Jane Addams: Public Sociology

In every society and country around the world, there are roles, values, morals, and a group of standards in which people live and view the world, also known as democratic social ethics. Jane Addams came up with four key elements that described what exactly democratic social ethics consisted of: no one group of people are more important than another, all people are active agents, people seek opportunity for kindliness, and personal safety of all members of a social democracy is tied to the personal safety of each.

Realistically, how often does a society actually follow these elements? In almost every society, there is at least one of these elements being violated, if not more. One specific example that sticks out in my mind is the video on kidnapping brides in Kyrgyzstan. After kind of breaking away from the Soviet Union after a long period of time, the people of Kyrgyzstan went back to their old ways and started kidnapping brides. This man in the video literally went to her house where he communicated with her brother (usually the parents) and took a woman, who was already seeing someone else, hostage until the groom's family was finally able to convince the bride to wed. And if the woman was to say no to him, then she would be banned from her family and the entire society. This here alone is breaking at least two of Addam's elements. In Kyrgyzstan, men and women are not at all even close to being equal. Men have so much more say and importance in the society, and women don't even stand a chance. Unless they are okay with being disowned, the women have to say yes against their own will. It also doesn't follow the "all people are active agents" element. Women do not have the ability to act in this society and say what is wrong and what is right, that's not up to them.

America, the land of the free and home of the brave, doesn't even come close to following all of these elements today. The government and some other people may say that men and women are treated equally in today's world, but there are still a lot of men who hold the same job title and position as women making a lot more money than them. Women are also still being sexually harassed in the workforce
too. No one says it or admits it, but men are still dominant in today's society. Not to say that we are horrible people, but there are not enough people in this country that actually still seek opportunity for kindliness. Everyone is focused on only themselves and doing what they need to do to get by. People don't think about ways they could be kind to others on a daily basis. The government is a big example right now.