Category: American Culture

Argumentative Essay on Gun Violence in America

Gun violence in America is an urgent, nagging problem, which requires proof-based, innovative solutions. It is a serious national problem leading to more than 30,000 deaths and 78,000 non-fatal injuries every year [See Alpers and Wilson]. Although the rate of gun homicides in the United States of America has declined in recent years, U.S. rates remain substantially higher than those of almost every other nation in the world and are at least seven times higher than those of Australia, Canada, and so on. Psychology can make important contributions to policies that prevent gun violence by sharing research-based conclusions and recommendations with the wider public.

Although the rate of gun homicide in the U.S. has declined in recent years, groups of psychologists have been contributing to state policy discussions by sharing research-based conclusions and recommendations with the public. The aim is to explore possible findings of psychology research on gun violence prevention in state policy discussions. They plan to address key questions that can be answered using a range of scientific methodologies as well as evidence from other fields (e.g., sociology). It would be interesting to learn how psychologists can make important contributions to policies that prevent gun violence across different age groups (juveniles, adolescents, adults); in different demographic groups (gender, race-ethnicity, poverty), and in different locations (urban, rural, suburban).

Research in the areas of delinquency and violence prevention, suicide prevention, aggression and violence, and the psychology of gun use can provide evidence for policy discussions about gun laws. For example, research on the psychology of guns could inform policies that seek to reduce availability as well as certain kinds of weapons such as assault weapons. In addition to questions about how best to prevent gun violence, laws will also need to be discussed, that affect psychological outcomes after an act of gun violence has occurred. This research on the short-term and long-term effects of trauma resulting from mass shootings, can inform policymakers of the treatment of victims, their families, and their communities. and geographic areas [urban vs. and Sweden (see Alpers & Wilson, 2013)] Psychology can make important additions to policies that prevent gun violence by sharing research-based, deductions, and recommendations (and identifying research gaps) with the wider public. (gaps, such as knowledge) on how to reduce the incidence of gun violence whether caused by homicide, suicide, or mass shootings nationwide. The authors of this article plan to contribute to state policy discussion by sharing research-based conclusions and recommendations with the broader public. The aim again, is to explore possible contributions of psychology research on gun violence prevention to state policy discussions with a view to bringing gun violence in America to the barest minimum possible.

Gun control advocates frequently cite the comparatively higher amount of homicides committed with firearms as a reason to help stricter gun regulation laws. [Kassirer, Saint P] Firearm laws are the topic of debate in the USA, with firearms used for recreational purposes, as well as for individual security. [National Investigation Council] Gun rights proponents acknowledge the usage of firearms for self-protection, and to discourage violent crime, as an understanding of why more guns will lessen crime. Gun rights proponents also have felons are those least expected to obey firearms laws, and therefore restricting access to guns by law-abiding people makes them more susceptible to militarized criminals. [McDowall, King, Brian Wiersema]

In a continuous bid from different quarters (facets of society) to end the killing sprees of gun violence across America, The New York Times wrote an interesting piece in their editorial, titled ‘End the Gun Epidemic in America’ [The New York Times, December 5, 2015]. In this article, one of the area focus is directed, is about how countries like France, and Norway have strict gun laws, while America does not, and that even though determined criminals are still able to illegally obtain weapons from these same countries with strict gun regulations, the fact remains that, they are at least making efforts at instilling gun control in their various countries, while on the other hand, certain unscrupulous politicians in the American Government are aiding and abetting spree killings all over the country by making flimsy Pro-gun policies which encourage legal gun markets, where citizens end up owning highly sophisticated combat class firearms. This is so appalling and should never be allowed to happen, especially in a country such as America, where voters should be voting out of power, the likes of such callous politicians who keep encouraging gun policies, which continue arming the so-called would-be potential killers (citizens) and seasoned killers alike.

The Big Question: How do we prevent, curb, or even totally eradicate, Gun violence in America?

