The Culture Of Conflict In Ronald Reagan's View Of Culture

Culture is often defined as accepted beliefs, norms, customs, traditions, values, and behaviors that a social group shares. In other words, culture is a way of life. From a culture conflict perspective, the root cause of crime is a clash of values between different social groups over what is acceptable or proper behavior. Thorstein Sellin (1938) stated that crime is the result of conflicts between the norms of the different cultural groups. Culture of conflict occurs when the norms of one culture or subculture come in contact with those of another (Sellin, 1938). The result is often an imposition of dominant cultural values and norms on the subculture. This ultimately results in increased tension or conflict. Thus, from this perspective, culture

According to Reagan, under false pretenses, the welfare queen got medicaid, food stamps, and was collecting welfare under each of her names. Reagan made the welfare queen the symbol or poster child, symbolizing all that was wrong with welfare in the United States. Similarly, Willie Horton became the poster child for prison or corrections. The Bush campaign attacked Dukakis, accusing him of being soft on crime. Bush was able to use the Horton story to play on racialized fears of white voters. In essence, the welfare queen and Willie Horton reinforced the linkage between blackness and crime (Culverson, 2006). Meta and Herrerias (2006) support this notion, adding, politicians use racial and ethics groups to win. Politicians also promote racial and ethnic stereotypes that feed discrimination. The authors state that in more troubled times, nativists have portrayed latinos as criminals, violent, and manipulative. Similarly, the more threatening the Indian was perceived to be, the more negative the stereotypes became (Lujan, 2006). According to the author, a common conception was that all indians who drink are drunks or that indians are racially unable to to drink moderately. Preconceived ideas about minority groups play a significant role at all stages of the criminal justice system including arrest, conviction, sentencing, and incarceration (Mann et. al., 2006). American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) are more likely to receive longer sentences because of the negative stereotype that they are