Research on American Culture

Research on American Culture

The book A Nation of Victims : The Decay of the American Character offers rich and clear reflections on the present state of the American society and its continual cultural and social decline . Truly , the book is controversial and intriguing as there are some claims that would not sit well with some people , but there are definitely interesting parts that would appear to be convincing and true . This essay would review the assumptions of the book , then evaluate its persuasiveness , veracity and accuracy , and offer reflections and valuations on

the work

As the author would argue , America is slowly losing its character and values , as there is the continual claim that they are victims . This victim mentality is what is prevalent in America today , as claimed by Sykes , and it is exactly what is wrong with the country . This would refer to the attitude of people in blaming others and not claiming responsibility , or throwing faults to other people . This tends to be the usual and common remark of practically everyone , but is very much apparent in the society . Gamblers , even felons , would claim to be victims , or an example used by the author is obese or overweight people who would claim to be victims of small seats or inadequate space . The act of blaming other and claiming to be victims ' seems to have already become the norm in the society , yet people would not point at themselves even if they are the ones who are really at fault . This has led to the decline of values in the society , and continues to corrode America

The American people continues to create diseases ' to explain or justify some social actions , which can sometimes be ridiculous and would only serve to perpetuate the victim mentality . The author Sykes would hence point to the Psychology field as one of the factors that contributed to such culture . New diseases and supposedly psychological problems are being created and invented to gives names and explanations to something that is merely an ordinary challenge that a person would face . People now would claim to have these psychological problems , and would use this to justify certain actions and attitudes . would basically admit that they are simply at fault or doing the wrong thing because there is a clinical explanation for everything . Everyone and anyone now becomes a victim

The author would lay blame on the activism that was prevalent during the past decades as something that contributed to this hyper-assertive culture . Also , the numerous crimes brought about by poverty and the youth is something that essentially corrupted the society by wreaking havoc to how justice is being done . Also , the demoralized society has destroyed the institutions of school , urban life , and other important social institutions . There is even the very sensitive statement that the African-American community has accepted even prolongs the victim status . This is a statement that would definitely collect criticisms as there would be questions on the accuracy or the veracity...