Analysis Of Ethnography 'You Owe Yourself A Drunk'

Every school child has learned that America is a land of freedom and a country equally made up of different cultural groups. Through the daily recital of Pledge of Allegiance, children learned that the nation is "indivisible, with liberty and justice for all". Theoretically, as a concept that Americans have been teaching their descendants, social equality for all rooted in every one's mind. However, America has failed in transforming itself into a community where subcultures and groups are entirely welcomed and tolerated. As Americans have grown intolerance against other cultures, subcultural members began to experience alienation and discrimination against their culturally defined identity, behavior, values, and norms that were inconsistent with the mainstream American ones. …show more content…
Social inequality rose during the interactions between two groups and often led to oppression and negative impacts on the minority group. Anthropologists have been dedicating to uncover the paradox and influence of America's "myth of the melting pot". (Pg. 2) In the ethnography "You Owe Yourself A Drunk", author James P. Spradley describes urban nomads' culture and records their interaction with the judicial system, hence reveals how social and judicial inequality altered urban nomads' lifestyle and shaped their social identities, behaviors, norms, and values. Furthermore, this ethnography allows us to recognize the existence of social inequality and its influence in current U.S