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What is the KKK a Case Of? Extreme Cases as Analytic Device
Author(s) -
Cunningham David,
Madsen Rachel S.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
sociology compass
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.782
H-Index - 31
ISSN - 1751-9020
DOI - 10.1111/soc4.12258
Subject(s) - object (grammar) , sociology , value (mathematics) , epistemology , variable (mathematics) , philosophy , computer science , mathematics , linguistics , mathematical analysis , machine learning
Social scientists frequently deploy extreme or rare cases as analytic devices to produce insight into broader social processes. Such a move requires that analysts understand what their object of inquiry is in fact “a case of.” Focusing on the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) as one emblematic instance of an extreme case, this article considers the stakes associated with casing decisions around rare and extreme phenomena. Interrogating how the KKK has been understood as both an object of inquiry (i.e. a case) and a signal of broader social processes (i.e. a variable), the discussion emphasizes how to view the associated literature to more reflexively examine the KKK, as well as gain more global insight into the value and cautions associated with using extreme cases to produce generalizable conclusions.