American values have been fraught with competing ideas since the development of this country. White colonists founded this country and immediately set about exploiting people who were not white, for land or labor or both. America has relied on immigrants for so many things. American Values have been used as a way to get people to come here. From the news story, “This is part of the civic lesson young people in America learn – the notion that you can become American by accepting American values. It’s a philosophical not an ethnic identity.” We are Americans because we share the same civic ideas, the same general values that support the American Dream.
In some ways, it has become almost a religion, a civic religion: One based on shared civic values, not a religious leader. You can think of it like Emile Durkheim’s solidarity . . . something that holds a society together. However, we do have a multitude of value contradictions. These can be based on Individual Rights vs Collective Rights (think: Gun Control, Vaccinations, etc) as but one take.
The value divide in our country sometimes recedes but sometimes comes to the forefront. When competing values come to the forefront is when we see social media outrage or hashtags, protests (peaceful or otherwise) and often changes in law as it pertains to groups of people. Examples can include #Metoo, The Suffrage Movement (women getting the right to vote), The Civil Rights Movement, Black Lives Matter and Occupy Wall Street. Our country has been in a values upheaval ever since Donald Trump became President. He did not create these upheavals, but created an environment where values of white supremacy, in particular, really were nurtured.
This 8 or so minute long news story talks about what makes us American. It argues that we have had a religion of sorts, a Civil Religion. This means that we all adhere to the American Dream and almost treat it in a religious manner. But what happens when this merges with white supremacy, nationalism and religious identity? How is this connected to the January 6th attempt to stop Congress from declaring Joe Biden as President of the United States? This ASSIGNMENT asks you to listen to this news story and respond to it through the lens of Sociology, particularly competing American Values. You will find a thread titled “American Values”
