Motorcycle Clubs Research Articles

Full throttle: Are motorcyclists as risk-taking as we think?

BackgroundMotorcycling, whether thought of as a leisure activity, hobby, or social activity, can add quality to one’s life. Being a member of a motorcycle club may promote a sense of community, while motorcycling itself may increase feelings of awe and joy. When conceptualized as part of one’s social identity, motorcycling tends to be associated with an unfavourable image or stereotype, wherein motorcyclists’ personalities are characterized as rebellious, prone to risk-taking behaviour, and masculine (regardless of the motorcyclist’s gender). The accuracy of this stereotype is unclear, particularly as perceived by non-motorcyclists, such as car drivers. Accordingly, the overall purpose of this exploratory study was to describe the per-sonality profile of motorcyclists from a basic trait perspective (Big 5) and assess its congruence with non-motorcyclists’ perceptions of the “typical” motorcyclist’s personality.Participants and procedureA cross-sectional online survey (N = 376) consisting of motorcyclists (n = 194) and car drivers (n = 182) collected information on personality traits (self-report or perceived), riding behaviour (motorcyclists only), and well-being.ResultsThe results show that car drivers perceive motorcyclists to be more disinhibited, less open, more neurotic, less agreeable, and less conscientious than motorcyclists self-report.ConclusionsCar drivers’ perceptions of motorcyclists seem to be more negative than their actual personalities, suggesting an unfavoura-ble judgement of that community.

Pengaruh Citra Merek, Kualitas Produk Dan Word Of Mouth (WOM) Terhadap Keputusan Pembelian Konsumen Motor Honda Berangka Esaf

Currently, there is lively discussion surrounding the enhanced Smart Architecture Frame (ESAF) used in Honda motorcycles. The ESAF frame has drawn attention due to claims that it easily rusts, becomes brittle, and breaks. Several videos showing corroded, fragile, and fractured ESAF frames have gone viral on social media. The objective of this research is to examine the relationship between Brand Image, Product Quality, and Word of Mouth (WOM) on the purchasing decisions of Honda motorcycles equipped with ESAF in Karawang. The study employs a quantitative approach with a causal-comparative research design, which investigates cause-and-effect relationships between two or more variables. The research population consists of Honda motorcycle club members in Karawang, and the sampling method used is judgmental sampling. A total of 50 respondents participated in the study. Data collection was conducted through questionnaire surveys. The research findings indicate that Brand image has a positive influence, but it is not statistically significant regarding purchasing decisions for Honda motorcycles equipped with ESAF in Karawang. The significance value is 0.263, indicating that the brand image variable does not significantly impact because its value is above 0.05. Product quality has a positive and significant influence on purchasing decisions for Honda motorcycles equipped with ESAF in Karawang. Word of Mouth (WOM) has a positive and significant influence on purchasing decisions for Honda motorcycles equipped with ESAF in Karawang

Mapping the Russian Political Influence Ecosystem: The Night Wolves Biker Gang

Computational propaganda—the use of political bots and trolls for orchestrated interventions in online political discourse—is not the only means through which nefarious actors assert political influence in democracies around the world. In the context of influence operations, a significant—yet, understudied—phenomenon is the so-called “boots on the ground”—political communities with ties to state actors that aptly use digital tools to engage in framing and contestation of political events, narratives, and agendas. This article defines political micro-influencers as strategic communicative actors who perform authentic political identities with the goal of influencing public attitudes and behaviors. Situating the inquiry in the context of Russian influence operations, this article investigates the case of the Night Wolves Motorcycle Club by mapping the narratives associated with the movement and examining their structural and functional characteristics. Findings demonstrate how migrant counterpublics and historically nonconforming social groups get co-opted to propagate Russian geopolitical influence in Western democracies. On the basis of this case, the study provides guidelines and suggestions for future work on identifying political micro-influencers and tracing their narratives across the digital ecosystem.

