Did You Know?
William G. Sumner, who coined the term ethnocentrism, is famously known as America’s first sociology professor. He taught social sciences at the Yale University.
It is wondrous, really, how this world is made up of so many different people belonging to different races or ethnicities. Color, language, culture, appearance, values― all these factors come together to group people based upon the aforementioned. There’s nothing wrong with ethnicity, to be honest. It just means a group of people practicing or following the same culture. However, what happens when ethnocentrism takes over?

What is Ethnocentrism?

Ethnocentrism is judging another culture based upon the values and standards set in one’s own culture. It is a form of bias, where we tend to immediately judge another culture as ‘bad’ or ‘wrong’ based upon their actions, if their values are not aligned with our own beliefs.

Psychology tells us about the concept of in-groups and out-groups, where one tends to agree with the beliefs and actions of one’s in-group (such as race, religion, or ethnicity, for example) and judge or have biased opinions about the out-groups (such as other religions or ethnicities). The term ethnocentrism was coined by William G. Sumner, after having observed people distinguish or discriminate between their in-groups, and other groups. Ethnocentrism is thus the tendency to consider one’s own culture or race to be superior over all others.

Given below are a few examples of ethnocentrism― both historical and modern-day examples that will definitely help you understand the concept better.

Example 1― Nazi Germany

✦ This is one of the worst, most extreme, and most tragic examples of ethnocentrism. Hitler believed that Jews, as well as people belonging to some other communities were all inferior to his ethnicity, and did not deserve to live.

Example 2― Imperialism

✦ Imperialism is defined as a policy or practice by which a country increases its power by gaining control over other areas of the world (Merriam-Webster). The most famous example of it would be European imperialism, where European countries believed that the other areas of the world, such as Africa, America, India, etc. needed to be controlled by them owing to their supposed underdeveloped natures.

Example 3― Terrorism and Hate Crimes

✦ This is again a negative example of ethnocentrism. Terrorism and hate crimes take place when one religion or community believes that it is superior, and better than any other religion or community. However, ethnocentrism can make individuals feel as if the other community is bad, or wrong, and can make them take action in the form of terrorist attacks or hate crimes.

Example 4― In Movies

✦ In movies and other sources of entertainment, ethnocentrism is often, but not always, portrayed in a humorous, light-hearted manner. One example of ethnocentrism portrayed in a light manner would be the movie, ‘The Big Fat Greek Wedding‘, where a Greek family believes that being Greek is the one and only acceptable way of living. However, the makers of the movie took great care to make sure that the Greek culture was never shown in a negative or pushy manner, and that the audiences took it in the way it was supposed to be taken.

Example 5― In Business

✦ Though it is easy to assume that ethnocentrism affects only the lesser-educated, less aware people in the world, it is not really true. Ethnocentrism can be seen on a large scale in business, and at the workplace. A business owner might yell at his foreign employees and call them stupid because of their different races, cultures, or values that are different from the boss’.

Example 6― In Schools

✦ Ethnocentrism can be witnessed in schools across the world. Many experts agree that focusing a curriculum, say a world history curriculum, only on the history of the major developed countries and ignoring the developing and underdeveloped countries altogether, is an example of ethnocentrism in schools.The students belonging to minority communities can feel sidelined, targeted, or ignored.

Example 7― Consumer Ethnocentrism

✦ Consumer ethnocentrism is observed in those consumers who judge others buying imported goods instead of nationally or locally― produced goods. Choosing to buy a good is actually an individual choice, and judging someone on the basis of their taste or preference is not a good idea.

Example 8― In American Society

✦ The popular belief among American ethnocentric people is that their country, culture, values, development, and everything else is superior to every other nation in the world, and that every other nation is inferior to the United States.

 

Example 9― Ethnocentrism and Culture

✦ Every culture on earth tends to impart ethnocentrism, albeit unintentionally. Various aspects of culture such as mythological tales, folktales, legends, religion, songs, proverbs, language, rituals, etc. promote the superiority of that one culture over others. Though this is an unintentional kind of promotion of ethnocentrism, it instills the belief that ‘my race/my culture’ is really better than the rest, in so many ways in most of us, especially during childhood or teenage.

✦ Like I said earlier, most of us tend to vehemently deny this. However, it is true that we’re all ethnocentric sometime or the other in our lives, without even realizing it. ✦ Another example of ethnocentric behavior would be if a tourist on a holiday judges the destination based upon his comparison with his native place. “Look how dirty this country is! They should just see MY country. No wonder this place is so underdeveloped and backward!”

