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How Outlaws
Win Friends and
Influence People

Tereza Kuldova
 How Outlaws Win Friends and Influence People

“For many, the current political tumult indicates a renewed struggle for pop-
ular sovereignty against the post-political technocrats who administer neo-
liberalism’s unforgiving market logic. For the excellent anthropologist Tereza
Kuldova, the condottieri of this struggle ride Harley Davidsons at full throttle
to outrun the forces of incorporation. Chock-full of brilliant insights. A must-
read for anyone who wants to understand today’s volatile interface of culture
and politics.”
—Steve Hall, Professor Emeritus of Criminology, Teesside Centre
for Realist Criminology, UK

“How Outlaws Win Friends and Influence People provides an important con-
tribution to our general knowledge of motor cycle clubs and the sociology of
deviance more generally. It is original, creative, and well researched. Specialists
and non-specialists alike will learn a great deal from reading it.”
—Martín Sánchez-Jankowski, Professor of Sociology and Director of the Institute
for the Study of Societal Issues, University of California, Berkeley, US
 Tereza Kuldova

How Outlaws Win

Friends and Influence
People
Tereza Kuldova
Department of Archaeology
University of Oslo
Oslo, Norway

ISBN 978-3-030-15205-5 ISBN 978-3-030-15206-2 (eBook)

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-15206-2

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019933878

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2019

This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether
the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse
of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and
transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by
similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt
from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this
book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the
authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein
or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to
jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Cover credit: Tereza Kuldova

This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
 For Lill-Ann Chepstow-Lusty
(the best friend I ever won, and influenced—and vice versa)
 Acknowledgements

Travelling across Austria, Germany, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia,

attending outlaw biker events, and collecting material for this book, I have
met many exciting individuals with whom I had the pleasure to engage
in sincere and heartfelt conversations about life, politics, crime, economy,
and culture; some of them became friends. All of them remain anony-
mous in this book, as promised. I hope to do justice to their desires and
fears. Outlaw motorcycle clubs are a counterculture that is, in its current
form, a product and a mirror image of our neoliberal times. At the same
time, I view it as a form of practical cultural critique. It would be easy
to reduce the outlaw bikers to the one-dimensional stereotype of organ-
ized criminals on wheels, but social life is messier and more complex than
that. Inspired by the conversations with outlaw bikers, their supporters,
and people who admire them, this book attempts to go beyond the mate-
rial seductions of crime. It tries to account for what it is that attracts the
people to the outlaws beyond the potential access to the illegal market and
a quick buck. Or else, what is it that the hang-arounds, prospects, sup-
porters, and admirers see in the outlaws that social theory has remained
blind to? I thank all my informants for making me see the world from
their standpoint, and for expanding my own horizon of meaning.

vii
viii   Acknowledgements

Parts of this book have been presented at conferences across Europe,

and certain segments have been previously published—even if they
appear here in a significantly reworked version. Over the last two years,
I have benefited from comments by conference participants and review-
ers, colleagues at the University of Oslo, and University of Vienna,
members of the Extreme Anthropology Research Network, as well as fam-
ily and friends. I thank all of those who contributed their time and their
ideas—you know who you are.
Chapter 2 is a reworked and extended version of an article previously
published in Visual Anthropology, 2017, 30(5): 379–402, under the
title, ‘The Sublime Splendor of Intimidation: Outlaw Biker Aesthetics
of Power.’ I thank the publisher for the permission to republish it in this
monograph. https://doi.org/10.1080/08949468.2017.1371545.
Last but not least, this book would not be possible without the fund-
ing for my individual research project Gangs, Brands and Intellectual
Property Rights: Interdisciplinary Comparative Study of Outlaw Motorcycle
Clubs and Luxury Brands, provided by the Research Council of Norway
through a FRIPRO Mobility Grant, contract no 250716 (the FRIPRO
Mobility grant scheme (FRICON) is co-funded by the European
Union’s Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological
development, and demonstration under Marie Curie grant agreement
no 608695).
 Contents

Prologue xi

1 Outlaws and Supporters 1

2 Sublime and Power 29

3 Sovereignty and the Political 61

4 Sacred Order and Symbolic Immortality 115

5 Solidarity and Sacrifice 171

Epilogue 201

Index 205

ix
 Prologue

In March 2016, as part of the official annual book fair in the German
city of Leipzig, the Hells Angels organized a press conference and
a book launch of Jagd auf die Rocker: Die Kriminalisierung von
Motorradklubs durch Staat und Medien in Deutschland or else ‘Hunting
Bikers: Criminalization of Motorcycle Clubs by the State and Media
in Germany,’ a book written by the Hells Angel, photographer and PR
spokesperson of the club, Lutz Schelhorn, in collaboration with sev-
eral journalists (Schelhorn and Heitmüller 2016). As the title suggests,
the book’s aim was to problematize the one-sided, negative, and sensa-
tionalist media portrayal of outlaw motorcycle clubs and challenge the
different measures taken by the state to combat organized crime. The
event was accompanied by a concert and a screening of Lutz Schelhorn’s
movie Ein Hells Angel Unter Brüdern (‘A Hells Angel Among Brothers’,
2015), a film conceived as a counterbalance to the stereotypical media
image of outlaw bikers as ruthless criminals, showing the club in a
positive light, engaging in charity, and riding as a big happy family of
ordinary ‘men with a hobby’ (Koetsenruijter and Burger 2018). During
the book launch, the door to the Hells Angels clubhouse opened to the
public, offering the visitors a glimpse into what the media deem the den

xi
xii   Prologue

of evil. ‘We do this for people to make up their own mind, to find out
for themselves what the real truth about the club is,’ an Angel remarked.
Times have changed, the days of Hunter S. Thompson’s Hell’s Angels
(Thompson 2012) are long gone; rowdiness has been progressively trans-
formed into controlled and regulated behavior, dirty clubhouses have
become polished buildings with toilet scent diffusers, young rebels have
been turned into iconic and celebrated criminal heroes selling autobiog-
raphies, movies and starring in TV shows, filthy initiation rites reveling
in sex, shit and piss have become far more casual events, sexual freedom
itself has flipped into its opposite—a reactionary and conservative valori-
zation of family relations vis-à-vis the hated individualist and consumerist
society—and the local American clubs themselves have become powerful
transnational organizations, the only American export criminal organi-
zation as some say (Barker 2010), engaging top lawyers, and running as
many legal fronts as illegal dealings. Over the years, outlaw motorcycle
clubs established recognizable and aspirational brands endowed with a
commodified spirit of the American frontier (Slotkin 1992). Today, out-
law motorcycle clubs are no longer deviants, even if they operate at what
the bourgeois would deem the ‘margins,’ where the legal and the illegal are
intimately bound together (Nordstrom 2008). Contrary to popular imag-
ination, they are well integrated, and they have incorporated, trademarked
their logos, and expanded globally, even to places such as Namibia or
Japan. They are investing great efforts into legitimizing their existence
and informal power, into recruiting new members, gaining supporters,
and expanding their territorial reach (Kuldova and Quinn 2018; Kuldova
2018b). They compete with the state in the business of protection and
engage in vigilante justice as much as ‘providing social welfare.’ They
commodify and sell their own countercultural brand image, and use their
brand power and reputation to voice the anti-establishment resentment of
a significant segment of the population, channeling the rage of these peo-
ple against the state as much as against the capitalist system that has no
use for them any longer, and no respect to offer them either—thus fur-
ther expanding their ranks (Kuldova and Sánchez-Jankowski 2018). The
popularity of outlaw motorcycle clubs is rising, not merely as an object of
fiction and popular culture, but as real, alternative non-state actors gov-
erning ‘from below’ (Lea and Stenson 2007) to which people look up to.
 Prologue   xiii

