Structural Incentives for Conservative Mobilization: Power Devaluation and the Rise of the Ku Klux Klan, 1915-1925

This article examines the phenomenal rise in the early 1920s of the Ku Klux Klan, which drew its members primarily from the middle class and was characterized by nativism, racism, religious bigotry, coercive moralism, and economic conservatism. It argues that the Klan's rise is best understood as a response to the sudden devaluation in the economic and political “purchasing power” of the Klan's recruits. Guided by microeconomic logic, the Klan used cultural appeals to stimulate demand for what its members had to offer in exchange within economic and political markets. It also used cultural attacks to restrict the supply of competitors. I test the argument with statistical analyses of state-level membership estimates and county-level membership data for the state of Indiana.