Jeans and their Fashionable Meanings: Revisiting Beverly Gordon's Cultural Conceptual Framework

Jeans and their Fashionable Meanings: Revisiting Beverly Gordon's Cultural Conceptual Framework

The Night Wolves: Evidence of Russian Sharp Power and Propaganda from the Victory Roads’ Itinerary

ABSTRACT The article researches the Russian Night Wolves Motorcycle Club from the perspective of the sharp power concept. It is argued that NWMC serve as a proxy for Russian sharp power, playing the role of messenger for pro-Kremlin propaganda in European countries through Victory Roads events. Using a mixed-methods Google Search data and media content analysis, the article analyzes the effectiveness of the Victory Roads events as a sharp power propaganda tool. It provides evidence that the physical presence of NWMC is indeed a powerful tool of Russian sharp power, increasing interest among the targeted population and creating long-lasting political impact.

The Eternal Legacy of the Great Patriotic War? The Political Instrumentalization of the Soviet Victory over Fascism and Its Utilization in Czechoslovakia after 1968 and in the Czech Republic Today

Theoretically grounded in memory studies, this article reconstructs how the official Soviet-Russian myth of the Great Patriotic War has been politically instrumentalized and abused to promote and legitimize the Kremlin’s power intentions. It examines the forms, mechanisms and actors of this systematically applied politics of history and memory. First in the context of the Soviet intervention in Czechoslovakia in August 1968 and the justification of the subsequent Soviet Army’s stay in the country, then in the context of the propaganda activities of pro-Russian activists in the Czech Republic and the current Russian aggression against Ukraine. By the myth of the Great Patriotic War, the author understands the purposefully created, maintained and idealized image of the victorious campaign of the Red Army between 1941 and 1945, the selfless and unprecedented Soviet heroism that saved European nations from German fascism. This sacralized narrative, which suppresses other historical narratives, is monopolized in contemporary Russian state policy as an important tool to shape the historical memory of Russian society and to unite it against new and presumably hostile threats. The author demonstrates the strategy in which during the normalization of the 1970s and 1980s the soldiers of the Soviet Army, who allegedly provided “fraternal assistance” in the suppression of the counter-revolution in Czechoslovakia in August 1968, were presented as the successors and “sons” of the heroic liberators of 1945 and shows how they themselves used and participated in this cult in their “comradeship” with Czech society. After the collapse of the communist regime, this official narrative lost its weight, but the “Russian world” (russkii mir) as a conglomerate of ideas linking segments of Russian culture, Orthodoxy, nationalism and shared historical memory has penetrated the Czech Republic, serving as a “marketing brand” to spread Russia’s geopolitical influence during Putin’s rule. Through the Russian-language press, web platforms and social media, the author maps the actors and forms of the “Russian world” in the Czech Republic, whose background consists of part of the local Russian minority and local pro-Russian associations or initiatives. She pays particular attention to the nationalist motorcycle club Night Wolves (Nochnye volki) and the originally civic, but gradually becoming a state movement Immortal Regiment (Bessmertnyi polk), which revive and promote the myth of the Great Patriotic War in line with the Kremlin’s intentions and which establish their branches beyond the borders of Russia, including the Czech Republic.

Analisis Perbandingan Kepuasan Konsumen Terhadap Honda All New PCX-150 dengan Honda ADV-150 di Kota Mataram

Intense competition in the automotive industry resulted in the emergence of new products that flooded the market from various manufacturers, one of which was the Honda motorcycle dealer company. The AHPCI motorcycle club is an association of consumers who use the Honda All New PCX 150 motorbike while the HAI Lombok Chapter Motor Club is an association of consumers who use the Honda ADV 150. Is there a difference in consumer satisfaction with the Honda ADV 150 and All New PCX 150 motorcycles in Mataram City. Comparative research using 40 samples with an analysis tool of two different tests on average with the results on the product variable no significant difference was found, while on the price variable there was no significant difference while in the accessibility variable there was a significant difference in satisfaction, on the emotional variable there was no difference. significant satisfaction