However, while the clubs certainly invest much energy into their organi-
zational growth and propaganda, their success would not have been possi-
ble were it not for the structural socioeconomic transformation of the last
three decades—the clubs matured and grew in tact with and enabled by
the increasingly destructive effects of decades of neoliberal policies. Only
under such conditions could they transform into non-state actors that fill
the vacuum created by the neoliberal state, a state that fails to control the
economy to the advantage of the majority of the population, a state that
compensates the failure to regulate the economy by increasing securitiza-
tion and control of individual and ‘anti-social’ behavior (Kapstein 1994;
Hadfield et al. 2009; Wacquant 2009). In 2018, this has manifested itself
in the controversial law expanding police powers in the German Bavaria.1
This law was widely discussed in the biker community as representing a
threat to civil liberties, and indeed, with good reasons. The same law has
seen a lot of resistance from the left as well. However, this critique was
quickly instrumentalized by the PR spokespersons and lawyers affiliated
with the outlaw motorcycle clubs to fuel resentment against the state and
to position the clubs as legitimate opposition and heroes of ‘the people’
in the process. The popularity of outlaw motorcycle clubs is most pro-
nounced among those who are disillusioned, hopeless, and frustrated by
the harmful effects of neoliberal capitalism, and those who feel abandoned
by the state, which they view as, if anything, increasingly curbing their
freedoms as opposed to protecting their real interests.
How Do Outlaws Win Friends and Influence People analyzes in detail
the reasons and motivations that lead people to support, admire, and
affiliate themselves with outlaw bikers. This book investigates the
desires, needs, and longings to which the clubs provide, not a cure, but
a remedy that offers temporary relief. This remedy is necessarily shallow,
attacking the symptoms rather than curing the disease; it uncannily mir-
rors the larger developments in that it does not offer any (utopian) hope
of a better future, any vision of progress, or exit from the very system in
which it thrives—for a simple reason, it depends on this system for its
own success, and thus, its interest lies in the reproduction or even accel-
eration of the harms connected to the system, rather than the opposite
(Kuldova 2018c). The people we encounter on these pages, especially
the supporters, are so disillusioned by the system that they trust and
xiv   Prologue

openly venerate the icons of the underworld over any state represent-
ative—a phenomenon we are familiar with from places such as India,
where people willingly support criminal politicians precisely because
they are criminal (Vaishnav 2017). But this phenomenon is becom-
ing increasingly common even in well-established democracies, where
criminal capital becomes an asset and a source of allure, rather than of
delegitimization—as in the case of Andrej Babiš, the Prime Minister
and second richest man in the Czech Republic, investigated for fraud,
which paradoxically added to his popularity among many voters, rather
than diminishing it. This phenomenon should not be taken lightly, as
it is bound to become stronger under the current criminogenic condi-
tions of rising inequality, social injustice, takeover by corporate power,
de-democratization, and decreasing accountability of the elites (Giroux
2004; Hall 2012). It is a phenomenon that goes hand in hand with
the rise of the right, as much as with populist politics (Jupskås 2017;
Brubaker 2017; Winlow et al. 2017)—both of which are effectively
mobilized by the big outlaw motorcycle clubs, irrespective of how apo-
litical they proclaim themselves to be. But we should not assume, as
leading media often do, that this move toward support of either outlaw
motorcycle clubs or right-wing movements comes easy to people. To the
contrary, it is often a result of painful struggle to belong that ends up
in failure, and thus in resignation and proud embrace of self-exclusion
in order to restore meaning. To these people, the biggest enemy here
are not the immigrants, but the liberal left, the hated ‘cultural Marxists’
that brand them as ‘Nazis,’ while claiming their own moral high ground
(Winlow et al. 2017). When people openly proclaim ‘I am not a Nazi,
but if you call me that, then yes, I am a Nazi, and I am proud to be
one,’ such as during the right-wing violent demonstrations in Chemnitz
in August 2018 following the fatal stabbing of a carpenter Daniel H by
Iraqi and Syrian suspects, we are in serious trouble. Unless we take this
dynamic seriously, our fight against organizations such as the outlaw
motorcycle clubs will always take the form of a battle against the mytho-
logical Hydra: When one head is cut off, two more grow. The Herculean
battle ahead of us is a revolutionary one—we must fight the very condi-
tions under which such organizations grow and thrive.

* * *
 Prologue   xv

Back at the book launch in Leipzig, members of affiliated clubs, ordi-

nary bikers, and a number of supporters and friends, as well as a few
curious members of the public, showed up. I struck up a conversa-
tion with a woman sporting an 81 Support T-shirt, the official support
merchandise of the Hells Angels (8 and 1 standing for H and A in the
alphabet). I was curious to know what made her, like many others, pub-
licly display her support. The words of one Angel still resonated in my
mind; after he gave me a support top, he warned me of wearing it in
public: ‘if you wear it, you will most probably end up in a police data-
base, that’s not good for research.’ One has to be willing to bear this
cost of flaunting one’s support. She remarked that it makes her stronger,
gives her courage, and establishes connection and proximity to those
she admires. An act of publicly displaying support of what law enforce-
ment deems a criminal organization is necessarily an act of self-exclu-
sion, of removing oneself from the ‘polite society,’ and of aligning
oneself with the mythologized bikers on the wrong side of the law. But
it is not merely an act of self-exclusion, it is also an act of sublimation.
This act transforms the, often painful, experience of being rejected by
society, disrespected, looked down upon, or considered a loser, into an
experience of empowerment. Those she looks up to have already found
an effective way to deal with the same problem: establishing their very
own structures within which respect can be earned and bestowed, and
human dignity restored (Cohen 1955). Her personal experience, like
that of many supporters, is projected onto the outlaws as she establishes
both an imaginary and real alliance with them—i.e., onto individu-
als even more despised by the system, but also, and most importantly,
feared. This identification fills the perceived lack of control and power
under the conditions of insecurity and restores a certain sense of nar-
cissistic omnipotence through the powerful Other who becomes part
of the self (Freud 1959; Anker 2012). But this act also transforms that
which is deemed obscene and filthy into something pleasurable and
even empowering—identification goes here hand in hand with sublima-
tion. ‘Being around gives you strength, they are a role model,’ as she
put it. Sublimation is not, as is often believed, a process by which, for
instance, sex drives are converted into poetry, but rather it is a process
by which the same object or practice becomes transformed: ‘something
xvi   Prologue

which cannot always be unproblematically perceived as pleasurable—

something obscene, awful, tasteless – is transformed into an agent
of heightened pleasure precisely because of its problematic qualities’
(Pfaller 2009). This book can be read as an account of the logic of sub-
limation and identification under current neoliberal order. It is thus less
about the clubs themselves, their criminal dealings or their inner work-
ings, that have been dealt with by criminologists elsewhere (McGuire
1986; Veno and Gannon 2004; Barker 2010; Barker 2011), than about
the social, economic, political, and cultural conditions under which
these clubs are sublimated and transformed from ‘vulgar and filthy
bikers,’ ‘deviant criminals,’ ‘public enemy,’ into something sublime
and wonderful that is admired by increasing amounts of disillusioned
people. These people, in their experiences of powerlessness and lack of
control, seek identification Barker with the more or less phantasmatic
outlaws who appear to them as sovereign heroes, strong and in control.
The book deals with this intersection of material structures, ideology,
and phantasmatic ways to cope with the unstable, chaotic, messy, and
unpredictable realities one is thrown into without one’s choosing.
How Do Outlaws Win Friends and Influence People argues that the
growth of these and similar groups under neoliberalism is not coinci-
dental but inevitable. It insists that the critical question we must ask
today is: Why do certain people in increasing numbers support, admire,
and aspire to membership in outlaw motorcycle clubs and similar
organizations? Answering this question is crucial if we are to fight not
only the harms caused by these groups, but more importantly the very
social harms enabling the proliferation of these groups and leading
people to idolize such groups. We must understand what makes these
clubs appealing, and under what conditions do they become an object
of desire. What do these groups offer, what needs and desires do they
satisfy, what lacks do they fill? In other words, how do they win friends
and influence people under the current neoliberal regime? Finding such
answers is not straightforward, but requires a great dose of sociological
and criminological imagination (Mills 2000; Young 2011). When look-
ing for an explanation of the increasing support for such groups, we
could be tempted to resort simply to an analysis of the different legit-
imization strategies used by the clubs, like the aforementioned book
 Prologue   xvii