Well, one unique technique psychological researchers have come up with is; PREDICTION, PREVENTION & POLICY

Precursory circumstances to Gun violence: developmental issues

A complex and variable collection of risk and protective factors makes persons more or less likely to use a rearm against themselves or others. For this reason, there is no single prole that can reliably predict who will use a gun in a violent act. Instead, gun violence is associated with a confluence of individual, family, school, peer, community, and sociocultural risk factors that interact over time during childhood and adolescence. Although many youths desist in aggressive and antisocial behavior during late adolescence, others are disproportionately at risk for becoming involved in or otherwise affected by gun violence. The most consistent and powerful predictor of future violence is a history of violent behavior. Prevention efforts guided by research on developmental risk can reduce the likelihood that rearms will be introduced into community and family conflicts or criminal activity. Prevention efforts can also reduce the relatively rare occasions when severe mental illness contributes to homicide or the more common circumstances when depression or other mental illness contributes to suicide. Reducing incidents of gun violence arising from criminal misconduct or suicide is an important goal of broader primary and secondary prevention and intervention strategies. Such strategies must also attend to redirecting developmental antecedents and larger sociocultural processes that contribute to gun violence and gun-related deaths.

Precursors to Gun Violence: Gender and Culture

Any account of gun violence in the United States must be able to explain both why males are perpetrators of the vast majority of gun violence and why the vast majority of males never perpetrate gun violence. Preliminary evidence suggests that changing perceptions among males of social norms about behaviors and characteristics associated with masculinity may reduce the prevalence of intimate partner and sexual violence. Such interventions need to be further tested for their potential to reduce gun violence. The skills and knowledge of psychologists are needed to develop and evaluate programs and settings in schools, workplaces, prisons, neighborhoods, clinics, and other relevant contexts that aim to change gendered expectations for males that emphasize self-sufficiency, toughness, and violence, including gun violence.

What solution can be applied: Gun violence Prediction and Prevention at the individual Level

Although it is important to recognize that most people suffering from a mental illness are not dangerous, for those persons at risk for violence due to mental illness, suicidal thoughts, or feelings of desperation, mental health treatment can often avoid gun violence. Policies and programs that identify and provide treatment for all persons suffering from mental illness should be a national priority. Urgent attention must be paid to the current level of access to mental health services in the United States; such access is woefully insufficient. Additionally, it should be noted that behavioral threat assessment is becoming a standard of care for preventing violence in schools, colleges, and the workplace and against government and other public officials. Threat assessment teams gather and analyze information to assess if a person poses a threat of violence or self-harm, and if so, take steps to intervene.

Working solution: Gun Violence Prevention at the Community Level

Prevention of violence occurs along a continuum that begins in early childhood with programs to help parents raise emotionally healthy children and ends with efforts to identify and intervene with troubled individuals who are threatening violence. The mental health community must take the lead in advocating for community-based collaborative problem-solving models to address the prevention of gun violence. Such models should affect prevention strategies in an effort to overcome the tendency within many community service systems to operate in silos. There has been some success with community-based programs involving police training in crisis intervention and with community members trained in mental health first aid. These programs need further piloting and study so they can be expanded to additional communities as appropriate. In addition, public health messaging campaigns on safe gun storage are needed. The practice of keeping all rearms appropriately stored and locked must become the only socially acceptable norm.

Policies to reduce Gun violence

The use of a gun greatly increases the odds that violence will lead to a fatality: This problem calls for urgent action. Firearm prohibitions for high-risk groups domestic violence offenders, persons convicted of violent misdemeanor crimes, and individuals with mental illness who have been adjudicated as being a threat to themselves or to others have been shown to reduce violence. The licensing of handgun purchasers, background check requirements for all gun sales, and close oversight of retail gun sellers can reduce the diversion of guns to criminals. Reducing the incidence of gun violence will require interventions through multiple systems, including legal, public health, public safety, community, and health. Increasing the availability of data and funding will help inform and evaluate policies designed to reduce gun violence.

