The Sociological Roots of the Ku Klux Klan

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The Sociological Roots of the Ku Klux Klan When you hear the name Ku Klux Klan (KKK), your mind immediately thinks of violence. People being lynched from trees, homes and churches bombed, and burning crosses. Although the KKK is still alive and operating today they have, for the most part, left behind the violence. Yet it is still important to see how and why they are the way, they are. From politics to lynchings, the Ku Klux Clan (KKK) is an extremely notorious group, and they are a rather popular subject of study in the field of sociology. The roots of the KKK are rich with clear illustrations of sociological topics like Conflict theory, Structure and agency, and the misuse of positivism. Conflict theory, the strain of a social group caused by economic or social inequality, is seen from the very beginning of the Klan. Structure and agency, the reasons people do what they do, is looked at for why people over 100 years after the creation of the Klan still join it. The misuse of positivism, the belief that science cannot be disputed, has been used to convince people of the “superiority” of the white race. In this paper I will go in to depth to show how the Ku Klux Klan can be broken down into the three subtopics of sociology that are Conflict theory, Structure and agency, and the misuse of positivism. After the end of the civil war, the south was crushed both literally and economically. Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth President of the United States of America (U.S.A.), made it illegal for any person to own slaves any were in the U.S. with the passing of the 13th amendment. Now although the north had won the war many of the problems that had caused it remained present in the hearts and minds of most of the people in the South. In 1865 in Pulaski, Tennessee, six confederate soldiers started a group to express their anger over the results of the war and the loss of

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