launch, charity work, or other PR stunts aimed at improving the public

image of the clubs vis-à-vis the police, media, and governmental pres-
sures to fight them. While analyzing the ways in which these strategies
mobilize support and uplift the image of the clubs and reveal their high
level of integration rather than their ‘deviance’ is certainly worthwhile
and something we have written about elsewhere (Kuldova and Quinn
2018; Kuldova and Sánchez-Jankowski 2018; Kuldova 2018b), the
popularity of outlaw motorcycle clubs and similar organized groups on
the ‘edge’ of society cannot be merely ascribed to their successful self-
promotion, image uplifting, and self-commodification. Irrespective of
how comforting such an explanation would be, as it would immediately
imply concrete strategies of fighting such legitimization efforts, it does
not touch upon the Real (Hall 2012). An ultra-realist perspective and
analysis on the other hand clearly show that in reality the reasons run
far deeper and are far harder to effectively combat (Hall and Winlow
2018b). Fighting mere visible harmful symptoms does not cure the
social disease.
The fact that branding and conscious efforts at changing public opin-
ion are not a sufficient explanation for the increasing pull factor of the
subculture came to light later in my conversation with the female sup-
porter. When formulating the answer to why she publicly displays her
support, she placed great emphasis on making sure I understood that
she is not naïve, that she knows and is no dupe that has fallen victim to
the Angels propaganda machine: ‘They have done it all: murder, rob-
bery, drug trade, human trafficking, blackmail, kidnapping, prostitu-
tion. I know that… But they are still great, we need people like that.’
And so, at an event where outlaw bikers were desperately trying to
improve their image, gain credibility and legitimacy by bringing in facts
and accounts of injustice and prejudice to which they fell victim, this
woman made a simple point: knowledge is not the problem, to the con-
trary. The battle that is being fought is ideological and facts have lit-
tle effect on ideology (Althusser 2008). The aforementioned efforts to
present a legitimate facade do little to improve the outlaw biker’s public
image. At best, they only partially ameliorate the impact of the lurid
crimes attributed to them by police and media. On the other hand, they
can be effective in shaping, mobilizing, and benefiting from a sense of
xviii   Prologue

resentment toward the government and the state, especially when injus-
tices, ‘criminalization,’ and curbing of citizen rights are brought into the
discussion. This, again, is not necessarily a matter pertaining to knowl-
edge, but rather to the ability to mobilize affects and direct passions—
through populist myths—against an enemy, in this case the ‘impotent
state’ (Citton 2010; Lordon 2014).
People often act in certain ways despite knowing better—psychoanal-
ysis terms it disavowal, a structure connected both to pleasure and to
ideology (Žižek 1989; Pfaller 2014). The structure of disavowal, discov-
ered by the psychoanalyst Octave Mannoni, can be summed up as fol-
lows: ‘I know well, but all the same…’ (Mannoni 2003). This structure
is at the heart of a great deal of our innocent and dirty little pleasures
(Pfaller 2014), but it is also at the core of the most violent excesses of
humanity, as Stanley Cohen vividly documented in his States of Denial
(Cohen 2001). With the time spent in the field, it became more and
more obvious to me that since we are not dealing here with a problem
of knowledge, we cannot simply tell people, as one conference partic-
ipant suggested, ‘look, maybe it is not too smart to support the Hells
Angels, after all, you know, they have been involved in all sorts of crim-
inal activities.’ Likewise, it is problematic to assume that the reverse
move of improving the image of the club by sharing positive narratives,
be it of their charitable work or of their joyful brotherly camaraderie,
would make anyone really believe that this is how they truly are. To
the contrary, knowledge here sustains the very cynical distance which
in turn enables the ideological fantasy to persist and take on real mate-
rial effects. Similarly, despite all the shocking statements and acts, that
would for anyone else amount to political suicide, Donald Trump main-
tains high levels of support. We could rather say, not despite but pre-
cisely because of them. Or as Trump himself put it in his astonishment:
‘I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I
wouldn’t lose any voters, OK? It’s, like, incredible.’ Trump belongs here
to the same order of phenomena where support and endorsement per-
sist despite better knowledge. Trump supporters are not unlike the lady
in 81 Support T-shirt, they also know too well: Misinformation and
ignorance are not the real problem and hence knowledge is not the cure.
The problem is not, as some media psychologists would like to convince
 Prologue   xix

us, that ‘they’re not smart enough to realize they’re dumb’ (Azarian
2016).
We are dealing here with an ideological fantasy. An ideological fan-
tasy is practically impossible to unsettle by knowledge (Pfaller 2005).
As Robert Pfaller aptly argued, ‘it is precisely our “subversive”, “cynical”
distance towards a certain ideology which subjects us to this ideology
and allows it to exert its social efficiency’ (Pfaller 2005: 115), ‘even if
we do not take things seriously, even if we keep an ironical distance,
we are still doing them’ (Žižek 1989: 32). Ideology that relies on cynical
distance is widespread today; if we look carefully, it can be observed all
around us—Trump supporters, Indian voters endorsing criminal poli-
ticians, or those idolizing criminal bosses are only some of its extreme
manifestations. Consider for a moment all those consumer activists,
who—in a reverse move to that of the Angels trying to tell us how good
they actually are—inform us about all that labor and environmental
exploitation to which we close our eyes in order to satisfy our consum-
erist desires. All these activists, perceiving awareness raising as the ulti-
mate solution, identify the political problem as ‘one of ignorance and
the role of the activist is to shine light on the darkness and reveal the
true nature of things’ (Duncombe 2012: 362). It is not a coincidence
that they fail time and time again—even here, knowledge is not the
problem.
People tend to consume and even enjoy products that are a result
of exploitation precisely against their better knowledge (Kuldova
2016, 2018a)—not without a dose of perverse pleasure. The simplest
of examples is revealing here—cigarettes: as Klein has nicely shown in
his book Cigarettes Are Sublime, ‘if cigarettes were good for you, they
would not be sublime’ (Klein 1993: 2), and if we did not know they
were bad for us, we would not take pleasure in them either. While not
all of us fall for cigarettes, or the simple ‘I know they are bad, but I
still smoke them,’ none of us exists outside of this ideological structure.
The ‘enlightened’ that suggests one simply informs people and they will
change their behavior (like they do on cigarette packages) that sup-
porting criminals may not be the best idea—can neither see that this
does not work, nor that he himself is not outside of ideology. The naïve
idea that all it takes is simply sharing a bit of knowledge allows the
xx   Prologue

‘enlightened’ to think of himself as superior and to cast the Other as

duped, ignorant, mystified, a victim of populist propaganda, or simply
unknowledgeable.
The one who believes himself to be ‘enlightened’ does not realize that
he, too, has his own ideological fantasies he falls for that share in the
same structure, only their immediate object may differ. For instance,
he may know and even pride himself on the knowledge of all possible
corporate abuse, but still continue shopping and reproducing the sys-
tem on a daily basis (Kuldova 2018a). Effectively, he may disavow the
fact that his behavior reflects the hopelessness of an individual vis-à-vis
a system that cannot be changed by silly little adjustments to our con-
sumer behavior. The object of the fantasy may be different, but in both
cases, be it the support of outlaw motorcycle clubs or the perpetuation
of the structures of exploitation, we are dealing with a defense mecha-
nism against the powerlessness vis-à-vis the current regime of neoliberal
individualism and ‘capitalist realism’ (Fisher 2009). The self-proclaimed
supporter of the ‘criminals on wheels,’ who knows better, but still con-
tinues to adore and affiliate with the criminal Other, unashamedly
reveals to us the perverse sources of pleasures within the current system.
The same perverse pleasure that those who cast themselves as ‘enlight-
ened’ hide behind a veil of moral superiority (Layton 2010). This per-
verse pleasure is inherent to a system where capitalism appears to have
no alternative, where there is no vision of the outside to capitalism, and
where hopes of progress have been replaced by apocalyptic scenarios.
Even if nobody any longer believes that capitalism is the best system, it
is still considered the only feasible one (Giroux 2004; Fisher 2009). The
‘potential transformative harms are condemned as absolute, intolerable
and inevitable whilst the system’s everyday morbid harms are excused
as relative, tolerable and contingent’ (Hall and Winlow 2018a: 108).
After all, we could as easily ask, ‘how is it that, despite the utterly cata-
strophic consequences in which neo-liberal policies have resulted, they
are increasingly operative, to the extent of pushing states and societies
into ever graver political crises and social regression? How is it that such
policies have been developed and radicalized for more than thirty years
without encountering sufficient resistance to check them?’ (Dardot
and Laval 2009: 10). The structure of ideology and the mechanisms of
 Prologue   xxi

