What are Culture Wars?

Culture wars are conflict’s between social groups, that have different cultural ideas, beliefs and philosophies. Commonly found where there is an overall disagreement on societal values, it is usually occurring in western countries where their democratic systems can generate issues and discussions with topics such as Abortion, multiculturalism, Sexuality or even values such as morality or lifestyle.

With the US having a vast geographical size, historical background and variation of demographics of different religions, cultures, morals etc it isn’t uncommon to see how it is the breeding grounds for culture wars to emerge from. The USA has seen numerous examples of them such as the prohibition era from 1920 to 1933, where many people campaigned and had the selling and consumption of alcohol banned. As a result however many states protested against it and eventually had the law revoked allowing alcohol to be unbanned. Another can be seen with the protests against the Vietnam war from 1955 – 1975 where many people saw it as an unnecessary war against communism to prove democratic supremacy and political power, which eventually ended after the loss of life was to high and political unrest back home in the US made it unpopular.

(Anti-booze campaigns held by pro-prohibition activists and campaigners)

(Anti-prohibitionists rallying to demand the laws removal)

(Anti-war protests in Washington DC, demonstrators displaying the iconic piece symbol and flag)

(Peaceful protestors placed flowers in the barrels of the rifles of national Guard soldiers outside the Pentagon)

(Soldiers in the conflict displayed their own acts of protest with slogans and art on their helmet covers)

Culture wars pose a real discussion about ethics and morality in society today, with the most recent example being over the choice to have an abortion in The US. At the start of the year, The US congress made the decision for abortion to be illegal in states that desired it. As a result since then, 24 states have made the decision to ban abortion. With pro-life events prior, many religious and anti-abortionist groups declared it was murder and held protests outside of abortion clinics. This however sparked outrage among other groups who opposed the idea of being forced into keeping the child as it meant in some cases rape victims or accidental pregnancies couldn’t have a right over their own body in deciding if they wanted to commit to having a baby.

An example of a culture war in Jersey can seen with the modern usage of the English language. Prior to Jersey becoming a crown dependency, the population spoke the language of Jèrriais, a Norman-French dialect that had evolved into its own dialect. Since the Victorian era, more and more British traveler’s settled in Jersey, establishing schools such as Victoria college, however with them came the english language which soon became increasingly the more common language. In schools, Students who spoke Jèrriais were punished for it, only speaking it at home to their parents and other relatives. Additionally many locations names were changed to make them more understandable for people who spoke english. With such examples being the parishes. St Jean’s became St John’s, St Pierre became St Peter and mainly the town centre St Hélyi became St Helier.

(Victoria College)

However with the modern day, more recognition of Jersey’s history and langauge is being fought for and represented by organisations such as Jersey heritage and the Jèrriais Organisation who educate through museums or in schools.

Recent examples of this fight can been with the states of Jersey installing their Jèrriais name and translations to their building and website, as well as Liberty Bus including the Jèrriais parish names on the side of its Buses.

(The governments name translated)

(Below the windows of the upper deck, the Jèrriais Parish names can be seen in a multi coloured line)

Culture wars, pose both positive and negative outcomes depending upon the cause. This is evident with campaigns to remove something negative upon society like laws against the rights of other groups of people, like slavery for example. When it can become negative however is when the decision is being forced upon the government to make decision for example with the case of abortion, it can result in unpopularity on both sides as one cultural group may not agree on it whilst the other one might.