Critical analysis of "Whatever Happened to the Real America" by Mahin Gosine

¶ … Real America?

Interestingly enough, one of the themes in the post-modernism period of American history has been the reexamination of the "real America," particularly the moral, ethical and sexual changes that have evolved since the turn of the century. This has not been a new theme, nor has it been relegated to non-fiction. At the beginning of the 20th century, American novelists were expanding the role fiction took by examining high and low life in society. Edith Wharton, for instance, found tremendous hypocrisy within the ranks of the Eastern elite in terms of morality and sexuality and in Sister Carrie, Theodore Dreiser portrayed a country girl who moved to the big city of Chicago to become a "kept woman," relinquishing her American morals for the pleasures of the flesh. Similarly, even in the stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald, John Dos Passos, and Ernest Hemingway there are notions and reexaminations of the role of sexuality within the dichotomy of the morals and philosophies from the Founding Fathers to the modern age (Trask, 2003).

The issue of sex in contemporary culture is a varied and difficult topic to generalize. Just as there seems to be far more promiscuity and adolescent sexuality, there are also trends towards celibacy before marriage, the juxtaposition of Christian values on alternative sexual preferences, and a strong sense of teaching children about sexuality in a way that encourages safe sex practices as well as informed choice. What then is the "state of human sexuality in America?" Some would argue that it is no different in contemporary America than it was in the 1950s, 1920s, 1800s, and so on. Instead, there are differences in attitudes, permissions, and above all, like so much in advancing technological cultures -- the influence of the media on attitudes and normative behavior. Five decades ago, for example, individuals were limited on what they could view on television, what was permissible in the movie theater, and what access they had to sexual issues, violence, news, other cultures, and more. The age of the Internet has changed the way the world works -- not just American society, but the entire world.

The question then becomes, is there more sexual activity in contemporary society? Are there more instances of sexual deviation or alternate sexual lifestyles? The scholarly answer is: likely no -- in proportion to the population, there are likely similar amounts and behaviors that make up the sexual continuum. What is, however, clearly different, is the manner in which these differences are expressed, viewed in the media, and accessed by children. Premarital sexual exploration, homosexuality, adultery, and sexual proclivities are not new -- history is rife with examples from the Ancient Civilizations, through the Medieval and Renaissance Courts, the Papacy, and in just about every society anthropologically studied. One academic remarked that the generalized view of sex in the Christian perspective was quite simple, "don't -- but if you do, don't enjoy it" (Berthrong, 2004). This rather tongue-and-cheek generalization does take into account a more conservative tradition, not just regarding sexuality activity, but the manner in which many more conservative traditions interpret physical and emotional pleasure -- in some ways rejecting the very nature of God's creation of humans as multidimensional and capable, indeed needing, a large range of stimuli (Smith, 1996).

The bibliographic venue of works on American Human Sexuality, particularly since World War II is vast. From the controversial studies of the Kinsey Institute to the open and alternative press and many volumes in-between, modern American academia and popular press alike are abuzz about morality, sexuality, and the changes wrought in America. Now we have another opinion that takes on a huge task -- the question of Whatever Happened to the Real America? This is a huge topic, and deals with sociology, history, political culture, politics, and really every aspect of American culture. In many ways, the tome asks us what many conservative platforms do -- fill the reader with valid nostalgia about the way things were before factory farming, too many hormones in the food, rampant crime and pollution -- and, a different and more moralistic and private look at sexuality and sexual practices. The challenge therein, though is often seen in historical materials -- what is left out about the nostalgia from the past that has changed for the positive? Written by Professor of Political Science, Dr. Mahine Gosine of St. Joseph's College, Whatever Happened to the Real America is thought provoking, certainly opinionated, but challenging nonetheless (Gosine, 2010).