cultural pleasure can explain a great deal when it comes to the repro-
duction of existing socioeconomic structures, however, they do little to
explain the particular forms this ideological fantasy may take. In par-
ticular, considering that while some cultural pleasures may be innocent
and playful, and even culturally necessary, underlying all sort of positive
cultural rituals, others are downright harmful and destructive both for
the individuals and for the social body at large—and yet, their structure
is identical.
So far, we have posited that we shall be dealing here with an ideolog-
ical fantasy that is resistant to knowledge, a fantasy that has a structure
that appears universal—and can be a source of fairly innocent pleas-
ures, such as reading a horoscope when we are sure it is bollocks, and
equally a source of utterly perverse pleasure dependent on disavowal of
all sorts of violence, harm, and exploitation. We have also posited that
we are not dealing with people who are necessarily ignorant dupes. It is
precisely here that we must ask the key question underlying this work:
would just about any ideological fantasy that follows this structure do?
And if not, what makes the populist fantasy of the powerful, organized,
heroic, and violent outlaw so efficient for so many at this point in time?
An ideological fantasy must be able to provide us with a certain cultural
pleasure, or relief, in a given cultural and socioeconomic context. To
say that we are dealing with an ideological fantasy does not mean that
there is no material basis to it, precisely to the contrary. As materialism
teaches us, it is in material practice and action that ideology is located
(Althusser 2008). The fantasy would not be effective if there were no
material and phantasmatic, but for that matter no less real, things on
offer when one succumbs to it and derives pleasure from it. There are
plenty of material, pragmatic, and phantasmatic incentives to team up
with the outlaws. This book will attempt to reveal the ways in which
the material structures the imaginary, and vice versa, offering insights
into the complex reasons behind the rising support of outlaw motor-
cycle clubs and similar organizations, as well as into the related rise of
right-wing populism.

* * *
xxii   Prologue

Much ink has been spilled on demonizing the outlaws, crafting policing
strategies, and manufacturing public consent about this public enemy
and internal security threat (Katz 2011). But it is time to ask the fun-
damental question: why are the outlaws becoming heroes to so many,
how do they do that, and what enables them to succeed? Each chapter
in this book provides a partial answer to the puzzle. The book does not
claim to be exhaustive. Others may find additional reasons and driving
forces. The task here is to open the question up for debate and further
research.
Chapter 1, Outlaws and Supporters, briefly introduces the phenome-
non of outlaw motorcycle clubs, as well as the methodological tenets of
the study. It argues that scholars have so far ignored the popular support
for these organizations, focusing exclusively on outlaw motorcycle clubs
and full-patch members, as if the clubs were self-enclosed independ-
ent entities existing in a socioeconomic and cultural void. And yet, it
is precisely in understanding the context in which they proliferate that
we can best grasp their nature. Setting the stage for the next chapters, it
points the readers towards the collusion between the destructive effects
of neoliberalism and the transnational expansion of the clubs.
Chapter 2, Sublime and Power, focuses on the most immediate and
obvious form of seduction exploited by the outlaw bikers: the aesthet-
ics of power. It asks: How is the aesthetics of brutal force capable of
mobilizing passions and directing affects of the supporters? The chap-
ter explores the mythology of the outlaw and the idea of the American
frontier, (re)produced by the clubs themselves, media, movies, men’s
adventure magazines, and TV shows. And looks at how the phantas-
matic becomes activated in the actual encounters between the admirers
and the real one percenters. It argues that the key to understanding the
seduction of the outlaw bikers lies in the intoxicating ‘sublime experi-
ence’ of an encounter with a powerful threat. Taking Edmund Burke’s
investigation into the sublime as a point of departure, the chapter
explores this form of power and the desire for participating in and tak-
ing on the empowering properties of the charismatic outlaws. However,
sublime power, as the analysis shows, cannot be thought without con-
sidering the role of the human desire for ‘sovereignty,’ connected to vio-
lence, transgression, and the ultimate act of killing.
 Prologue   xxiii

Chapter 3, Sovereignty and the Political, moves toward a discussion

of the desire for sovereignty in the context of the political. The chap-
ter argues that outlaw motorcycle clubs have over the past decades
evolved into organizations that uncannily mirror the state and embody
the ideal of ‘sovereignty’ in different forms. They can even be said to
have become parallel non-state actors engaged in governance ‘from
below,’ catering to the same needs traditionally associated with the state:
enforcement of justice, security, welfare, job creation. The clubs exploit
the widespread anti-establishment resentment and the failure of the
state to control the forces beyond the control of the individual, such as
transnational capital. They claim to oppose the paternalistic state that,
in their view, dictates how individuals should live their lives. Effectively,
they contribute to the delegitimization of the state. In the process, they
present themselves as a viable and legitimate alternative, as sovereign
actors unwilling to sacrifice their freedoms. It is precisely this sover-
eignty that becomes desirable to their supporters, and which they, too,
wish to possess. With Georges Bataille, we could say, the one percenters
refuse to serve life and instead demand something from it. As such, they
interpassively satisfy the desire for sovereignty on the part of their sup-
porters and provide them with a sense of empowerment in an environ-
ment beyond their control.
Chapter 4, Sacred Order and Symbolic Immortality, building on the
explorations of the sublime and of sovereignty, turns to an investigation
of the production of the sacred and of paths towards symbolic immor-
tality. Drawing on the work of Ernest Becker, the chapter looks at how
the outlaw bikers cater to the human desire for the sacred, for order
and meaning, and for symbolic immortality in a confusing and com-
plex world, where people struggle with a lack of control over their own
lives, as much as with feelings of insignificance. It explores the ways in
which the clubs sacralize their organizations, use sacred rituals and sym-
bols to interpellate the members and supporters as subjects. It argues
that understanding the capacity of the clubs to produce the sacred and
the sacred order is essential if we are to account for their increasing
popularity.
Chapter 5, Solidarity and Sacrifice, investigates the often theoreti-
cally neglected interrelations between solidarity, gift-giving, sacrifice,
xxiv   Prologue

and heroism. It looks at how the clubs manufacture solidarity, through

charity and gift-giving, while using solidarity as a blackmail to demand
(self-sacrifice) on the altar of the organization, thus reinforcing its
own claims to heroism. The ability of these clubs to patronize through
charity, provide networks of support and respect, and create the fuzzy
heart-warming feeling of community attracts people to these organiza-
tions. It is especially seductive for those disoriented, aimless, and disre-
spected in a society that has no longer any use for them. But solidarity
comes at a high price and with obligations; it requires a permanent
readiness to sacrifice on behalf of the group, to prove one’s com-
mitment, and to return the gift. The chapter shows how through the
dynamics of charitable giving and sacrifice, often involving violent and
criminal transgressions, the clubs not only manufacture solidarity but
also emerge as heroes for their supporters, offering them material sup-
port, meaning, and a sense of greatness.
In the Epilogue, I offer a brief diagnosis of the current cultural, polit-
ical, and economic system in relation to the increased popularity of the
outlaw motorcycle clubs and similar organizations, be they vigilante
groups, extreme right-wing organizations, or even radical anarchists.
What possible futures lie ahead and can we imagine a progressive future
in a postmodern world that has discarded all meta-narratives and where
many people have lost hope for a better life of their children? Can we
imagine a future beyond the threat of the economic and environmental
apocalypse without sacrificing the idea of collective progress? Can we
offer an alternative to those who seek to satisfy their desires for respect,
recognition, stability, community, and meaning through escapism in
groups such as the outlaw motorcycle clubs?

Note
1. See for instance: https://www.dw.com/en/bavaria-passes-controversial-law-ex-
panding-police-powers/a-43799696, accessed June 10, 2018.
 Prologue   xxv

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 1
Outlaws and Supporters

From Wild One (1953) starring Marlon Brando, via Hunter S.