 

Ethnocentrism does not necessarily have to be negative; in fact, it does have its share of advantages, such as―

• Generating pride and self-confidence among the people of a group, about the group, themselves, and each other
• Defining social standards and the behavior that a group is expected to follow, thus maintaining uniformity among the people
• There’s not much chance of causing internal conflicts.
• Immunity to external control and influence

Ethnocentrism, if kept in check, cannot harm the society. Only when it goes out of hand does it pose any risk to other members of society, especially those belonging to the out-groups.

____________________________________________________________________

 

Ethnocentrism is now popping up in modern culture and in business and education where first, second and third generation immigrants to this country favor members of their own ethnic group over all other people. Hiring, promotions, job benefits and work environments are affected. Clustering of clans and fraction groups are threatening the cohesive fabric of society. Ethnocentric thinking is pushing American ideals of ‘inclusion’ into the negative nether regions and promoting angry backlash.

 

“Big 6” Pesticide and GMO Corporations

This article is part of the Food Rights Network, a project of the Center for Media and Democracy. Find out more here.

The “Big 6” pesticide and GMO corporations are BASF, Bayer, Dupont, Dow Chemical Company, Monsanto, and Syngenta. They are so called because they dominate the agricultural input market — that is, they own the world’s seed, pesticide and biotechnologyindustries.^[1][2]

According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), corporate concentration of the agricultural input market “has far-reaching implications for global food security, as the privatization and patenting of agricultural innovation (gene traits, transformation technologies and seed germplasm) has been supplanting traditional agricultural understandings of seed, farmers’ rights, and breeders’ rights.”^[3]

For more information, see the Pesticide Action Network of North America (PANNA) resource here.

Related PRWatch Article

• Rebekah Wilce, Direct Democracy: Results of Ballot Propositions Across the Country, PRWatch, November 7, 2012.
• Rebekah Wilce, California GMO Labeling Supporters Confront $41 Million Opposition and 13-Point Poll Slide, PRWatch, October 25, 2012.
• Jill Richardson, Approval of New Chemical-Resistant GMOs Likely to Prompt Pesticide Escalation, PRWatch, August 28, 2012.
• Rebekah Wilce, Looking for Kids’ Books? Avoid This Propaganda, PRWatch, August 22, 2012.
• Rebekah Wilce, Three California Democrats Team Up with Monsanto, PRWatch, August 2, 2012.
• Jill Richardson, Monsanto’s Quiet Coup: Will Congress Limit Scope and Time for GMO Reviews?, PRWatch, August 1, 2012.
• Michele Simon, Fighting GMO Labeling in California is Food Lobby’s “Highest Priority”, PRWatch, August 1, 2012.

External Resources

• Pesticide Action Network of North America, Chemical Cartel, organizational website.
• Philip Mattera, Corporate Research Project, Monsanto: Corporate Rap Sheet, last modified August 18, 2013.
• Philip Mattera, Corporate Research Project, Dow Chemical: Corporate Rap Sheet, last modified December 19, 2013.
• Philip Mattera, Corporate Research Project, Dupont: Corporate Rap Sheet, last modified October 27, 2013.
• Geke Econ Meme, Is the U.S. a Wholly-Owned Subsidiary of Monsanto? Monsanto Venn, infographic, accessed February 2014.

External Articles and Press Releases

• Nicholas Tomasi, Monsanto On Verge of $40 Million GMO Bailout in Europe: Report, Natural Independent, November 25, 2012.
• California Right to Know, Monsanto, Pesticide Companies Contribute Another $5.5 Million to Kill GMO Labeling Initiative, campaign press release, September 17, 2012.
• Stacy Malkan, California Right to Know, Monsanto Gives $4.2 Million to Kill California GMO Labeling, campaign press release, August 15, 2012.
• Tom Philpott, Biotech Giants Are Bankrolling a GMO Free-for-All, Mother Jones, August 6, 2012.
• Kathryn Gilje, Pesticide Action Network of North America, Guilty as Charged: “The verdict was handed down to the six largest pesticide corporations — Monsanto, Syngenta, Bayer, BASF, Dow and Dupont — collectively known as the “Big 6,” for their human rights violations, including internationally recognized rights to life, livelihood and health,” organizational blog post, December 7, 2011.

