Ku Klux Klan

The Ku Klux Klan is invoked as a comparison in an argument about how institutions disavow violence that nonetheless belongs to their social order. The reference links the Klan’s lynchings to the claim that abuses by soldiers or clergy should not be treated simply as betrayals by rogue individuals: such acts may instead reveal a violent underside concealed by official values.

The Klan in the Argument

The book refers to Ku Klux Klan lynchings while challenging the idea that perpetrators are merely traitors to Western Christian civilization. In this comparison, the violence is presented not as external to the society that condemns it, but as an eruption of its own obscene underside.

Institutional Violence and Public Values

The comparison supports the book’s broader distinction between formal rules and the unofficial practices that institutions can legitimize without openly ordering. It frames the Klan not through a detailed account of its history or structure, but as an example of violence that cannot be explained away as the isolated misconduct of individuals. The reference places such violence in tension with publicly affirmed ideals, showing how an institution or society may disavow practices that remain bound to its own order.