Russia’s Night Wolves in Australia

ABSTRACT The Night Wolves emerged from the outlaw subculture and evolved into an antagonist for the Russian government. The motorcycle club received international attention after taking part in Crimea’s annexation alongside the Russian military, with many European governments viewing the club as a Russian proxy and a security threat. Yet despite concerns, the club underwent an international expansion which included creating an Australian department and Russian members travelling to Australia to support local activities. This paper draws on open-source primary and secondary materials to explore the characteristics of the Night Wolves’ Australian department. Findings indicate the Australian Night Wolves maintain aspects of the motorcycle club subculture, but the club’s ideology has influenced the meaning behind these activities and symbols. The Australian cohort is well-connected with the Night Wolves’ international leadership, those linked to the conflict in Ukraine and far-right groups in the Balkans. Australian Night Wolves members involvement in international networks and events places them at risk of engaging in activities that amplify community tensions and undermine sovereignty.

The phenomenon of gangsterism in the context of motorcycle gangs

The study concerns the phenomenon of gangsterism. The author presents the problem from the social and criminological perspective. The article includes, among others, a review of gang defi nitions and twin concepts, as well as typologies and classifi cations of the analysed criminal forms. The considerations in the article refer to the phenomenon of motorcycle clubs/ gangs. The author signals a number of practical problems connected with distinguishing the above mentioned structures and stresses the importance of knowledge of the aetiology of the phenomenon for a proper legal assessment of behaviours associated with the concept of a motorcycle gang.

Brand loyalty through brand tribalism: an anthropological perspective

PurposeThis study aims to empirically demonstrate the direct impact of brand tribalism on brand loyalty, revealing how the intrinsic elements of brand tribalism operate within an arena of high self-expressive brands.Design/methodology/approachA quantitative survey was carried out. A structured questionnaire was applied to active members of motorcycle clubs. It was obtained 336 responses and structural modeling was applied to test a hypothetical model.FindingsThis research shows that community and lineage were significantly related to brand loyalty, with a sense of community demonstrating the most decisive influence. Therefore, the study reveals that loyalty can be built through brand tribalism across strategies that foment collective social identity and friendship sentiments among brand consumers.Practical implicationsTo increase brand loyalty, managers should associate their brands with the sense of community of tribe members and create associations within the brand and its consumers through brand communication and experiences, reinforcing brand owners’ lineage’s singularity.Originality/valueThis is the unique study demonstrating how to forge brand loyalty through brand tribalism’s multidimensional perspective, presenting findings on how its intrinsic factors can boost loyalty within self-expressive product brands.

Preventing outlaw biker crime in the Netherlands or just changing the dark figure? Estimating the impact of the Dutch whole-of-government approach on outlaw biker crime using interrupted time series analysis

Confronted with growing public concern about violence and other serious crime committed by outlaw motorcycle clubs, in 2012 the Dutch government launched a whole-of-government approach to discourage club membership and organized criminal behaviour. The whole-of-government approach included a zero tolerance policy towards crimes committed by outlaw bikers and increased law enforcement and prosecutorial attention towards members of outlaw motorcycle groups (OMCG members) and their support clubs. In this study, we estimate the effects of the whole-of-government approach on the level of prosecutorial charges levied against the Dutch biker population. We do so by applying (quasi-experimental) interrupted time series analysis to the conviction data available on 1617 Dutch OMCG members and 473 support club members in four recorded crime categories: overall crime, violent crime, organized crime and traffic offences. Although caveats remain, results indicate that the whole-of-government approach has a causal effect on the criminal involvement of OMCG and support club members, but that the nature of this effect depends on the type of crime and the subsample in question. Overall crime in the total sample seems unaffected by the approach, whereas organized crime committed by OMCG members is shown to decrease. We discuss whether the patterns observed are due to behavioural changes in OMCG and support club members, or whether they result from changes in police practices and, consequently, a changing dark figure of crime. We conclude our article with some reflections on future research.

