Every society has a set of social ethics. In other words, there are rules, values, and standards by which people live their lives, regardless of different cultures. There are four key elements that make up democratic social ethics according to Addams.
1) No one group of people are more important than another
2) All people are active agents
3) People seek opportunity for kindliness
4) Personal safety of all members of a social democracy is tied to the personal safety of each
We have seen all throughout human history how these elements have been violated in a multitude of ways. The example of bride kidnapping in class was a perfect example of how flagrantly these elements can be violated. Maybe it's ethnocentric of me to think like this, but I'm confused at how all of that couldn't have just felt....wrong. I feel like it probably does to them, but they ignore it due to cultural factors. Or maybe they do not feel it is wrong because they have never grown up thinking that it is wrong. I guess that would be hard for me to judge that then.
I think it is really easy to find examples of ways that these elements are broken, but I think there is a reason for this. I feel like because we are imperfect humans, it is nearly impossible to be completely compliant with all of these elements. Because then, ideally, the United States would fall into that category. We live in a land where we believe that all men are created equal, we all have have a right to our freedom of speech and the right to vote, most people are kind by nature (this is debatable but one could argue that Addams does include that culture is what makes people not so kind), and we are all threatened by the violated safety of other citizens. Although I feel this is mostly true, it is not completely true. Maybe by law all of us are equal, but we see discrimination against races, genders, and age groups all the time, even in America. Of course these are ideal, and many societies come close to having all these elements in harmony, but I do think it is somewhat unrealistic.
Here is one example of inequality in America. Check out this article from The Huffington Post here!
Natalie, good thoughts on Addams thoughts. I too could not help but think that the bride kidnapping was just plain, wrong; but i think it is good that we both recognize that this is part of their culture, the way the grew up (although it still seems wrong). I really enjoyed your thoughts on how we may all seem to be equal, but in reality we really are not. You could have taken a case of a group of people and discussed more on how they are treated unequally. I really enjoyed your article! Overall, great blog post!
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