In light of the above information, one can see the obvious role psychology plays in the prediction, prevention, and Policing of gun violence in America. I strongly believe any country in the world can adopt these same methodologies in mitigating gun violence.

Demonstration of Various Aspects of American Culture and Its Ideals in ‘The Dick Van Dyke Show’

‘The Dick Van Dyke Show’ was one of the greatest television shows of the early 1960s. By genre classifications, the show was a situation comedy (sitcom). The show was created by Cark Reiner and ran from 1961 to 1966. It was based on the ideal suburban American family through the personal and professional life of Rob Petrie. Rob’s profession is being a writer working for the fictional Alan Brady Show. He faces competition from other workmates like Buddy Sorrell and Sally Rogers. Rob is married to Laura Petrie with whom he has a young son named Ritchie. One of the episodes of ‘The Dick Van Dyke Show’ was the ‘My Blonde-Haired Brunette’. The episode featured the issue of beauty standards based on the natural hair. Laura in this episode had dyed her hair blonde and has to re-dye it back to brown when Rob tells her over the phone that he loved her better as a ‘brunette’ (‘The Dick Van Dyke Show’, ‘My Blonde-Haired Brunette’, 2:23-4:07). The ensuing comic effect revolves around trying to dye the hair back to brown in a limited amount of time before Rob could come back home. ‘The Dick Van Dyke Show’ was a masterpiece that embraced and portrayed the American culture and way of life. Through episodes like ‘My Blonde-Haired Brunette’, the show explored various aspects of the American culture and its ideals, such as perceptions of beauty, in a more comic manner.

‘The Dick Van Dyke Show’ was well situated in terms of the cultural and economic context. During the 1960s, the cold war between the Soviet Union and the USA was still in progress. One of the fields that were exploited by both sides was the cultural dominance, where the USA enrolled cultural relations programs aimed at promoting the American culture both within and outside the USA (Bu, 393). ‘The Dick Van Dyke Show’ promoted various aspects of the American culture and general quality and way of life. First, Rob Petrie lived in a suburban residence and worked in the city, where he travelled with his case. The rise of suburban communities started from the reign of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the 1950s as part of the urban sprawl (Drewes, 315). The main mode of transport for the residents of suburban areas was their personal cars given that majority of them were in the middle class and could afford personal cars. The show thus promoted the American ideals of home ownership and capitalism, where the prosperity was based on meritocracy. The show also reflected the JFK New Frontier Programs, which supported ideals such as equal pay, trade expansion and housing (Bernstein, 30). These programs were a reflection of the important role of capitalism in improving the society at the general and personal level. Trade expansion is particularly covered in the case of Rob Petrie, who was a writer for a show. Rob’s job was a new kind of trade that had developed due to the rise of the television in the 1950s and which was based on creativity. The show therefore represented the ideals of the American society.

Cultural practices of the 1960s were also evident in both the show and in episodes such as ‘My Blonde-Haired Brunette’. American beauty for adult white women has been tied to blonde hair for numerous years due to the promotion of such standards by beauty magazines like Playboy (Rich & Thomas, 113). The issue of ideal American beauty in women is very elaborate in the episode ‘My Blonde-Haired Brunette’. During the episode, Laura tries to improve her looks by choosing a blonde hair dye. The ensuing conversation with Rob proves that feminine beauty at the time was tied to blonde hair, as exemplified by Marilyn Monroe. Rob stated that his beauty standards were based on dark hair, and that if he had inclinations to the mainstream definition of beauty, he would have married Marilyn Monroe or any other top model (‘The Dick Van Dyke Show’, ‘My Blonde-Haired Brunette’, 2:23-4:07). These sentiments of beauty are echoed by Ritchie towards the end of the show, where he stated that he did not want his mother to be ‘beautiful’ and in fact preferred her with dark hair. The ideal American family is also clearly promoted in the episode and the show in general. Rob Petrie was the ‘head’ of the family in accordance to the American society’s culture. He worked in a big firm, while his wife Laura was a stay-at-home mother (Liebenson, par. 4). The family was also small, with only one child, to portray the American ideals of family planning as a method of improving the quality of life. These factors were a reflection of the American traditions at the time. These traditions were based on gender roles where the man was the provider and the wife was the principle caregiver whose main work was to bring up the family based on American ideals. The show therefore supported ideals of gender roles and masculinity in the society.

