Re: institutions, collaborations

Peter Smagorinsky (psmagorinsky who-is-at uoknor.edu)
Mon, 24 Jun 96 06:49:38 -0500

At 08:55 PM 6/23/96 -0400, you wrote:

>What does social psychology have to say about
>paranoia at the level of whole groups? about societal response
>to such group-level phenomena?
>
One thing to keep in mind is that militia/patriot groups are unified around
a few core ideas, rather than being a "whole group." Ana provided a
description of the Identity Christian faction, which is among the more
extreme groups that tend toward organizing in militias. One of the basic
strategies of the milita movement is to keep the "cells" very small in order
to avoid identification of larger groups of people--they're often composed
of a handfull of people (e.g., the accused OKC bombers) who might have
contact with other groups but are deliberately unaffiliated so as to avoid
implicating others in the actions of some. One point the False Patriots
issue made was that the more active militia members (e.g., those who
practice maneuvers on weekends) look down on less active people who read
Soldier of Fortune, participate on email networks--the "drugstore cowboys"
of the movement--but who don't take action. And so it's important to
remember that the militia movement is not a single movement, but a group of
very loosely affiliated groups with varying ideologies organized around a
few common goals which they are urged by national leaders to follow to the
exclusion of their differences.

Peter
Peter Smagorinsky
University of Oklahoma
College of Education
Department of Instructional Leadership and Academic Curriculum
820 Van Vleet Oval
Norman, OK 73019-0260
office phone: (405)325-3533
fax: (405)325-4061
psmagorinsky who-is-at uoknor.edu