Chapter Summaries

Chapter 1 -- This introductory chapter focuses on interaction theory and gives an overview of the comparison of what Dr. Gosine views as traditional America with contemporary American society, what went wrong, and what the current standards of living may say about American culture, morality, social standing, and opportunity. In essence, the Chapter asks us to consider the "American Dream," what that mean, and whether the belief system established by the Founding Fathers is in evidence. Gosine sees class struggle in America as moving backwards, not forwards -- evident in the gap between the rich and the poor. Indeed, whale he sees that we as a nation have, on many occasions, bounced back from adversity (war, Depression, etc.), we are struggling now with a culture of narcissism and hedonism. Of course, these two isms are reflective in the culture of sexuality -- so permeating in almost every aspect of modern marketing culture.

Chapter 2 -- "The Lessons of History," challenges the reader to look at conflict theory to explain how some of the so-called great cultures and societies of history "fell" due to some of the similarities they have with America of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Gosine focuses more on the Euro-Centric model (Greece and Rome), to ask will America, like almost all of the other great civilizations from Mesopotamia onward, fall from within? Second, are there similarities and commonalities in the socio-economic and moral health of these civilizations that may also bring down contemporary America? Certainly, in terms of sexuality and morality, Gosine sees a trend in the Ancient World that when there was an ebb in moral thought and culture, the overall nature of the society was hampered as well. Interestingly, it is a decline in legal, ethical, judicial, and even political standards that acts in juxtaposition with a decline in a moral center that Gosine believes causes a relative moral vacuum within a society, making it vulnerable from within. The breakdown of morality, then, becomes historically linked with a relative sexual permissiveness within these great societies.

Chapter 3 -- In "Money, Sex, and the American Media," we see Gosine's full realization that with the advent of the Industrial Revolution and the rise of capitalism, we find that sex, like other goods, becomes commodified. Sexual behavior then, is seen not as a sacrosanct gift between two committed individuals, but something to be objectified, sold, marketed, and pined for without thought for any psycho-social ramifications. In a way, Gosine sees the American paradigm of sexual permissiveness as being let loose from Puritanism in a pendulum swing -- from severe regulation and privacy to the exact opposite. Pre-marital and extra-marital sex are glorified with the media; the sex industry is rampant, and the media messages given to all are surrounded by the allure and the promise that sexuality is the answer to being happy.

Chapter 4- "Materialism, Toys, and Keeping Up with the Jones," takes us on a tour of greed in modern American life. The accumulation of things is more important than emotion or feelings, and as America has de-emphasized labor and focused on service, the idea of being hip, new, popular, and sexy is the idea of the moment. America is not only materialistic, it is wasteful, and in its waste we find not only goods being wasted and tossed (e.g. watches, clothing, food, etc.) but the very nature of the personality being wasted for a quick fix through shopping, purchasing power, and the sexual allure one must pine for because one is never good enough -- at least according to the American marketing machine.

Chapter 5- What was it that made America so attractive to the millions of immigrants from all over the world throughout most of the 19th and early 20th centuries? In a word, according to Gosine, altruism. Altruism as one of the primary American traditions has gone to the point of now culminating in a hyper sense of egoism and self-serving behavior. Quality of life is seen as a right as opposed to a privilege, and America is now facing the very real possibility that the current generation will be the first generation in over a century that will have less wealth and a harder time in retirement than the previous generation. What does altruism have to do with sexuality and sexual behavior in America, one might ask? It is easy, according to Gosine, to see that at the individual, group, and even political levels, the transfer of egotism to the rampant definitions of sexuality and sexual behavior then become the focus of how a person views not only themselves, but their peers and then, by extension, the rest of society. Sexual laxness is not simply relaxing one's morality, but it is replacing the idea of oneself with the "selling of the sexuality of the person," as opposed to the myriad of other factors that make up that person's ability to actualize. This gap, then, causes a sense of cognitive dissonance that, like a cancer from within, eats away at American society.