‘The Dick Van Dyke Show’ was a great comedy creation of the time. It existed based on creation of situations which would evoke comedy. In the case of ‘My Blonde-Haired Brunette’ episode, the situation created was the dying of Laura’s hair, which, though it conformed to the beauty standards of the day, did not align with Rob’s beauty preferences. Such irony was used to bring laughter among the audiences of the show. In total, ‘The Dick Van Dyke Show’ streamed 156 episodes over the 5-year period during which it ran (Liebenson, par.6). Based on ratings, in present day, the show retains good ratings of 8.3/10 on IMDb, 5/5 on Common Sense Media, and 8.9/10 on TV.com. These high ratings are an evidence of the good acting skills of the actors and the creativity of the producers to create comedy that would still be funny even 50 years later. ‘My Blonde-Haired Brunette’ episode in particular remains as one of the most liked episodes of the entire show. The show was therefore an epitome of creativity as exemplified by the popularity of some of its episodes.

The media is a tool that can be used to spread propaganda or influence a certain way of thinking for its viewers. In the case of ‘The Dick Van Dyke Show’, the comic effect of the sitcom was used to deliver certain sentiments on the superiority of the American culture, as well as to show typical ideals of the time. The roles of the various actors in the play are also a reflection of the masculine American culture. It is also a reflection of the political ideals of the regime at the time. Some of the ideals, such as the support for suburban lifestyle by JFK’s New Frontier housing program, are also exemplified by the comfortable living of the Rob Petrie family in a suburb. The show was therefore a reflection of what an ideal family had to be like based on American culture.

Essay on United States Consumerism

How Does Consumerism Impact American Lives?

Consumerism is a “movement concerned with the creation of awareness among consumers regarding their rights and protection of their interests” (Lee and Park 3). Consumers are fully aware that consumerism is any connection that overreachs the idea in modern society, people would like to fulfill their “wants” to be happier, to feel better, and be to more successful. Consumerism’s ideology is realized in a consumer’s urgency to purchase goods in greater amounts, even if still purchased goods are not needed. The culture of Americans has created a major impact on cultures worldwide. Consumerism utilizes factors that impact American lives which help us to define ourselves as individuals and as a society,

The concept of having, purchasing, and gaining more had always been a thing of Americans. The more opportunities, land, and resources have been “an essential part of our history and character” (Shames 80). According to Shames, the reason why individuals use consumerism as they define themselves links to a historical culture in which it has been over a prolonged period. “Frontier; opportunity; more. This has been the American trinity from the very start. The frontier was the backdrop and raw material for the streak of economic booms” (Shames 82). Historically, the American frontier culture presents a historical background, in which frontier, opportunity, and more were always available. In a particular case, it refers to consumable and quantifiable resources such as land and other commodities. Individuals over some time define themselves by the ability to gain access to levels of resources that help define their personalities. The American culture or tradition of an individual defining herself or himself by the ability to take advantage of the frontier’s everlasting abundance of natural resources has to do more with a set of beliefs rather than the realities of society.