Thompson’s book Hells Angels (Thompson 2012) to crime shows such as
Gangland or TV series such as Sons of Anarchy, outlaw motorcycle clubs
have become an iconic element of Western popular culture (Austin
et al. 2010). They inhabit a space between the real and the imaginary,
where life often tries to live up to the fiction. They are a force of the
underworld, as much as a force of imagination; they are unafraid to
act, to leave a trace behind in the world, and make sure their reputa-
tion precedes them. Law enforcement agencies worldwide treat out-
law motorcycle clubs as transnational criminal organizations and an
increasing threat to security. And with good reasons: Members of out-
law motorcycle clubs across the world have been charged with murder,
extortion, violence, trafficking in humans, drugs, weapons, money laun-
dering, corruption, illegal prostitution, and white-collar crime. Media
indulge in spectacular reports on the crimes of the most notorious of
them—be it the Hells Angels MC that sees itself as the ‘elite of the elite’
of outlaw biker clubs, or its archenemies—the Bandidos MC, Outlaws
MC, Mongols MC, Gremium MC, and others. The clubs themselves
often claim that they are misrepresented and unjustly criminalized,
insisting they are just a bunch of ‘men with a hobby’ joined together by
© The Author(s) 2019 1
T. Kuldova, How Outlaws Win Friends and Influence People,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-15206-2_1
2    
T. Kuldova

the love of motorcycles and riding, and that few bad apples are bound
to appear in any organization (Koetsenruijter and Burger 2018).
Outlaw motorcycle clubs repulse people as much as they attract
them. On the route from the rebellious American postwar biker
clubs to transnational criminal empires, the outlaws have made not
only a great deal of enemies, but also many friends. The number of
friends and supporters of the outlaws increased dramatically over the
last three decades. The big outlaw motorcycle clubs have today their
own organized support clubs, such as the Red & White Warriors
and AK81 support crews of the Hells Angels, Black & White Crew
for Outlaws, or Mexican Teamwork and X-team for Bandidos—and
many others. Thousands of supporters across the globe are keen to
affiliate with them, display admiration and commitment, dress in sup-
port merchandize, and cheer the bikers both online and offline. The
clubs, be it in reality or imagination, fill a certain lack many people
experience in their lives today. Lack and absence are considered here
as productive forces, constitutive of desire—be it lack or absence of
solidarity, sovereignty, sacred, power, control, equality, justice, pur-
pose, hope, values, security, or order. Outlaw motorcycle clubs have
successfully managed to produce an alternative transnational culture
that attempts to fill these fundamental lacks, feeding off their pro-
liferation and intensification under neoliberalism. The clubs can be
imagined as cultural alternatives or parallel alternative social orders to
the unsatisfying consumer culture with its endless manufacturing of
new desires and oppressive socio-symbolic competition and aggres-
sion (Hall et al. 2012), and to what many see as the weakening state
unable to control the economic forces beyond the control of the indi-
vidual, obsessed instead with curbing of individual freedoms, pater-
nalism, and securitization. This alternative adaptive cultural and social
function of the clubs has remained unnoticed and ignored in existing
research that favors narrow perspectives on the crimes committed by
the clubs. This book, while in no way denying the crimes and harms
associated with the outlaw biker milieu, attempts to take a step back
and look at these larger cultural and social functions of the clubs, con-
sidering them as a response to the fundamental lacks and desires that
people experience.
 1 Outlaws and Supporters    
3

Grounded in a multi-sited ethnographic fieldwork in Austria,

Germany, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic, ‘netnography’ (Kozinets
2010), analysis of popular culture and close reading of relevant litera-
ture and media, this book seeks to understand what the outlaws have,
or are imagined to have, that is so appealing to certain people at this
moment in history. What makes people display such love beyond rea-
son as this lifelong supporter of Hells Angels, who when he finally met
Sonny Barger (Barger 2001, 2005), the famous father figure and found-
ing member of the Oakland Hells Angels, told me the following:

I have loved him as a father since I was a teenager. 81 is the only true and
loyal family. I support everything Sonny and the club stands for. I am
proud to have been a loyal supporter most of my life.1

We will try to understand this vicarious enjoyment and participation

in the outlaw biker lifestyle, including its illegal deeds (Duncan 1991).
Mostly, outlaw bikers are far from being ‘noble bandits’ (Hobsbawm
1969), and yet the supporters put a great deal of effort into perceiv-
ing them in a favorable light. What they see in them are precisely those
cultural and social qualities and goods that theorists have been far too
often quick to dismiss and neglect. The supporters project their desires
and longings onto the outlaws and attempt to fill the lacks they struggle
with in their lives, be it through both vicarious enjoyment of the outlaw
Other, real acts of mutual support or identification. Before we turn to
the analysis that spans across this book, let us remind ourselves of some
basics about these clubs and sketch the method and limitations of the
text that follows.

Outlaw Motorcycle Clubs: From Rebels

to Entrepreneurs
There is a number of popular books and academic accounts of the his-
tory of the outlaw bikers, and I refer the readers to some of these, as
this book is not one of history (Reynolds 2000; Nichols 2007, 2012;
McGuire 1986; Hopper and Moore 1983; Hayes 2015, 2016b;
4    
T. Kuldova

Harris 1985; Dulaney 2005; Barker 2011; Bain and Lauchs 2017).
Nonetheless, a brief historical note is in order. There is possibly no bet-
ter account of the beginnings of the subculture than Maz Harris’ Bikers:
Birth of Modern Day Outlaw (Harris 1985). Maz Harris was a member
and spokesperson of the Hells Angels in England, who received his PhD
in sociology with a thesis on the biker subculture from the University of
Warwick in 1986 (Harris 1986).2 In his book, he sums up the origins as
follows:

The outlaw bike culture was born at the end of the Second World War.
It grew in the rundown quarters of Los Angeles, Oakland, San Francisco
and the many grey urban sprawls dotted along the Pacific Coast.
California’s golden dream did not reach far into the ghetto. Life there had
progressively worsened during the immediate post-war years. Thousands
of rural workers, weary of decades of trying to scratch a living from
unproductive land, flocked to the towns in search of a piece of America’s
massive industrial expansion. The already seething mass of human misery
was swollen to unbearable proportions by this influx. They constituted a
massive new workforce to be ruthlessly exploited in factories and sweat-
shops… Families were split up and traditional ties of mutual support and
dependence severed… This first generation of poor-white slum dwellers
was quite unlike its much more experienced and culturally better adapted
black and Mexican counterparts. It had yet to realize that there was no
room for the sober, decent, individualistic human being in the new cut-
throat world. The parents were anxious to maintain a sense of decency
and clung to the values of their rural forefathers. Not so their offspring
who, brought up in the ghetto, quickly learned to adopt the methods of
defense and resistance of their black contemporaries… They fully real-
ized the hopelessness of the situation they were in and understood only
too well the gulf between their parents’ aspirations and material real-
ity… What emerged, as one form of ‘solution’ to the problems faced by
these disaffected first-generation white immigrants, was the arrival on the
American scene of what was probably the first national post-war ‘delin-
quent’ subculture: the world of the motorcycle outlaw. Here was a way of
life distinct and different from both the black culture of the ghetto and
the parents’ working-class culture. It was a way of life which owed noth-
ing to the straight world of Middle-America, yet it transcended the tene-
ments and warehouses of downtown Oakland. (Harris 1985: 12–14)
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
 ¹ Hebrew daughters. ² In Joshua xvi. 7, Naarah.

³ Many MSS. read, Ayyah.

28. Beth-el] the southern boundary. Beth-el is the modern Beitîn,

ten miles north of Jerusalem (Bädeker, Palestine⁵, p. 217). The city
was on the border of Ephraim and Benjamin and in Joshua xviii. 22
is assigned to Benjamin, but it was originally conquered by Ephraim
(Judges i. 22), and during the division of the kingdom it belonged to
the North: compare 1 Kings xii. 29, 32; 2 Chronicles xiii. 19, note.

Naaran] the eastern boundary. In Joshua xvi. 7, Naarath

(Revised Version Naarah).

Gezer ... Shechem] On Gezer the western, and Shechem the

northern boundary—see the note on vi. 67.

Azzah] or Ayyah, has not yet been identified. Probably, like

Shechem, it serves to define the northern border between Ephraim
and Manasseh.

²⁹and by the borders of the children of

Manasseh, Beth-shean and her towns,
Taanach and her towns, Megiddo and her
towns, Dor and her towns. In these dwelt the
children of Joseph the son of Israel.
29. For Manasseh four important towns are enumerated: Beth-
shean on the east in the valley of the Jordan, Taanach and Megiddo
in the plain of Esdraelon or Megiddo, and Dor on the Mediterranean
coast, south of Mt Carmel.

Beth-shean] In 1 Samuel xxxi. 10, 12 spelt Beth-shan. It is the

Greek Scythopolis, the modern Beisan.
 Taanach] See vi. 70, note on Aner.

Megiddo] Judges v. 19; 2 Kings xxiii. 29; Zechariah xii. 11.

Dor] modern Tantura. Compare Joshua xvii. 11.

30‒40.
The Genealogy of Asher.