Chapter 6- In "Pundits, Social Scientists, and the Flaming Liberals," Gosine attacks those pundits who believe they have the answers to all of America's problems. Gosine does not discriminate as to conservative or liberal -- he is equally as critical of the far right of Rush Limbaugh as he is of the hyper-religious of Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson. Equally of concern are those who, in fact, should probably not have even the slightest degree of credibility and who usually uphold the far-left; the actors like Jane Fonda and Cher who, behind their million dollar facade, advocate more liberal social policies to provide essentially a social welfare system for all. And, ironically, it is not just politics that become the buzz words of these groups, but often the use of their own sexuality and views that become, in the case of the actors and actresses, the new American elite. We cannot, however, separate these societal "experts" from the media, for in truth, it is the media that nurtured their views -- and who are just as quick to find the sexual foibles of the religious right as they are to focus upon and report those household names that sell millions for the tabloids.

Chapter 7- For centuries, according to Gosine, America has been globally seen as the land of endless opportunity and equality -- a place where people can live, work, and retire in relative comfort if they have worked, acted morally, and led a good life. Instead, the reality is that America is still quite a racist society in which only a select group controls the housing, health care, and social welfare policy. America gives lip service to caring about its citizens, but remains ambivalent about many of the aged, particularly the minority aged. And, in terms of health and social welfare policy, we need only look at the way American has handled what the Center For Disease Control calls the new pandemic -- HIV / AIDS. Far from being a compassionate nation that wishes to eradicate this disease, and any other Sexually Transmitted Infection, the dual standard of assigned morality is used when the economics are about saving what the political elite see as a disinfranched group (homosexuals, drug abusers, minorities).

Chapter 9- In "Blacks and Discrimination, American Style," Gosine examines the manner in which Black Americans are involved within the areas of education, politics, and the economic life of modern America. We must certainly remember, racism can be covert or overt; it does not need to exist as it did in the Old South to be rampant or even palpable within society. Instead, while there are more Blacks who are educated in America today, there are disproportionately fewer Blacks in positions of authority, higher education, and the so-called "serious" sides of American culture. However, there is another clear disparity between the ways Blacks are treated in American culture -- the rampant selling of the primal and often undeserved, nature of their sexuality. It is more than permissive for Blacks to be "sold" to America for their sporting expertise and sex appeal (jazz, dance, the sultry nature of their color) than it is to find them expert in politics or economics.

Chapter 10- America, from the 1780s onward, and particularly after the War of 1812, has been a powerful nation. Not as powerful in the 18th and 19th centuries as the great European powers, but certainly after World War I and World War II the global force for political, social, and economic power. After World War II and the advent of the dual political battle between the United States and the Soviet Union, the Cold War, it was the American ideals of truth, justice, liberty, baseball, and the so-called "American Way" that permeated the globe. America money rescued Europe and Japan from bankruptcy after World War II, and if countries sided with America, American money propped up their economies for decades. It is this power, the hunger for power at least, and the presumptive nature of this power, that Gosine sees as correctly identifying America, much like the arrogance of the Roman Republic, in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. However, Gosine further argues that it was the social institutions of the early Americans which "emphasized such things as thrift, sacrifice, hard work, investment, altruism, deferred gratification, and so on" as the real American ideal. Modern America, Gosine says, has none of these, and the media machine that demands instant product and sexual gratification then juxtaposes those very same ideas onto the rest of the world. And, to top it off, if these ideals are not accepted, then the American machine has no further use for the "little guy," except to blame for global problems.

