how Is the Ku Klux Klan Like a Group of Real-Estate Agents?
Knowledge is Power
- The infamous Ku Klux Klan formed post Civil War was as President Ulysses S.
Grant detailed, " [A group that] by force and terror, to prevent all
political action not in accord with the views of the members...and to reduce
the colored people to a condition closely allied to that of slavery
(Dubner)". Notorious for their atrocious actions against the colored
population, many "Writers were against the Klan, all right, but they had precious few inside facts about it (Dubner). In the 1920's a reformed Klansman infiltrated the heart of the organization learning all their secrets and plans. Along with writer Stetson Kennedy, "John Brown" as the spy was called, decided to demoralize the Klan by exposing their coveted secrets on a daily talk show Superman. This show took the Klan's most personal secrets and turned them into childish chatter on the radio that families listened to on sweltering summer days when nothing else was on. By belittling the Klan and making it into a joke James Brown was able to decrease the Klan's influence on America. - Real Estate agents on the other hand use their knowledge in a more subtle manner. Consider house listings, decoding the words agents use is key to understanding the quality of the house one is looking at. For example, usage of words such as "Granite" "Maple", and "State-of-the-Art" are all terms correlated with a higher sale price. These adjectives and phrases insinuate expensive furnishings which ergo translates to better quality. People looking to buy are often in search of their "dream house" which often means classical or extremely modern furnishings. (Dubner). In this instance, the realtor gives the prospective buyer detailed information of the house instead of ambiguous opinions such as "fantastic" or "charming". A realtor knows the true price of a house, but will manipulate the numbers to elicit a better price from a buyer or a lower selling price for a seller. The realtor knows that a better selling price will lead to a higher commission, information she keeps from the buyer whom she tells the house is worth more than it is. On the other hand, the realtor tells the seller to settle for a lower price than the house is worth if the choice is between making a sale or not. Sure a better price means a higher commission, but a sale regardless of price is better than no sale at all. The amount of commission a realtor receives doesn't fluctuate much with a small change in selling price. It's better for a realtor to sell a $1.1 million dollar house for $1 million rather than not selling a house at all. Her change in commission is miniscule, and the seller is the person that truly feels the cost of the lowered price.
- Both the Klan and realtors derive their power from their knowledge. The Klan covets it's beliefs, and the members feelings of sacredness towards the organization are what make it so powerful. The exclusiveness of the club is what made it so appealing to individuals. Secret codes of the Klan are what make it so special, and when this confidential knowledge was revealed to the whole world in such a frivolous way, the Klan broke apart. When the rest of the world found out about the Klan's little traditions, the traditions weren't important anymore and didn't hold the same significance. For the realtor, their inside knowledge of the true price of a house, and the amount of information they choose to share with the buyer and seller is where they get their power. The realtor basically manipulates the seller and buyer to terms that benefit the realtor while giving the minimal satisfaction to the other two parties.
- Both these examples demonstrate the economics principle of how "Expert-from criminologists to real estate agents- use their information advantage to serve their own agenda (Dubner). The Klan uses their knowledge to strengthen the exclusiveness of their "club", while realtors use their knowledge to gain the most money possible.