³⁰The sons of Asher; Imnah, and Ishvah,

and Ishvi, and Beriah, and Serah their sister.
30. The sons of Asher] The names in verses 30, 31 are derived
from Genesis xlvi. 17 (compare Numbers xxvi. 44‒46). There is no
variation in the Hebrew spelling of the names, but Ishvah is missing
in Numbers Either Ishvah or Ishvi must be regarded as an error of
dittography.

Beriah] Beriah is mentioned above, verse 23, as a clan of

Ephraim, and appears also as a family of Benjamin, viii. 13, 16.

³¹And the sons of Beriah; Heber, and Malchiel,

who was the father of Birzaith. ³²And Heber
begat Japhlet, and Shomer ¹, and Hotham, and
Shua their sister. ³³And the sons of Japhlet;
Pasach, and Bimhal, and Ashvath. These are
the children of Japhlet.
¹ In verse 34, Shemer.

31. Heber, and Malchiel] The antiquity of these two names seems
to be attested by the mention of “Habiri and Malchiel” in the Amarna
tablets (circa 1400 b.c.).
 Birzaith] probably the name of a place, “The well of the olive-
tree.”

³⁴And the sons of Shemer ¹; Ahi, and Rohgah,

Jehubbah, and Aram. ³⁵And the sons ² of
Helem his brother; Zophah, and Imna, and
Shelesh, and Amal. ³⁶The sons of Zophah;
Suah, and Harnepher, and Shual, and Beri,
and Imrah; ³⁷Bezer, and Hod, and Shamma,
and Shilshah, and Ithran, and Beera. ³⁸And
the sons of Jether; Jephunneh, and Pispah,
and Ara. ³⁹And the sons of Ulla; Arah, and
Hanniel, and Rizia.
¹ In verse 32, Shomer. ² Hebrew son.

34, 35. Shemer ... Helem] Read perhaps Shomer ... Hotham, to
agree with verse 32.

⁴⁰All these were the children of Asher, heads

of the fathers’ houses, choice and mighty men
of valour, chief of the princes. And the number
of them reckoned by genealogy for service in
war was twenty and six thousand men.
40. twenty and six thousand] In xii. 36 the men of war of Asher
are reckoned at forty thousand (compare Numbers i. 41, xxvi. 47,
where still higher reckonings are given). The numbers here and in
verses 5, 7, 9, 11 (as well as in verse 2, which see) are perhaps
supposed to refer to the time of David. The numbers may be based
on family traditions, but no important conclusions ought to be drawn
from them.
 Chapter VIII.
1‒40 (compare vii. 6‒12).
The Genealogy of Benjamin.

1‒40. Various indications combine to show that the names in this

list reflect post-exilic conditions. It has generally been compared with
the “Benjamite” genealogy in vii. 6‒12 which was supposed to
express the relationships and strength of the tribe at the time of
David. If, however, according to the view adopted in this volume, the
passage vii. 6‒12 is in reality a genealogy of Zebulun, comparison
between it and this list is futile. Such parallels as can justly be made
between the names in the two lists are due to the Benjamite
colouring which has been imparted to vii. 6‒12 after the initial error in
vii. 6 turned the “sons of Zebulun” into “Benjamin.”

This, the real genealogy of Benjamin, unfortunately presents not

a few problems for which as yet no convincing solution can be
offered. The difficulties are due in large measure to the corrupt state
of the text in several verses: especially verses 6‒14.

¹And Benjamin begat Bela his firstborn,

Ashbel the second, and Aharah the third;
1. Benjamin begat ...] Compare Genesis xlvi. 21.

firstborn] = Becher in Genesis xlvi. 21. In the unvocalised Hebrew

text the noun and proper name are represented by the same letters,
BKR.

Ashbel] literally “man of Baal.” Compare note on Eshbaal, verse

33.
 ²Nohah the fourth, and Rapha the fifth.
2. Nohah ... Huram] the list is assuredly based on Genesis xlvi.
21 and Numbers xxvi. 38‒40, despite the surface divergences.
Several of the changes are due to textual errors, e.g. Aharah and
Ahoah are probably both variants of Ahiram (Genesis xlvi. 21).

³And Bela had sons, Addar ¹, and Gera, and

Abihud; ⁴and Abishua, and Naaman, and
Ahoah;
¹ In Genesis xlvi. 21, Ard.

3. Abihud] read perhaps (a slight change in the Hebrew) Gera,

father of Ehud.

⁵and Gera, and Shephuphan ¹, and Huram.

¹ In Numbers xxvi. 39, Shephupham.

5. Shephuphan, and Huram] See vii. 12, note on Shuppim.

6‒28. Apparently a list of five post-exilic families [Elpaal (verses

11, 18), Beriah (verses 13, 16), Shema (verses 13, 21), Shashak
(verses 14, 25), and Jeroham (verses 14, 27)], whose genealogy
seems to be traced from Ehud, and whose descendants reside in
Jerusalem (so verse 28, but see note ad loc.). The uncertainty on the
former point is the inevitable consequence of the corrupt state of the
text in verses 6‒14.

⁶And these are the sons of Ehud; these are

the heads of fathers’ houses of the inhabitants
of Geba, and they carried them captive to
Manahath:
 6. Ehud] Ehud (the deliverer of Israel from Moab) was descended
from Gera (verse 5; Judges iii. 15).

Geba] Compare vi. 60.

they carried them captive] an utterly obscure phrase, most

probably due to textual error. It is a plausible suggestion that the
phrase is a corruption of proper names commencing the list which
we should expect to follow the preceding words: “these are the
heads of,” etc. Hogg, Jewish Quarterly Review xi. 102 ff., therefore
conjectured the names “Iglaam and Alemoth”; and similarly in verse
7, in place of the equally obscure words “he carried them captive;
and he,” he would read “and Iglaam begat.”

⁷and Naaman, and Ahijah, and Gera, he

carried them captive; and he begat Uzza and
Ahihud.
7. Naaman, and Ahijah, and Gera] perhaps to be deleted, as a
repetition of verse 5.

⁸And Shaharaim begat children in the field of

Moab, after he had sent ¹ them away; Hushim
and Baara were his wives. ⁹And he begat of
Hodesh his wife, Jobab, and Zibia, and
Mesha, and Malcam; ¹⁰and Jeuz, and
Shachia, and Mirmah. These were his sons,
heads of fathers’ houses.
¹ Or, sent away Hushim and Baara his wives.

8, 9. Again the Hebrew text appears to be in disorder, and the

verses in consequence are so obscure that conjectures are all
precarious.
 Hushim] is elsewhere the name of a man. Hence verse 11 below
should perhaps read And Hushim begat....

¹¹And of Hushim he begat Abitub and Elpaal.

11. Abitub] no sons of his are recorded.

¹²And the sons of Elpaal; Eber, and Misham,

and Shemed, who built Ono and Lod, with the
towns thereof:
12. sons of Elpaal] Elpaal’s sons are given also and more fully in
verses 17, 18; and, as the three names in the present verse appear
to be transcriptional variants of three mentioned in 17, 18, it is
probable that this verse is a marginal note which has crept into the
text.

who built Ono and Lod] the subject is not Shemed, but Elpaal;
“built,” i.e. entered into possession of. Ono and Lod (= Lydda), some
seven and eleven miles respectively south of Jaffa, are referred to in
Nehemiah vii. 35, xi. 35, and Ezra ii. 33. The Targum adds, which the
sons of Israel laid waste and burnt with fire, when they made war in
Gibeah with the tribe of Benjamin.

¹³and Beriah, and Shema, who were heads of

fathers’ houses of the inhabitants of Aijalon,
who put to flight the inhabitants of Gath;
13. Aijalon] compare Joshua x. 12. It was situated near the Jaffa
road, about thirteen miles from Jerusalem.

who put ... Gath] an interesting remark, which should be

compared with vii. 21, 23—note the name Beriah in both passages.
The relation of the two passages is, however, uncertain.
 ¹⁴and Ahio, Shashak, and Jeremoth; ¹⁵and
Zebadiah, and Arad, and Eder; ¹⁶and Michael,
and Ishpah, and Joha, the sons of Beriah;
¹⁷and Zebadiah, and Meshullam, and Hizki,
and Heber; ¹⁸and Ishmerai, and Izliah, and
Jobab, the sons of Elpaal; ¹⁹and Jakim, and
Zichri, and Zabdi;
14. And Ahio, Shashak, and Jeremoth] Read, following LXX.,
And their brethren Shashak and Jeremoth. The pronoun of
course refers to Beriah and Shema (verse 13), and to Abitub and
Elpaal (verse 11)—these four, with Shashak and Jeremoth, being
sons of Hushim, if verse 11 be emended and verses 12, 13 be
regarded as a marginal addition, as is suggested above.

