| In modern American society the biker is a character to be despised and feared, yet at the same time envied and emulated. In order to better understand this contradiction, this work examines the origin and evolution of the biker in a socio-historical context. This work utilizes a natural history model of social movements model, as advanced by Armand Mauss (1975), to create the contextual framework to analyze the biker.;I identified three distinct "waves" of the "biker movement," and followed each wave from its origin to its ending. This "movement" started after World War II, and the individuals involved were veterans of that war. The first wave occurred on two separate levels or "realms," that I call the physical and symbolic. The physical realm was composed of individuals who first became known as "outlaw motorcyclists." The symbolic realm was the representation of the physical realm as displayed in the popular media. The second wave was comprised of individuals who emulated "the biker" they observed in the media, the symbolic realm of the first wave. After its demise, the second wave was revived by the third wave of the biker movement. The most distinguishing characteristic of the third wave is the individuals who make up this movement. The individuals in the first two waves tended to be from the lower and working classes with income, education, and belief systems consistent with such. The third wave is comprised of individuals from the middle and upper-middle classes, with commensurate levels of education and income, and middle-class belief systems. We are currently at the height of popularity for the third wave (and revived second wave) of the biker movement. I conclude with speculations concerning the patterns of demise for these movements and the resulting impact on the rest of society. |