In our daily lives, each one of us as individuals is surrounded by hundreds of commercial messages. Consumerism is helped by the manufacturers who show their efforts to sell the products by encouraging people, and consumers to buy more and more. An example, is the Apple company, when a new Apple product is being launched, every certain period an American replaces a mobile device. Let’s say every two years or less in months, a person in the United States replaces it not because the iPhone is old but for the simple reason, it is simply “oldish”. Another example is Apple’s Air Pods, being launched, which convinces the consumer to update to the new version. First came out the wired earphones, second Air Pods with charging case, third Air Pods with wireless charging case, and the Air Pods Pro. The result of this consumerism is that the more “wants” people buy the goods, they appreciate heir possessions. What happens next or where does all the “oldish” and invaluable possessions go?

Advertising is a component of the marketing system in the business of products. A factor of consumerism, advertising, portrays products as “necessary” goods that are required to keep the individual identity secure. Some may not be represented as “wants”, which creates a need for luxury products. TV and internet advertisement persuades customers that wearing a full set of Kylie Cosmetics Makeup, Versace perfume, a Tommy Hilfiger blouse, and a Michael Kors purse bag defines their character and personality but it does not demonstrate what they possess, their traits. The modernity obsession with celebrities in the news, newspapers, and magazines publishes stories and interesting facts about famous people looking at them as an example to follow. Being inspired leads to consuming the same products they use- luxury goods, designer clothing, a type of car, exotic animals to private jets.

Others may say it is normal, no wrong moral to buy or sell goods and services, by promoting the articles. The form of consumerism is extreme, meaning it dominates the world with several wrong characteristics. Some people may find that television, internet, and newspaper advertisements of a product are manipulative. Consumerism and advertisements try to manipulate people into adopting a specific lifestyle of how people should live rather than deciding for themselves. The creation of false desires, needs, and wants among people by using manipulations. The advertiser’s main purpose is to create “needs” to make an audience want their product. Others may also say that consumerism affects the worldviews and character of a person. The overspending time and energy on viewing the next product or service to consume then people have less time and feel unenthusiastic to learn about the world. Affecting character by consumer culture may lead to excessive self-interest in people. This means people may have less time for or have no interest in other individuals and just focus on their self-interest.

The consumerism culture has allowed people to be closer to each other. Consumerism allows people to be part of society by allowing allowed to latest fashion trends and other aspects that are no longer taken down or ignored because of religion, ethnicity, and social status. The consumer culture, allows every single individual to feel being part of society, not taking the importance of a person‘s characteristics. People of different races, different occupations, social statuses, and different levels of education, allow us to be closer together, as a society. Due to the decrease of social stereotypes, and restrictions over the past centuries. Before the poor were excluded and the rich in their circle, now are included in all senses.

Physical environments are used for a specific purpose in which consumers use consumption as a form of helping character being defined. “In prowling the mall they embed themselves in a lexicon American culture”( Norton 88). Women often go to the central commercial more than men. Women shopping at the mall create their definition of femininity. “The construction of identity and the enjoyment of friendship outside the presence of men was thus effected through a practice that constructed women as consumers…” (Norton 88). The context of the shopping center is used to distinguish the female’s identity from the male. Females opt to have free time, and spend it in the company of other women, sisters, friends, daughters, or mothers. Women spend more time than money, when entering a store and observing an outfit that they like, try on, convinced later they bought it. The consumption at the shopping mall helps a female to construct her personality. Consumerism not only is used to define the concept of femininity but also individual definitions of an individual personality by the clothes they purchase or wear, the stores they shop at, and the type of food consumed.

Many different people go to the mall even though there is a majority of shoppers, it Is almost human nature to not protest, smoke, or fight at the shopping center. It almost makes the place sound nice to be at and spend time with others. The shopping center is a great way to supervise a consumer’s needs.

The consumerism in the United States of America contributes and impacts in a significant way in which individuals define themselves from being a part of society and individual perspective. Advertising is one of the factors of consumerism thatise responsible fora  number of people obsessed with the need or idea to buy items. Consumerism does not affect only our behavior by overspending time on consumerist activities. It also affects our thinking, attitudes, worldviews, and our aspirations. It would be unbelievable and something untrue that there would exist a world without consumerism.