²⁰and Elienai and Zillethai, and Eliel;

20. Elienai] Read, perhaps, Elioenai, a name meaning “My eyes
look towards Jehovah,” compare iii. 23.

²¹and Adaiah, and Beraiah, and Shimrath, the

sons of Shimei ¹; ²²and Ishpan, and Eber, and
Eliel; ²³and Abdon, and Zichri, and Hanan;
¹ In verse 13, Shema.

21. Shimei] = Shema (verse 13).

²⁴and Hananiah, and Elam, and Anthothijah;

²⁵and Iphdeiah, and Penuel, the sons of
Shashak; ²⁶and Shamsherai, and Shehariah,
and Athaliah;
 24. Anthothijah] The name is a trace of an ancient Egyptian war-
goddess ‘Anath, apparently associated with Jehovah in the Jewish
temple at Elephantine (see ‘Anath-bethel in the papyri). Compare
also Anathoth near Jerusalem.

²⁷and Jaareshiah, and Elijah, and Zichri, the

sons of Jeroham.
27. Jeroham] = Jeremoth (verse 14).

²⁸These were heads of fathers’ houses

throughout their generations, chief men: these
dwelt in Jerusalem.
28. these dwelt in Jerusalem] i.e. in the writer’s day the heads of
families enumerated in verses 15‒27 dwelt in Jerusalem. Compare
ix. 2, 3; Nehemiah xi. 1‒8. But the words may be a gloss brought in
from ix. 34 along with the following verses (see below).

29‒38 (= chapter ix. 35‒44).

The Genealogy of the house of Saul.

29‒38. These verses, which set forth the ancestors and

descendants of Saul, are found also in ix. 35‒44, where they serve
as the introduction to the account of Saul’s death in ch. x. The latter
passage would naturally seem to be the original place of these
verses, but the arguments in favour of that view are not conclusive,
and the point must be allowed to be doubtful.

²⁹And in Gibeon there dwelt the father of

Gibeon, Jeiel, whose wife’s name was
Maacah:
29. Gibeon] some six miles north of Jerusalem, was apparently
the residence in post-exilic days of families which claimed descent
from the house of Saul. Compare 2 Chronicles i. 3.

Jeiel] added in accordance with ix. 35.

³⁰and his firstborn son Abdon, and Zur, and

Kish, and Baal, and Nadab;
30. and Baal] Add with LXX. (A) and ix. 36 and Ner. LXX. (B)
shows that a word is missing after Baal for it reads Βααλακαίμ (=
Βαὰλ καὶ Ν....?).

³¹and Gedor, and Ahio, and Zecher ¹.

¹ In chapter ix. 37, Zechariah.

31. and Zecher] Read with ix. 37, and Zechariah, and Mikloth.

³²And Mikloth begat Shimeah ¹. And they also

dwelt with their brethren in Jerusalem, over
against their brethren.
¹ In chapter ix. 38, Shimeam.

32. with their brethren, etc.] i.e. with some of their brethren in
Jerusalem over against other of their brethren in Gibeon and other
places. “They” would seem to refer to Mikloth and Shimeah, but the
clause is far from clear, and it may be noted that verse 32b looks like
the heading of a list that has been lost.

³³And Ner begat Kish; and Kish begat Saul;

and Saul begat Jonathan, and Malchi-shua,
and Abinadab ¹, and Eshbaal ².
 ¹ In 1 Samuel xiv. 49, Ishvi.

² In 2 Samuel ii. 8, Ishbosheth.

33. begat Kish] here and in ix. 39, read begat Abner—as in 1
Samuel xiv. 51, etc.

Jonathan ... Abinadab] Slain with Saul on Mt Gilboa; x. 2; 1

Samuel xxxi. 2.

Eshbaal] In 2 Samuel ii. 8 called Ish-bosheth. In the (more

generally read) Samuel text the offensive name Eshbaal, “Man (i.e.
worshipper) of Baal,” has been changed to Ishbosheth, “Man of the
Shameful-thing” (i.e. of the idol), but it has been left standing in the
less-used text of Chronicles The title Baal (“Lord”) was applied in
early days (e.g. in the days of Saul) to the national God of Israel, but
in later days the prophets objected to it because of its general use in
designation of the heathen gods also. Hosea (ii. 17), for example,
declares that the true worshippers of Jehovah must no longer call
him “My Baal” (Baali). Thus to Saul and Samuel the name Eshbaal
was acceptable as meaning “Man of the Lord,” i.e. of Jehovah, but to
the late reviser of the book of Samuel it was offensive as signifying
“Man of Baal,” i.e. of one of the gods worshipped by the old
Canaanite peoples or by the neighbouring nations. Since the text of
Chronicles has retained such forms as Eshbaal (here), Ashbel (verse
1), it seems that the conscientious alterations of such forms in the
books of Samuel, Kings, etc., are later than the time of the
Chronicler.

³⁴And the son of Jonathan was Merib-baal ¹;

and Merib-baal begat Micah.
¹ In 2 Samuel iv. 4, ix. 6, 10, Mephibosheth.
 34. Merib-baal] A name meaning “Baal pleadeth”; in chapter ix.
40b (Hebrew) it is written Meri-baal, i.e. “Man of Baal.” The person
meant seems to be Mephibosheth (2 Samuel ix. 6, 12).

³⁵And the sons of Micah; Pithon, and Melech,

and Tarea ¹, and Ahaz.
¹ In chapter ix. 41, Tahrea.

35. Tarea] In ix. 41, Tahrea.

³⁶And Ahaz begat Jehoaddah ¹; and

Jehoaddah begat Alemeth, and Azmaveth,
and Zimri; and Zimri begat Moza:
¹ In chapter ix. 42, Jarah.

36. Jehoaddah] In ix. 42, Jarah.

³⁷and Moza begat Binea; Raphah ¹ was his

son, Eleasah his son, Azel his son: ³⁸and Azel
had six sons, whose names are these;
Azrikam, Bocheru, and Ishmael, and
Sheariah, and Obadiah, and Hanan. All these
were the sons of Azel. ³⁹And the sons of
Eshek his brother; Ulam his firstborn, Jeush
the second, and Eliphelet the third. ⁴⁰And the
sons of Ulam were mighty men of valour,
archers, and had many sons, and sons’ sons,
an hundred and fifty. All these were of the
sons of Benjamin.
 ¹ In chapter ix. 43, Rephaiah.

37. Raphah] In ix. 43, Rephaiah.

 Chapter IX.
1‒17 (compare Nehemiah xi. 1‒19).
The Heads of the Families which dwelt in Jerusalem.

Verses 2‒17 contain the lists of the heads of families of Judah

(3‒6), of Benjamin (7‒9), of the priests (10‒13), of the Levites (14‒
16), and of the porters (17), who dwelt in Jerusalem at some period
after the Return (compare note on verse 2). A similar list (with some
variations which are recorded in their places in the following notes)
occurs in Nehemiah xi. 3‒19. The partial agreement coupled with the
partial divergence of the two lists may be explained by supposing
that both are extracts independently made from the same document,
and have been inserted, one in Chronicles, the other in Nehemiah,
lest the peculiarities of either list should be lost. We may conclude
from Nehemiah xi. 1, 2 that both lists represent the population of
Jerusalem, after Nehemiah had taken measures for increasing it.
Another way of accounting for the divergences in the two lists is to
suppose that the present list represents the Jerusalem of a later
period than the list in Nehemiah See also verse 17.

¹So all Israel were reckoned by

genealogies; and, behold, they are written in
the book of the kings of Israel: and Judah was
carried away captive to Babylon for their
transgression.
1. in the book of the kings of Israel] See Introduction § 5, B (3).
The LXX., however, reads “in the book of the kings of Israel and
Judah.” With the LXX. reading, all Israel must be taken as subject of
the verb was carried away, but of course the phrase must still be
taken as meaning an “Israel” = Judah.

