Dehumanizing & Devoid of Discipline:

Gun Violence in America

Caitlin Begg

Sociology 133

Why Did I Choose This Topic?

• Gun Violence in America as an organizational challenge
• Discipline -- Democratization -- Dehuminization
  • Can democratic laws break the cycle of dehuminzation and lack of discipline in gun violence?
• Freud & Disillusionment
• Propaganda & War on Guns
• Personal connection -- Newtown / Sandy Hook

Gun Violence in America:

The Facts

Gun violence deaths in the US:

• 92 people die each day
• 33,600 people die each year 
•  21,000  suicides
• 12, 000 murdered
• 600 accidental

Gun Violence in America:

The  Facts

Causes of Death in US per 100,000

• Heart Disease Deaths - 193 
• Cancer - 186
• Diabetes - 22.4
• Suicide - 12.4
• Liver disease/cirrhosis - 10.3
• Firearms - 10.2
• Hypertension - 8.6
• Firearm Suicide - 6.3

• public health issue of gun violence relative to proposed "gag orders" (FL)

My Argument

I will be analyzing gun violence in America in terms of its organizational violence and challenges to society.

I intend to explore the balance of crime

and rationality in terms of the United States government refraining from enacting

gun safety laws.

How can we effectively deal with high levels of crime and propaganda to eliminate this organizational challenge from society?

Weeks Used

• Week 3: Propaganda, Militarism, and the Thrill of War
• Week 4: Violence as an Organizational Challenge
• Week 5: Crime and Rationality

Week 3

Bacevich's notion of blind faith in American values

"The tilt had gone too far" ... "The Key, wrote Colonel Summers, was to dray a "clear distinction between war and peace". In Vietnam, a murky conflict that had dragged on endlessly and aimlessly, that distinction had been lost..." (Bacevich)

Futurist Manifesto... love of danger, aggressive action, revolt (Marinetti) 

Aggressive nationalism / antidemocratic fascism   (Mann)

Week 4

Guns as a "culture shaping force" (Ehrenreich) associated with nationalistic sentiment

Used as propaganda by NRA to block gun safety laws

Discipline in relation to concepts of domination and power and asceticism (isolation, self-denial) (Weber)

"On one occasion, we were even kept going for forty-eight hours straight"... Longing for order (Junger)

Week 5

Disillusionment... drunk on nationalistic sentiment; suspending idea of right and wrong (Freud) 

"Fear and Madness have been man's companions in war since the beginning of recorded history, and, most probably, before that." (Gabriel)

Wars are costly but continue to occur... we misunderstand how our actions produce it (Fearon)

Cost of gun violence estimated to be ~$100 billion in '98 (Ludwig and Cook)

Looking Forward...

• Gun safety as an organizational challenge - legislation
• Aggressive nationalism vs rationalization

"90 percent of Americans support background checks for all gun purchases is true, when Americans are asked if they support stricter gun laws in general, they split on partisan lines and support for gun control drops below 50 percent" ... move beyond partisan lines for discipline, democratization, and rational legislation

Questions?