The Breeding of an Adversarial Culture

  • Patrick M. Garry

Abstract

American society has always had its cultural myths. From the 17th-century Puritan “City on a Hill” to the rugged individualism of the Western frontier, certain cultural models have been used to characterize and describe American society. Perhaps the most enduring social model and cultural myth has been that of the melting pot. Symbolized by the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, the melting pot model described America as a country where immigrants from different corners of the world came to start a new life by stepping out of their previous ethnic identities and into the American melting pot. It was this melting pot in which they were all transformed into the ingredients of one and the same national brew.

Keywords

Sexual Harassment Affirmative Action Adversarial Model Cultural Myth Rugged Individualism 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Notes

  1. 1.
    Robert Hughes, Culture of Complaint: The Fraying of America (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993).Google Scholar
  2. 2.
    David Guterson, “Moneyball,” Harper’s Magazine (September 1994): 45.Google Scholar
  3. 3.
    William Bukeley, “Sponsoring Sports Gains in Popularity,” Wall Street Journal (June 24, 1994), p. B1.Google Scholar
  4. 4.
    Tim Jones, “The Boom in Sports on TV,” Chicago Tribune (May 12, 1996), p. N1.Google Scholar
  5. 5.
  6. 6.
    John Stravinsky, “He Shoots, He Scores, He Insults,” New York Times (May 22, 1994), p. 13A.Google Scholar
  7. 7.
    Seth Mydans, “Nice Guys Finish Last,” New York Times (April 9, 1994), p. A7.Google Scholar
  8. 8.
  9. 9.
    Eleena DeLisser, “Abusive Fans Lead Amateur Umpires to Ask Courts for Protection,” Wall Street Journal (August 1, 1994), p. B1.Google Scholar
  10. 10.
    Ellen Warren, “Is Learning Finishing Second to Winning?” Chicago Tribune (April 16, 1995), p. 1A.Google Scholar
  11. 11.
    Hiller Zobel, “In Love with Lawsuits,” American Heritage (November 1994): 60.Google Scholar
  12. 12.
    John Marks, “The American Uncivil Wars,” U.S. News & World Report (April 22, 1996): 68.Google Scholar
  13. 13.
    Elijah Anderson, “The Code of the Streets,” The Atlantic Monthly (May 1994): 83.Google Scholar
  14. 14.
    Ibid, p. 94.Google Scholar
  15. 15.
    Pete Hamill, “End Game,” Esquire (December 1994): 86.Google Scholar
  16. 16.
    See Martha Bayles, Hole in Our Soul: The Loss of Beauty and Meaning in American Popular Music (New York: Free Press, 1994).Google Scholar
  17. 17.
    B. Drummond Ayres, “Art or Trash?” New York Times (June 8, 1996), p. 6A.Google Scholar
  18. 18.
    William Grimes, “Burgeoning Civility Deficit Could Be Next National Woe,” New York Times (November 16, 1993), p. 12A.Google Scholar
  19. 19.
  20. 20.
    Angela Stofley, “Rude Doctors Sued More,” New York Times (November 25, 1994), p. 9A.Google Scholar
  21. 21.
    Patrick Garry, An American Paradox: Censorship in a Nation of Speech (Westport, CT: Praeger, 1993), p. 56.Google Scholar
  22. 22.
    Gerald Graff, Beyond the Culture Wars: How Teaching Can Revitalize American Education (New York: W.W. Norton, 1992), p. 81.Google Scholar
  23. 23.
    Harold Bloom, The Western Canon: The Books and Schools of the Ages (New York: Harcourt Brace and Company, 1993), p. 212.Google Scholar
  24. 24.
    Richard Bernstein, Dictatorship of Virtue: Multiculturalism and the Battle for America’s Future (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1994).Google Scholar
  25. 25.
    Richard Rorty, “The Unpatriotic Academy,” New York Times (February 13, 1994), p. 13E.Google Scholar
  26. 26.
    Dirk Johnson, “Word Cops Monitor a Classroom,” Star Tribune (Minneapolis) (May 13, 1994), p. 4A.Google Scholar
  27. 27.
    Daphne Patai and Noretta Koertge, Professing Feminism: Cautionary Tales from the Strange New World of Women’s Studies (New York: Basic Books, 1995), p. 117,Google Scholar
  28. 28.
    Ibid., p. 151.Google Scholar
  29. 29.
    Robert and Jon Solomon, Up the University (Massachusetts: Addison-Wesley, 1993), p. 37.Google Scholar
  30. 30.
    Mickiko Kakutani, “Biography as Blood Sport,” New York Times (September 20, 1994), p. B1.Google Scholar
