missing the point; there is another set of groups that may be using the internet to train and radicalize people every day. They are responsible for at least 75 attacks and plots on U.S. soil in the last 16 years including a train derailment, bombing the Atlanta Olympics, killing law enforcement personnel, and an increasing number of other bombings and shootings (SPLC Special report 2009). Evidence suggests that some groups are in our military and law enforcement (Keller 2009). They are the United States militia movement. 1 The militia movement in the United States is not a new phenomenon and it is not unstudied. It does seem somewhat understudied, however when one takes into account its potential to produce individuals who later commit acts of domestic terrorism. This danger is exacerbated by the fact that militia members reside all over the country. Often, it seems as though militia groups are only noticed when they produce an act of violence. The inevitable, though short-sighted, result is that the focus of governmental research is drawn to the violent aspects of their behavior. The same is true of media coverage. This emphasis on their potential for violent behavior is emphasized in many F.B.I reports, law enforcement bulletins (1996, 1999, 2005), and the most recent publically declassified report from the department of homeland security (2009). The militia movement does produce individuals who commit horrific atrocities against their fellow citizens, but that is not the only thing that they do. 75 incidents, many of which were deadly, should not be ignored but it does not seem to be an especially large number given the relative ease with which they could produce a much greater number. Accordingly, one might argue that militia groups spend the bulk to their time engaged in activities other than domestic terror attacks. Instead, they may be providing social control, a sense of identity, and an outlet for people who might otherwise be committing these highly destructive acts. At the same time, they may also be radicalizing their members by socializing them into a complex and highly threatening perception of the world that eventually inclines them to acting out violently. The goal of this study was to evaluate whether or not there is empirical evidence supporting these claims. This work also sought to find evidence supporting the use of a new theory of militia behavior based on a mythic/ideological theory of terrorist identity 2 construction and Structural Ritualization. The basic research questions this paper seeks to answer are: Of the types of militia which seems most active? Is there support for utilizing the Mythic/Ideological DNA theory of identity in research with the militia? Does it appear that ritual plays a role in maintaining these identities? Does ritual play a role in social control within the militia movement? Is there evidence supporting the notion that militia members become radicalized over time? What is the Militia Movement? ‘Militia Movement’ is very much an umbrella term, encapsulating a wide range of people and groups. Indeed, “The Militia movement is a loose collection of paramilitary groups that self-identify as ‘militias’ and individuals with strong sympathies for such groups” (Pitcavage 2001). One could argue that the modern ‘militia movement’ is at any given time comprised of some mixture of: white supremacists, “sovereign citizens”, tax protestors, conspiracy theorists, members of the KKK, neo-Nazis, holocaust deniers, radicalized evangelical Christians, anti-abortion extremists, anti-immigration radicals, extreme gun-rights advocates, members of the Christian Identity movement and similar groups. They add to this complexity by self-identifying in several ways including “Patriot”, “Militia”,
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