²Now the first inhabitants that dwelt in their

possessions in their cities were, Israel, the
priests, the Levites, and the Nethinim.
2. the first inhabitants] It has been thought that the word “first”
here refers to pre-eminence (compare Nehemiah xi. 3), and that the
list which follows (verses 4 ff.) is a list of chief men. It is better,
however, to take “first” in a temporal sense, meaning “pre-exilic,” and
to suppose that the Chronicler or whoever placed this chapter here
mistakenly imagined this list to be a pre-exilic register. That it is not
really pre-exilic is certain by reason of its vital connection with the
post-exilic list in Nehemiah xi. 3‒19. The suggestion that the
resemblances are due to the continuity of population in Jerusalem
before and after the exile is utterly improbable.

in their cities] The phrase is apparently an abridgment of words in

Nehemiah xi. 3, and is really meaningless in the present context. In
Nehemiah it signifies “townships in Judah” where certain persons,
who now elected to dwell in Jerusalem, had formerly resided.

Israel] i.e. laymen as distinguished from men of Levitical descent.

According to verse 3 Israel included at least Judah, Benjamin,
Ephraim, and Manasseh (compare Psalms lxxx. 2, where Judah—
the speaker—associates Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh with
herself in her appeal to the God of Israel, See also note on 2
Chronicles xxx. 18). This is a totally different usage from that of
earlier times, when Israel meant the Northern kingdom, and Judah
the Southern.

Nethinim] These were a class of Temple servants reckoned as

inferior to the Levites. Perhaps they were of foreign extraction and
included the Gibeonites (compare Joshua ix. 23). They are
mentioned nowhere else in the Old Testament except in the books of
Ezra and Nehemiah.
 ³And in Jerusalem dwelt of the children of
Judah, and of the children of Benjamin, and of
the children of Ephraim and Manasseh;
3. of Ephraim and Manasseh] See note on 2 Chronicles xxx. 18.

4‒6 (compare Nehemiah xi. 4‒6).

The Sons of Judah.

⁴Uthai the son of Ammihud, the son of Omri,

the son of Imri, the son of Bani, of the children
of Perez the son of Judah.
4. Uthai] In Nehemiah Athaiah. The two words are more alike in
Hebrew than in English and are perhaps various readings of one
name.

Perez] compare ii. 4, 5. We have here (verses 4‒6) a threefold

division of the tribe of Judah into the descendants of Perez, Shelah,
and Zerah, just as in Numbers xxvi. 20.

⁵And of the Shilonites; Asaiah the firstborn,

and his sons.
5. Shilonites] Or Shelanites as Numbers xxvi. 20; they were
descendants of Shelah, who is mentioned as a son of Judah in ii. 3.
For other descendants, see iv. 21 f., and Nehemiah xi. 5.

Asaiah] In Nehemiah xi. 5 Maaseiah, a kindred name.

⁶And of the sons of Zerah; Jeuel, and their

brethren, six hundred and ninety.
6. Jeuel] In Nehemiah xi. 5 the “sons of Zerah” are missing.
 six hundred and ninety] Compare Nehemiah xi. 6 (four hundred
threescore and eight sons of Perez) where Perez may be an error for
Zerah.

7‒9 (compare Nehemiah xi. 7‒9).

The Sons of Benjamin.

⁷And of the sons of Benjamin; Sallu the son of

Meshullam, the son of Hodaviah, the son of
Hassenuah;
7. Sallu] His genealogy is differently stated in Nehemiah xi. 7, but
see next note.

the son of Hodaviah, the son of Hassenuah] Read perhaps

Judah, the son of Hassenuah (compare Nehemiah xi. 9). Hodaviah
and Judah could easily be confused in Hebrew.

⁸and Ibneiah the son of Jeroham, and Elah the

son of Uzzi, the son of Michri, and Meshullam
the son of Shephatiah, the son of Reuel, the
son of Ibnijah;
8. Ibneiah, Elah, Meshullam] Not mentioned in Nehemiah xi.

⁹and their brethren, according to their

generations, nine hundred and fifty and six. All
these men were heads of fathers’ houses by
their fathers’ houses.
9. nine hundred and fifty and six] 928 in Nehemiah xi. 8.

10‒13 (compare Nehemiah xi. 10‒14).

The Priests.
 ¹⁰And of the priests; Jedaiah, and Jehoiarib,
and Jachin;
10. Jehoiarib] Spelt Joiarib in Nehemiah xi. 10. Jehoiarib and
Jedaiah occur as names of the first and second courses of the
priests in xxiv. 7; Nehemiah xii. 6, 19. The Maccabees were of the
course of Joarib (= Jehoiarib); 1 Maccabees ii. 1.

Jachin] The name of the twenty-first course; xxiv. 17.

¹¹and Azariah ¹ the son of Hilkiah, the son of

Meshullam, the son of Zadok, the son of
Meraioth, the son of Ahitub, the ruler of the
house of God;
¹ In Nehemiah xi. 11, Seraiah.

11. Azariah] In Nehemiah xi. 11, Seraiah.

the ruler of the house of God] This title could perhaps be borne
by the high-priest (2 Chronicles xxxi. 10, 13), but in any case it was
not confined to him (2 Chronicles xxxv. 8, where several such
“rulers” are mentioned; compare also Jeremiah xx. 1; Acts iv. 1).

¹²and Adaiah the son of Jeroham, the son of

Pashhur, the son of Malchijah, and Maasai the
son of Adiel, the son of Jahzerah, the son of
Meshullam, the son of Meshillemith, the son of
Immer;
12. Malchijah] The name of the fifth course; xxiv. 9.

Maasai] The reading of Nehemiah xi. 13 Amashsai is corrupt.

The form given in Chronicles is open to suspicion. Probably the true
reading is lost.

Adiel] In Nehemiah Azareel.

Immer] The name of the sixteenth course; xxiv. 14.

¹³and their brethren, heads of their fathers’

houses, a thousand and seven hundred and
threescore; very able men for the work of the
service of the house of God.
13. a thousand and seven hundred and threescore] Only the five
“courses” of priests mentioned above (viz. Jedaiah, Jehoiarib, and
Jachin, verse 10, and Malchijah and Immer, verse 12) seem to be
included in this reckoning. Some commentators, however, regard
Azariah (= Seraiah) in verse 11 as the name of a new course, which
took the place of one of the courses reckoned in xxiv. 7‒18. If this be
right we have here the sum of six courses.

In Nehemiah xi. 12‒14 the number of the priests is given on a

different plan; eight hundred and twenty-two “did the work of the
house”; two hundred and forty-two were “chiefs of fathers’ houses”;
an hundred and twenty-eight were “mighty men of valour.” The total
falls far short of the thousand and seven hundred and threescore of
Chronicles We have not sufficient data on which to base any
explanation of the different totals.

very able men] The Hebrew is the same as in Nehemiah xi. 14

and is usually rendered mighty men of valour. The sense, however,
is no doubt correctly given by Revised Version very able, or efficient.
Compare 2 Chronicles xxvi. 17.

14‒16 (compare Nehemiah xi. 15‒18).

The Levites.
 ¹⁴And of the Levites; Shemaiah the son of
Hasshub, the son of Azrikam, the son of
Hashabiah, of the sons of Merari;
14. of the sons of Merari] In Nehemiah the sons of Bunni, which
is probably a corruption of the reading of Chronicles Otherwise of the
three great Levitical families, Merari, Asaph, and Jeduthun,
mentioned here, only the last two appear in Nehemiah.

¹⁵and Bakbakkar, Heresh, and Galal, and

Mattaniah the son of Mica, the son of Zichri ¹,
the son of Asaph;
¹ In Nehemiah xi. 17, Zabdi.

15. Bakbakkar, Heresh, and Galal] The reading appears to be

corrupt, for the analogy of the latter half of the verse as well as of
verses 14, 16 leads us to expect something more than bare names.
Neither the LXX. nor the Vulgate gives any real help for emending
the clause. The corresponding words in Nehemiah (xi. 17) are
Bakbukiah the second among his brethren.

¹⁶and Obadiah ² the son of Shemaiah ³, the son

of Galal, the son of Jeduthun, and Berechiah
the son of Asa, the son of Elkanah, that dwelt
in the villages of the Netophathites.
² In Nehemiah xi. 17, Abda.

³ In Nehemiah xi. 17, Shammua.

16. Obadiah the son of Shemaiah] In Nehemiah Abda the son of

Shammua. Which was the reading of the original document cannot