Chapter 11- How does modern America receive and process its information? What do Americans rely on for truth about the world? According to Professor Gosine, it is "Gossip, the Superficial Society and Destroying our Heroes." America finds truth in innuendo, in tabloid-style news, or news that is recreated against a backdrop that has little bearing on the reality of the situation. And what are we concerned with -- well, primarily the sexual behaviors of our elected officials, their peccadillos, and their private lives as opposed to the substantive parts of their jobs as public servants. And, frankly, why should America be so enamored about who is dating whom in Hollywood -- these people are not the heroic types society should look up to, but rather those who act out a character on screen and read lines from a script. In fact, Gosine sees a recent alarming trend in America's hyper-revisionist view of our traditional heroes. Our Presidents have moved from the heroic to those who had sex with slaves, affairs in the White House with little regard for their policies or attempts to change the world. This obsession with the tawdry, Gosine finds alarming and part of the reason for a continuous decline in morals. After all, if we can actually have no heroes- who do our children aspire to be?

Chapter 13- One of the important considerations for any analysis of contemporary America is the manner in which technology, or "Mechanization, Computerization, and the Negation of Humanization," contribute to Gosine's view that America is headed down a path to ruin. Certainly, one of the hallmarks of late 20th century society is the increased amount of technological innovation that permeates global society. The Internet has brought the world closer together, just as cell phone, tablet, and computer technology has shortened global distances and contacts. Globalization has, indeed, changed the world culture and the manner in which countries now interact with one another. However, with this computerization and mechanization, Gosine sees the basic ideals of the human spirit evaporating. And, do Americas focus on using technology to make the world a better place, or instead, do we export out movies, advertising, and products so that the world will see it is important to be American, or at least buy like an American, in order to be successful. Indeed, technology, as well as advertising and marketing, continues to dehumanize women, place them in a purely sexual role, and cause consumers to continually feel inadequate because they have not been able to satisfy what society says is the appropriate ideal, translated into sexual desirability.

Chapter 15 -- And how does America perpetuate its ideals -- culturally, politically, and socially? In "The Colonialists, the Neocolonialist, and the Multi-Nationals," Gosine clearly sees America as a broad Colonial power; oppressing and demeaning other nations as we continue to exploit them for their needed natural resources. America props up dictatorial terrorists for several years, and then decides their policies no longer "fit" the current regime, so we opt for change or war. America takes the idea of manifest destiny to its extreme, to the point in which not only does America take material goods from other cultures, but exports American vices (cigarettes, alcohol) and American sexuality (movies, advertising, etc.) so that the rest of the world is, essentially, colonized by American ideals.

Theoretical Basis -- Clearly, Dr. Gosine is not a fan of modern America. Again and again, the theoretical basis for the arguments made are focused on a lack of morality, both cultural and philosophical, which in turn bleeds off into the manner in which America then becomes a monolithic culture of perversion. Gone are the ideals of the Enlightenment that changed the world forever with the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights; gone is the Jeffersonian nature of the goodness of Americans and their hard-working, fair spirit; and gone is the country that established democracy as an aspired to economic and social basis for living. Instead, it is now America the corrupt, America the less than bold, and an America is which the operative paradigm is rampant consumerism and overt sexuality. Theoretically, then, Gosine is both conservative and nostalgic, believing that the rhetoric of the past translated into a kind of Platonian hierarchy in which philosopher kings ruled whet ever their title. Whether or not this particular America really ever existed is never explained in this book, but it most certainly is the measuring stick from which all other 20th and 21st century attitudes and behaviors are measured.

Methodology- Gosine's methodology is primarily based on social interaction, or how the social processes such as conflict, cooperation, cultural formation, economics and politics) form a larger picture of human interaction, in this case, the manner in which America has devolved from its origins. In a sense, he seems to maintain that meaning in American society is a product of the micro-sociological forces that, when combined and amplified by demographics and psychographics, create and exemplify culture. The book is filled with numerous examples of behavior and interaction, of platitudes and trends, and of a number of generalities. Each chapter segment delves into what Gosine sees as a broad-based rubric or outline of the way that American society has decayed over the past century, particularly since World War II. Each of these chapters has a brief reference section, albeit mostly sociological books dealing with general aspects of behavior. The book reads primarily as an argument or speech, and as such is highly repetitive in many aspects, with additional broad generalities used to prove points in certain sections (Bales, 2001).