4. Lost Cause: The Rise and Fall of a Symbolic Crusade Movement

Violence, Conspiracies, and New Religions - A Tribute to James R. Lewis - Margo Kitts

David G. Bromley [+-]
Virginia Commonwealth University
David G. Bromley is Founder/Director of the World Religions and Spirituality Project (https://wrldrels.org) and Professor of Religious Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia. His primary interest is in the emergence, organization, and development of contemporary religious and spiritual movements. His most recent work is on Q’Anon and related conspiracy theory-based movements.

Description

New religious groups by their very nature pose some degree of challenge to the social order within which they emerge as they involve alternative ways of imagining and organizing. The sources of contention are some combination of movement provocation and societal control imposition. In a few cases, movement-societal conflict rises to the level of violence, in which each side concludes that peaceful coexistence is impossible. While there has been considerable research on the dynamics of such conflicts, there is less understanding of how movements that have been vanquished in battle with the forces of social control re-form, reorganize, and re-establish themselves. This chapter examines the loosely-coupled Lost Cause Movement following the end of Civil War hostilities. Three primary reconstitution tactics are identified: creation of an alternative social-cultural power base, narrative accounts challenging delegitmating depictions of slavery, and restoration of legitimacy through sacralization of southern culture. These tactics proved to be remarkably successful in repositioning the Confederate states over the next century.

Notify A Colleague

Citation

Bromley, David G.. 4. Lost Cause: The Rise and Fall of a Symbolic Crusade Movement. Violence, Conspiracies, and New Religions - A Tribute to James R. Lewis. Equinox eBooks Publishing, United Kingdom. p. 43-58 Nov 2024. ISBN 9781800505070. https://www.equinoxpub.com/home/view-chapter/?id=45187. Date accessed: 12 Dec 2024 doi: 10.1558/equinox.45187. Nov 2024

Dublin Core Metadata