  31. 31.
  32. 32.
    Sam Dillon, “AIDS Curriculum: Fighting Words,” New York Times (October 24, 1994), p. B1.Google Scholar
  33. 33.
  34. 34.
    John Marks, “The American Uncivil Wars,” U.S. News & World Report (April 22, 1996): 69.Google Scholar
  35. 35.
    Wendy Bounds, “More Students and Parents Take Their Schools to Court,” Wall Street Journal (July 26, 1994), p. B1.Google Scholar
  36. 36.
    Sue Shellenbarger, “Work-Force Study Finds Loyalty Is Weak,” Wall Street Journal (September 3, 1993), p. B1.Google Scholar
  37. 37.
    Margaret Jacobs, “Courts Conflicted over Religion in Workplace,” Wall Street Journal (October 10, 1995), p. B1.Google Scholar
  38. 38.
    Frances McMorris, “Can Post-Traumatic Stress Arise from Office Battles?” Wall Street Journal (February 19, 1996), p. 1B.Google Scholar
  39. 39.
    Ginia Bellafante, “Are Women Too Nice at the Office?” Time (October 3, 1994): 60.Google Scholar
  40. 40.
    Lisa Genasci, “The Perils of Plaintiffs,” Star Tribune (Minneapolis) (October 11, 1994), p. 1D.Google Scholar
  41. 41.
    Thomas Lueck, “Job-Loss Anger,” Wall Street Journal (December 12, 1993), p. 1A.Google Scholar
  42. 42.
    Anastasia Toufexis, “Workers Who Fight Firing with Fire,” Time (April 25, 1994): 36,Google Scholar
  43. 43.
    Joan Rigdon, “Companies See More Workplace Violence,” Wall Street Journal (April 12, 1994), p. B1.Google Scholar
  44. 44.
    Mathew Purdy, “Workplace Homicides Provoking Negligence Lawsuits,” New York Times (February 14, 1994), p. 1A.Google Scholar
  45. 45.
    Dennis Farney, “Gay Rights Confront Determined Resistance,” Wall Street Journal (October 7, 1994), p. 1A.Google Scholar
  46. 46.
  47. 47.
    Paul Starobin, “A Generation of Vipers,” Columbia Journalism Review (March 1995): 27.Google Scholar
  48. 48.
    Kenneth Walsh, Feeding the Beast (New York: Random House, 1996), p. 56.Google Scholar
  49. 49.
    Larry Sabato, Feeding Frenzy: How Attack Journalism Has Transformed American Politics (New York: Free Press, 1991).Google Scholar
  50. 50.
    Thomas Patterson, Out of Order (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1993), p. 71.Google Scholar
  51. 51.
  52. 52.
    Adam Gopnik, “Read All about It,” The New Yorker (December 12, 1994): 86.Google Scholar
  53. 53.
    Ibid., p. 93.Google Scholar
  54. 54.
    William Glaberson, “Cynicism Erodes Press Credibility,” Star Tribune (Minneapolis) (October 14, 1994), p. 4A.Google Scholar
  55. 55.
    Peter Brown, “Gotcha Journalism,” Media Critic (Autumn 1994): 66–73.Google Scholar
  56. 56.
    Ibid., p. 72.Google Scholar
  57. 57.
    Louis Harris and Associates survey. The Privacy Study, No. 902030 (March 1990).Google Scholar
  58. 58.
    Adam Clymer, “Taking Power in the Age of Defiance,” New York Times (January 8, 1995), p. 17E.Google Scholar
  59. 59.
  60. 60.
    “Partisan Hostility Strong in Wake of Cams Battle,” Star Tribune (Minneapolis) (March 12, 1995), p. 15A.Google Scholar
  61. 61.
    Jan Ferris, “Village Boards Veer toward Uncivil Liberties,” Chicago Tribune (September 25, 1994), p. 1A.Google Scholar
  62. 62.
    Katharine Seelye, “In Attack on Gingrich, Democrats Use His Tactics,” New York Times (January 19, 1995), p. 1A.Google Scholar
  63. 63.
    Sharon Schmickle, “Federal Partisanship Is Culmination of Trend,” New York Times (December 4, 1995), p. 1A.Google Scholar
  64. 64.
    Katharine Seelye, “Lawmakers Take Sour View as Session Totters to Close,” New York Times (October 1, 1994), p. 1A.Google Scholar
  65. 65.
    Text of remarks appeared in Chicago Tribune (November 15, 1994), p. 7A.Google Scholar
  66. 66.
    Sam Howe Verhovek, “Retiring Senator Sees Turmoil Ahead,” New York Times (November 16, 1994), p. 11A.Google Scholar
  67. 67.
    “Alabama Senator Is Fourth Democrat to Retire,” New York Times (March 29, 1995), p. 10A.Google Scholar
  68. 68.
    Robert Whereatt, “Suspicion, Paranoia, Lies,” Star Tribune (Minneapolis) (November 22, 1994), p. 1B.Google Scholar

Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media New York 1997

Authors and Affiliations

  • Patrick M. Garry

There are no affiliations available

Personalised recommendations