ABSTRACT
A pariah group is a collectivity of individuals whose indicted activity or identity, formerly respectable or even dominant, is presently regarded as highly problematic by current articulate elites and elite organs of opinion within complex societies. In some cases, organized and occult participation in activities defined by media and political elites as deviant may also be seen as indicative of membership or participation in a subculture. It would be a rare student or, indeed, academic, who would grasp the significance of the term la leyenda negra, or the "black legend". Moral crusades allow "a cultural group to preserve, defend or enhance the dominance and prestige of its own style of living within the total society". The deviant group is encouraged to get on the bandwagon and be elevated to a "higher level" of social consciousness or an approved form of civic participation.
