Social Problems
#10 Guns and Violence
Welcome to undergraduate Social Problems class. This website was created to support the course and our Lincoln canvas website. I have posted I have posted information on your readings and assignments.
Guns and Violence
Sociologists study guns and violence not simply as individual choices but as social phenomena shaped by culture, institutions, inequality, laws, communities, and social relationships. They will focus on things like, how do social conditions influence gun ownership, gun use, and patterns of violence?
Simply having guns is not the reason the US is considered violent. We also have a what can be called "John Wayne mindset".
I asked AI to give me the actual number of movies with a gun on the movie cover or in the title.
What is the relationship between guns and masculinity?
Violence is as american as apple pie
The United States' homicide rate is typically 3–6 times higher than most Western European countries, about 2–3 times higher than Canada, and more than 20 times higher than Japan.
The U.S. gun homicide rate is dramatically higher than that of other wealthy democracies. Estimates often place it:
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About 9 times higher than Canada
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More than 200 times higher than Japan
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More than 200 times higher than the United Kingdom
Violence is part of USA culture. The country was forged and maintained through episodes of violence. If we go back throgh history we will find many episodes of targeted violence against subordinate groups.
During this session we will discuss the different types of violence in the US. Where do we stand in human history in terms of social violence? Unfortunately, violence is built into our individualistic cowboy 6 shooter culture. We teach violence with our media, religion, social activities, schools etc...
I will discuss the issue of domestic violence in the USA. This is a problem for women and men.
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United States: About 47% of women and 44% of men report experiencing some form of contact sexual violence, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner during their lifetime, according to the CDC's National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey.
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Global: About 27–30% of women have experienced physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence in their lifetime. Comparable global estimates for men are not collected consistently enough to produce a reliable worldwide figure.
BOBO Doll Experiment
We will discuss Social Learning theory, priming, differential association, observational learning, arousal and excitation transfer, emotional desensitization.
Our children are being taught in essence to shoot first and ask questions later. Most of our TV heroes solve their problems with violence. The Bobo study showed that many kids model what they are exposed to. From a sociological perspective that is their job. Model and learn what the cultural representatives do.
Assignment - Kids Who Kill
Using internet resources create a Visual Essay ppt on any case of a child who has committed murder. Tell us the story of the case in a powerpoint using more images than words. The case can be from the USA or International.
The purpose of this assignment is to examine how well you can tell a story with visual images. We live in a very visual society, and it is unfortunate, but many people just don't read. So, we need to be able to communicate effectively using visual media. Select one case of a child or group of children who have killed (the same murder) and tell the story. This assignment is NOT an expose of multiple children who have killed people. The assignment is about one case and how you are able to comprehensively tell their story. Min 15 slides.
The full instructions and a student example of an A presentation is also posted to Canvas.
When creating your presentation consider the following questions.
Who was the child murderer? (give demographic info)
What was the crime?
Who was the victim? How was he killed?
Was there a reason given for the crime?
Was it difficult finding images? (For this assignment you should search everywhere for images and visual elements you can use to tell your story.)
How was the victim portrayed in the media.
Was the social media or technology discussed in the case? How did the media talk about the murderer?
How or did the media discuss the case? In other words, how was the case framed? For example, the urpertrator could be defined as an "animal" or a "child in a bad situation".
Were video games, or technology part of the case?
How or did the community express views on the case? Did they have opinions on the case?
What was the outcome of the case?
How was the victim memorialized?
Was there a trial? Did the kid go to jail, if so for how long? Did they get off? If so, why?
Did any new laws or policies emerge as a result of the case?
Was there anything unique about the case?
Were issues of domestic violence part of the case?
Was the child manipulated into committing the murder?
Was sex, sexuality or sexual identity involved in the case in any way?
Was race, class, gender or sexual orientation relevant to the case?
Your ppt should be presented in a logical, organized manner. Show the viewer the beginning, middle, and end of the case.
Use as many PowerPoint features as you can in the presentation.
•The presentation must have an example of
–Slide transitions
–Custom animation
–Imported images and or text
–Image borders
–At least 1 animated clip
•All presentations must have a reference page. You can cite your references on the individual slides or on a final reference page.
Make sure to look for all images related to the case. Also investigate things like the crime scene, the trial or the media coverage.
When I review your PPT I will be asking the following questions.
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Does this PowerPoint do a good job of giving information on the case?
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Did the PPT address the basic who, what, where, why and when of the case?
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Did the PPT present a clear timeline of case events?
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Did I learn anything from this presentation?
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Were images used effectively to convey information?
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Did the power point use multiple animation techniques and transitions effectively?
