The Cuban Missile Crisis: Survivalist Subculture

The Cuban Missile Crisis, Y2K, the threat of North Korea; many are unprepared, except those that deem themselves “survivalists.”Survivalists emerged in the early 1900s, and originally began with mainly men who were known as anti-government (Walsh, et al). While these groups continued to grow, the term “survivalist” wasn’t coined until the 1970s. Events like the Cuban Missile Crisis in the 1950s, and Y2K (Year 2000) both caused great increases in the number of survivalists. While some may see survivalists as crazy, with the state of the world now, their subculture may be the one to survive if disaster does strike. I became interested in survivalists while looking through lists of subcultures to write this paper. I had known about these people

Mores are extremely important in survivalist culture, without these mores, this subculture would not deviate from the mainstream culture, and therefore would not be a subculture at all. These mores create a society for the survivalist community, with a goal to survive any and every possible crisis the world has to offer. One of the most important mores for survivalists is having a plan. Having a plan, to a survivalist, means being prepared, knowing what to do/where to go, and always expecting the unexpected. These mores are what the members believe will keep this subculture thriving through any situation. As described by Ferrante, sanctions are a way of enforcing norms within a subculture. While there are not many sanctions to be found about the survivalist subculture, a select few would be anything from exciling from the group to execution. While these sanctions are in place to enforce the norms of the survivalist subcultures, the degree of severity would be directly related to how far the member deviated from the norms of the group

Many survivalists not only practice shooting and using other weapons, but they will usually act aggressively towards anyone outside of their group, which is why they have created their own specialized language in order to know who is and who is not a part of their subculture. Many members will also attempt to intimidate other people outside of their group. While aggression may not be the case for every member of the group, all survivalists will prepare for the worst, usually creating stockpiles of food, weapons, and any other necessary tools for