Freakonomics Lesson Plan

While the Ku Klux Klan was the terrorist arm of the white establishment in the South, it also operated like any other secret society. What is the appeal of secret societies, and how do they project power? How can one undermine a secret society?

Secret societies appeal to people because they hold information that only their members know about. Information is power, and the Klan’s secret rituals, codes, passwords, handshakes, and language made its members—most of whom were poorly educated and with poor prospects—feel important and powerful. As Stetson Kennedy discovered, one can damage such a society by revealing its secrets to everyone. Without inside information, secret...