Just Mercy Culture

As students enter class, please take out Just Mercy and look for examples of how the culture constructs the dynamics of the death penalty in the US.

For the Discussion, please keep in mind these criteria:

Just Mercy Chapters 3-4:

Thinking like a symbolic interactionist, how does the language used by the police affect Walter?  How can the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis apply to the interaction between Walter and the police? 

The norms and subculture of death row.

Culture Shock and death row

Ethnocentrism

Cultural Relativity

Norms of death row

Norms of trials in deep south.

How institutions reproduce culture.

How institutions like Supreme Court can change culture.

Culture of death penalty in AL and the institution of politics

Cultural values (usefulness, practicality, self-help, individualism) create norms of intolerance

Real culture vs. ideal culture

Taboo and our legal system

For thought:

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pg 90-91 “…we would never think it was humane to pay someone to rape people convicted of rape or assault and abuse someone guilty of assault or abuse.  Yet we are comfortable killing people who kill, in part because we think we can do it in a manner that doesn’t implicate our own humanity, the way that raping or abusing someone would.  I couldn’t stop thinking that we don’t spend much time contemplating the details of what killing someone actually involves.”

Amer I can Values

Read Kohl's The Values Americans Live By

After you are assigned a number (1-13), find your partner and travel to the table that matches your number. 

1.  What evidence does the author provide for the value that you were assigned?

Value: _______________ Evidence:

2.  If you agree with the author’s evidence, what are some specific examples that you can cite from your own life (or your parents’ lives) that show these values shaping either you or your parents?  If you don’t agree why not? Provide evidence that contradicts the author.

3.  Individually, look over the whole reading.  What are the three values that impact you personally the most?  In what ways?

Value 1: _____________ How?

Value 2: _____________ How?

Value 3: _____________ How?

 Bemused in America, a series of articles about Chicago written by a German correspondent is another example of American values.  The article shows how someone from a country relatively similar to the United States, Germany(Western, industrialized, Democratic) can find many cultural differences that are quizzical and strange to him. These differences can be attributed to the different values that Americans have. For example, think about the Supermarket article. We like 24 hr stores because it is practical and efficient to have stores open all night and it allows us to control our time and shop whenever we want.  Here is the list of values (once again) that we compared to what the German author finds strange:

Kohl's "Values Americans Live By"

American Values                                        vs.Other Cultures’ Values
Personal control/responsibility                   vs Fate/destiny
Change seen as natural/positive/Progress  vs. Stability/tradition
Time and its control                                     vs. Human Interaction
Equality/fairness                                          vs. Hierarchy/rank/status
Individualism/independence/freedom   vs. Group welfare/dependence
Self-Help/initiative                                    vs. Birthright/inheritance
Competition                                               vs. Cooperation
Future orientation                                     vs. Past orientation
Action/work                                                vs. “Being”
Informality                                                 vs. Formality
Directness/openness/Honesty                    vs. Indirectness/ritual/”face”
Practicality/efficiency                                 vs. Idealism/theory
Materialism/Acquisitiveness                        vs. Spiritualism/detachment
Achievement/Success                                   vs. Acceptance/Status Quo
Morality/judgement                        vs.Consequentialism/situational ethics


And here is how other cultures view American culture. Many cultures have "American" themed parties based on their perception of American culture.


And here is an Australian's perspective of strange things Americans do.


Takeaway (For more info see Ferris and Stein pg 91):

What are the US values?

Our SHSubculture

HW: Read Kohl's Values Americans Live By in your packet.

Subcultures are smaller worlds within larger cultures.  Subcultures follow the overall culture of a society, but they have distinct elements of their own culture that separate them. 

1.  Individually:  What is a subculture that you are a part of?  Use your notes to help you, if you are not sure what a subculture is.  Why is this group a subculture?  What are some unique, interesting aspects about this group that the non-members will not know?

2.  In small groups, discuss the culture at Stevenson.  What makes us so special that visitors from all over the country come to visit and study us?  Is there enough of a difference to consider ourselves a special subculture?  As a group, find elements of culture that make us different from America:

Today's lesson was about what makes a subculture.  A subculture is part of a larger culture, but it has its own unique cultural aspects.  To illustrate how this works, we used our school as an example.  Why do so many visitors come here to see us?  What makes us so different?  Is our school a subculture?  To examine this, we reviewed these cultural traits and applied them to our school:

• Material Culture;  all the physical stuff unique to our school:  the buildings, uniforms, guidebook
• Mores: really serious norms that would disrupt the culture if violated: Walking on the right side of the hall/stairwell, not stopping in the hall or stairwell, not cheating, not fighting, knowing where to park, knowing how to be called out.  All of these are important norms.  If you violate them, there will punishment or judgement against you.
• Folkways: norms that do not have serious moral implications;  being late to class, saying the pledge, no drinks or snacks outside the commons and not wearing green & gold on spirit days all are norms that are frequently violated without serious disruption to the school culture.
• Taboos; Norms that are so accepted, they are not even talked about:  pregnancy & sex, use of drugs outside of school; these are activities that are embarrassing to even talk about.
• Language: PAC, link, traveller, FMP, LOP, Glass commons, wood commons, 
• Symbols: the Patriot (six fingers :-), the SHS seal, the statue, green and gold, 
• Values: going to college, grades, competitiveness; These values are the most important in shaping our school culture.  They pervade every part of the school culture and they are a part of students, teachers, parents and administrators, but this is the hardest aspect of culture to see.  

For some perspective, here are some examples of other schools' cultures.

Do you see how the values we have here might separate us from other schools?  Do you see how they shape so much of what we do here?  I do not know if it counts as a "subculture" by sociological standards, but I think these values are what many of those visitors are searching for in their own schools. For your own thoughts, what subculture(s) are you a part of? What are the traits that make your subculture unique?

Takeaway (For more info see Ferris and Stein 83-85):

What is a subculture?

Why are values important to a culture?

What is a counter culture?