Shame On You! Unpacking the Individual and Organizational Implications of Engaging with a Stigmatized Organization

AbstractHow and when does engagement with a stigmatized organization lead to the transfer of its stigma to organizations and individuals associating with it? To answer this question, we conduct an inductive study of the process of stigma transfer and the conditions determining social actors’ susceptibility to such courtesy stigma. We build our process model using interview and archival data on two art exhibitions engaging with Hells Angels Motorcycle Club (HAMC) Norway. Our study identifies purposeful shaming as a key element in the stigma transfer process, and shows that shaming attempts take on different forms at the individual and organizational levels. We also illustrate that contestation of shaming attempts through impression management tactics is conditional upon the status of the stigma ‘target’. This provides novel insights into when and how status moderates the stigma transfer process.

Intra-Group Diversity and How it is Managed by an Outlaw Motorcycle Club

A deviant subculture such as an outlaw motorcycle club must be able to accommodate internal diversity because a repertoire of differing talents, ideas, and attitudes facilitates an adequate response to the disparate demands placed upon the organization. At the same time that intra-member variation is an asset, however, diversity frequently must be camouflaged in order to maintain the integration necessary to survive in a hostile environment. The need for camouflage varies in relation to the degree of perceived threat. This theme is examined in three different contexts: the clubhouse, the club bar, and violent encounters with outside society.

The organizational stigma of motorcycle groups

Since scholars have come into contact with Erving Goffman's work, "Stigma: Notes on the Handling of Deteriorated Identity," many issues have been discussed in an interdisciplinary way on the subject of stigma, at the individual level and, more recently, in the organizational level. At this level, there are studies on organizations that have been stigmatized since its inception; have become stigmatized; developed actions to circumvent stigma; and, they obtained the destigmatization. This is the level of analysis chosen for the development of this study. The general objective of this article is to describe how motorcycling groups respond to the organizational stigma that is typical of this urban tribe. And, the specific objectives were to identify and compare the emotional, social and collective responses and motivations that underlie and drive the actions used by motorcycling groups in the Brazilian context. Through an exploratory study, conducted through interviews with members of Brazilian motorcycling groups (some belonging to the motorcycle club), it was found that, surprisingly, despite the ethnic and cultural diversity among Brazilian motorcyclists, there are few women, blacks and homosexuals who drive and are members of motorcycle groups. Most motorcyclists encourage / collaborate on fraternization and philanthropic events, some of which are designed to circumvent the stigma of the organizations of which they are part and thus reduce the individual stigma they carry when they publicly show themselves as motorcyclists belonging to these groups.

Making Sense of Stigmatized Organizations: Labelling Contests and Power Dynamics in Social Evaluation Processes

How do social audiences negotiate and handle stigmatized organizations? What role do their heterogenous values, norms and power play in this process? Addressing these questions is important from a business ethics perspective to improve our understanding of the ethical standards against which organizations are judged as well as the involved prosecutorial incentives. Moreover, it illuminates ethical concerns about when and how (the exploitation of) power imbalances may induce inequity in the burdens imposed by such social evaluations. We address these questions building on two event-based case studies involving Hells Angels Motorcycle Club Norway, and contribute to organizational stigma theory in three ways. First, social evaluations of a stigmatized organization by multiple audiences are found to interact, collide and combine in a labelling contest. Second, we show that labels employed in this contest are pushed to either negative extremes (‘moral panic’) or positive extremes (‘moral patronage’). Finally, we show when and how power represents a double-edged sword in social evaluation processes, which can be wielded either to the benefit or to the detriment of the actors under evaluation.

KEBERADAAN LADY BIKERS DI KOMUNITAS KLUB MOTOR INDONESIA SEBAGAI KORBAN KEJAHATAN KESUSILAAN DI JALANAN

Seeing the Development and growth of one ot the transportation in Indonesia, namely land transportation, it turns out thatit has significantly increased significantly, including the users of motorized vehicles, especially two-wheeled motorbikes (motorbikes). According to Article 28 E paragraph 3 of the 1945 Constitution, everyone has the right to freedom of association, assembly and expression. So that on that basis some people who have the same hobby and passion about motorbikes establish the Motorcycle Club Community Association in Indonesia. Talking about the Motorcycle Club Community reminds us of a bunch of people who like to act arrogant and anarchic on the road when touring. The existence of Lady Bikers is very interesting to discuss, because with their appearance it makes the Negative Stigma (Arrogance and Anarchy) about the Motorcycle Club Community in the eyes of the cloud community become a little dissolved and is expected to be able to color and give a soft / feminine side in the Motorcycle Club Community which generally consists of Men. On the other hand, the presence of Lady Bikers can lead to Decency Crimes on the Street.

