China Cat Sunflower
Nimrod
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I’ve been hearing a lot of muttering about how America is going down the toilet because of a general erosion of morals and traditional values. The political right has latched onto this sentiment and used it to great effect in the last few election cycles. Some posters here may be convinced that things have become so bad that the end of the world is immanent, and that seems to be a widespread and common conception among many of their fellow believers in this country. I have a different view.
First, I think that these somewhat amorphous “values”, the importance of which was picked up in exit polls and widely reported in the media, are not specifically religious in nature. There is a religious component to be sure, but I think what Americans refer to as “values” is a whole set of what might be called “perceived social norms.” There is a palpable resistance on the part of American society as a whole to change in the way things “always have been, and should always be.” I think this super-set of cultural values is what people often refer to as the “American way.”
Looking at watershed events in, for example, the civil rights movements from women’s suffrage through the present debate over same sex marriage, including the struggle to end racial segregation, radical feminism in the ’60’s, etc., one can see resistance to cultural change consistently coming from conservative Christianity. While the rhetoric of those who oppose change is consciously designed to couch the issue as a fight for traditional religious-moral values, the real underlying issue is a general fear of, and resistance to change itself. In the current debate over same sex marriage, for example, the rhetoric may overtly emphasize “sin” or the “sanctity” of heterosexual marriage, but the real issue is an insidious fear of making that large of a change in the social status quo. Heterosexual marriage is “sanctified” as a social institution largely by virtue of the fact that we’re so used to it being that way.
But even the fear of, and resistance to cultural and social change isn’t the bedrock cause of people’s anxiety over the preservation of traditional values. What makes up our collective sense of morals, ethics, and values, and defines our cultural identity is a super-set of aesthetic, quantitative, and structural expectations ranging from religious and political sensibilities all the way down to what color and shape a stop sign should be. Houses are square or rectangular, goods come packaged in certain standard quantities and sizes of containers, and people assume certain roles and modes of dress. Even ideas and aesthetics like art and architecture are conceptualized in accordance with standard forms.
All of these norms, together with the mutually accepted modes in which we interact with other people within our families, extended families and social circles, and how we collectively form and participate in religious and secular communities make up what we might call a social mythology. When we make reference to the “American way” we are really referring to this mythical structure. What then happens is that these collective practices, modes of action, organization, and discourse begin to appear to be “realized myth.” This is the reason why the anxiety induced by changes in the “way things are and always have been” manifests as a perceived threat to religion and its assumed hegemony over, and guardianship of “morals”.
Change is inevitable, though. The reason change is inevitable is that we live in a capitalist society, and capitalism is dynamic, and therefore inherently unstable. In order for capitalism to continue to work the market must continually expand. More, and more, and more capital must be created forever. People must purchase and consume more, and more, and more goods forever. If the market ever stops growing or becomes saturated with goods the whole house of cards will collapse. There are several ways to keep this constant growth happening.
One way is to get people to continually buy more goods through planned obsolescence. Fashions change, and new clothes, cars and electronics are pushed as the remedy to dreaded un-stylishness. Sex appeal has been created as an artificial commodity to get people to buy everything from toothpaste to beer. And now with erectile disfunction remedies, the marketing industry hopes to extend the “sex sells” approach all the way to the nursing home set. Another approach is to erode the price of labor so that larger profits can be made even if volume remains consistent. The power of labor unions is attacked, people are forced to work longer for less, and there is the constant threat of off shoring.
The point I’m making here is that what is causing Americans to feel an uncomfortable underlying sense of anxiety and jumpiness is the increasing rapidity with which cultural and social changes are occurring to shore up the very viability of our capitalist system. So many little changes happen all the time, but we’ve become accustomed to dismissing them. But the cumulative effect is that we feel insecure without really knowing why until a big overt change like a terrorist attack on home soil and a war comes along. Put a biggy issue like same sex marriage on top of that and it’s more change than we can stand.
Chris
First, I think that these somewhat amorphous “values”, the importance of which was picked up in exit polls and widely reported in the media, are not specifically religious in nature. There is a religious component to be sure, but I think what Americans refer to as “values” is a whole set of what might be called “perceived social norms.” There is a palpable resistance on the part of American society as a whole to change in the way things “always have been, and should always be.” I think this super-set of cultural values is what people often refer to as the “American way.”
Looking at watershed events in, for example, the civil rights movements from women’s suffrage through the present debate over same sex marriage, including the struggle to end racial segregation, radical feminism in the ’60’s, etc., one can see resistance to cultural change consistently coming from conservative Christianity. While the rhetoric of those who oppose change is consciously designed to couch the issue as a fight for traditional religious-moral values, the real underlying issue is a general fear of, and resistance to change itself. In the current debate over same sex marriage, for example, the rhetoric may overtly emphasize “sin” or the “sanctity” of heterosexual marriage, but the real issue is an insidious fear of making that large of a change in the social status quo. Heterosexual marriage is “sanctified” as a social institution largely by virtue of the fact that we’re so used to it being that way.
But even the fear of, and resistance to cultural and social change isn’t the bedrock cause of people’s anxiety over the preservation of traditional values. What makes up our collective sense of morals, ethics, and values, and defines our cultural identity is a super-set of aesthetic, quantitative, and structural expectations ranging from religious and political sensibilities all the way down to what color and shape a stop sign should be. Houses are square or rectangular, goods come packaged in certain standard quantities and sizes of containers, and people assume certain roles and modes of dress. Even ideas and aesthetics like art and architecture are conceptualized in accordance with standard forms.
All of these norms, together with the mutually accepted modes in which we interact with other people within our families, extended families and social circles, and how we collectively form and participate in religious and secular communities make up what we might call a social mythology. When we make reference to the “American way” we are really referring to this mythical structure. What then happens is that these collective practices, modes of action, organization, and discourse begin to appear to be “realized myth.” This is the reason why the anxiety induced by changes in the “way things are and always have been” manifests as a perceived threat to religion and its assumed hegemony over, and guardianship of “morals”.
Change is inevitable, though. The reason change is inevitable is that we live in a capitalist society, and capitalism is dynamic, and therefore inherently unstable. In order for capitalism to continue to work the market must continually expand. More, and more, and more capital must be created forever. People must purchase and consume more, and more, and more goods forever. If the market ever stops growing or becomes saturated with goods the whole house of cards will collapse. There are several ways to keep this constant growth happening.
One way is to get people to continually buy more goods through planned obsolescence. Fashions change, and new clothes, cars and electronics are pushed as the remedy to dreaded un-stylishness. Sex appeal has been created as an artificial commodity to get people to buy everything from toothpaste to beer. And now with erectile disfunction remedies, the marketing industry hopes to extend the “sex sells” approach all the way to the nursing home set. Another approach is to erode the price of labor so that larger profits can be made even if volume remains consistent. The power of labor unions is attacked, people are forced to work longer for less, and there is the constant threat of off shoring.
The point I’m making here is that what is causing Americans to feel an uncomfortable underlying sense of anxiety and jumpiness is the increasing rapidity with which cultural and social changes are occurring to shore up the very viability of our capitalist system. So many little changes happen all the time, but we’ve become accustomed to dismissing them. But the cumulative effect is that we feel insecure without really knowing why until a big overt change like a terrorist attack on home soil and a war comes along. Put a biggy issue like same sex marriage on top of that and it’s more change than we can stand.
Chris