Spacing and places arrangements: a study of the identity symbols of the Moto Club ‘Children of Freedom’ and their representations

The article is the result of an ethnography carried out on a motorcycle club located in the city of Curitiba, Brazil, called the Brotherhood Children of Freedom, and seeks to understand how the members of the motorcycle club construct the category of place in different micro spaces through their greater symbols, such as the brotherhood headquarters, the badge in their vests and the trips through the roads under formation. The city is considered as a field of analysis, from the overlapping spaces and plurality individual group. In this context, it describes the identity constructions among the Brotherhood's members, their obligations and restrictions in new arrangements related to those appropriate spaces and transformed into place. It also shows how, in relations with others inside or outside the city, spaces of different scales are appropriate by the members of the Brotherhood by means of their symbols, values, beliefs and identity, to which systems of significance are attributed, such as the very notion of belonging and tradition of the Brotherhood Children of Freedom.

A Hybrid Threat: The Night Wolves Motorcycle Club

Hybrid threat actors are dynamic and often intentionally disguise their intentions. While the Russian motorcycle club Night Wolves dress comparably to outlaw motorcycle gangs, open source materials describe the club as posing a distinctly different national security threat. The Night Wolves’ ambiguity and covert activities make the club hard to analyze; however, this case study uses open source materials to provide insight into their activities and characteristics across an array of security domains. International incidents indicate members and associates have the capability and resources to engage in crime, corruption and politically-motivated violence both for personal interests, as well as the furtherance of Russian goals.

The Bikerni: an ethnographic study on women motorcyclists in modern India

ABSTRACT Motorcycling has evolved from the early subcultural concepts of resistance and deviance to a unique leisure option. Riding with a motorcycle club is culturally perceived as a masculine activity. In the early days of motorcycle clubs, women possessed a subservient role with limited riding options. Together with their changing role in the society, women shifted from the rear to riding seat and came to the forefront of riding community. Women bikers and motorcycle subculture have been considerably discussed in the western academia, but there seems to be a dearth of research on motorcycling subculture in the Indian context. This research focuses on exploring the existing role of women in an all-female motorcycle club, within the socio-cultural context of India and aims to comprehend the female bikers’ motivation and behaviour within the club. It does not specifically examine gender issues or adopt a feminist epistemology, rather uses gender merely as a frame to examine subcultures. This paper is a result of a six-month ethnographic fieldwork in an all-female motorcycle club called ‘The Bikerni’. We hope that this research gives a deeper insight into the world of women bikers in India and help stakeholders make informed decisions regarding this emerging group’s needs.

Ethnographic Gameness: Theorizing Extra-methodological Fieldwork Practices in a Study of Outlaw Motorcycle Clubs

This article theorizes the fieldwork experiences that I gained while studying outlaw biker subculture. Drawing on Bourdieu’s practice theory and Goffman’s dramaturgical interactionism, I argue that ethnography in practice is pre-disposed by the ethnographer’s primary habitus, which shapes symbolic interaction. To substantiate this claim, I disclose my own upbringing in a troubled working-class family and my personal ties with outlaw bikers, both prior to and beyond my research. This article then illustrates how my habitus helped me to compensate for the vagueness of ethnography in theory with regard to three recurrent issues of fieldwork, which are the practices of (1) approaching/entering the field, (2) negotiating participation, and (3) managing (un)fortunate circumstances. After reflecting on my cleft habitus as the buddy and/or researcher in ethnographic practice, this article concludes with the metaphor of gameness. This concept, which is borrowed from early prize fighting, is used to outline and label the ideal-type of the ethnographer who is well-suited for the immersion into deviant, criminalized, or otherwise culturally elitist fields.