References

1. Jump up↑Pesticide Action Network of North America, Chemical Cartel, organizational website, accessed July 2012
2. Jump up↑ETC Group, Who Owns Nature? Corporate Power and the Final Frontier in the Commodification of Life, international civil society organizational report, November 2008, accessed July 2012
3. Jump up↑Olivier Matringe and Irene Musselli Moretti, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Tracking the Trend Towards Market Concentration: The Case of the Agricultural Input Industry, study prepared by the UNCTAD secretariat, April 20, 2006

 

Nutr Res Pract. 2011 Jun; 5(3): 253–259.

Published online 2011 Jun 21. doi:  10.4162/nrp.2011.5.3.253

PMCID: PMC3133759

PMID: 21779530

Survey of American food trends and the growing obesity epidemic

Qin Shao¹ and Khew-Voon Chin²

Go to:

Abstract We further speculate that the bacterial antigen derived from the Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) entomocidal crystalline protein protoxin [30], which is genetically engineered into corn to confer resistance to insect pests, may be the underlying culprit that causes anomalous adipose tissue dysregulation and obesity development.

 

The rapid rise in the incidence of obesity has emerged as one of the most pressing global public health issues in recent years. The underlying etiological causes of obesity, whether behavioral, environmental, genetic, or a combination of several of them, have not been completely elucidated. The obesity epidemic has been attributed to the ready availability, abundance, and overconsumption of high-energy content food. We determined here by Pearson’s correlation the relationship between food type consumption and rising obesity using the loss-adjusted food availability data from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Economic Research Services (ERS) as well as the obesity prevalence data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) and the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Our analysis showed that total calorie intake and consumption of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) did not correlate with rising obesity trends. Intake of other major food types, including chicken, dairy fats, salad and cooking oils, and cheese also did not correlate with obesity trends. However, our results surprisingly revealed that consumption of corn products correlated with rising obesity and was independent of gender and race/ethnicity among population dynamics in the U.S. Therefore, we were able to demonstrate a novel link between the consumption of corn products and rising obesity trends that has not been previously attributed to the obesity epidemic. This correlation coincides with the introduction of bioengineered corns into the human food chain, thus raising a new hypothesis that should be tested in molecular and animal models of obesity.

Keywords: Obesity, food trend, corn product, genetically modified, bioengineered

Introduction

It is estimated that, worldwide, approximately 937 million adults are overweight and 396 million are obese [1]. This rising trend continues unabated both globally and in the United States, which claims the largest population of overweight and obese adults [2,3]. Various etiologic factors associated with obesity have been reported, including a number of genes identified from genome-wide scans and functional genomic studies as well as some viruses and bacteria [4–7]. The current prevailing hypothesis centers on the premise that the problem of obesity is one of energy imbalance, wherein total energy intake far exceeds energy output [8]. In addition, the global epidemic of obesity has been attributed to heuristic observations of an increase in the consumption of high-energy/high-fat content foods coupled with a sedentary lifestyle that expends little energy.

The notion that particular nutrients or food sources might influence obesity is controversial [9]. For example, the increased consumption of some food types, including beverages and foods that contain high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), is speculated to be associated with obesity [10,11]. Moreover, in a previous study, mice given HFCS-sweetened water gained more weight and showed increase adiposity [12]. While the results of this animal study seem to provide experimental evidence that supports the hypothesis that consumption of HFCS causes obesity, the results from epidemiological and clinical studies in human are inconclusive [13,14], leaving the question of HFCS association with obesity unanswered. Therefore, whether or not the intake of certain food types predisposes an individual to increased risk for obesity needs to be examined.

Quantifying the amount of food an individual consumes daily is difficult, and determining the intake of specific food types is intractable, thus posing significant challenges to the investigation of food intake and the development of obesity. It is known that the Loss-Adjusted Food Availability Data from the Economic Research Services (ERS) of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) constitute time series data on the national food supply of several hundred food-types targeted to the food marketing system. These data are represented as per capita food availability and are useful for studying food consumption trends, as they are an indirect measurement of actual food intake [15].

To determine whether or not excess energy intake or the consumption specific food types contribute to the development of obesity, we surveyed Loss-Adjusted Food Availability and obesity prevalence data to investigate the correlation between total energy intake and consumption of certain food types with rising trends in obesity. We confirmed a novel association of rising obesity trends with increased corn product consumption that may be linked to the growing and ubiquitous presence of genetically modified (GM) or engineered (GE) corn in the human diet.

Materials and Methods

Statistical analysis

We analyzed the relationship between the trends in obesity prevalence and the average daily per capita calories consumed for various food types using Pearson’s correlation. To validate the positive correlations, we investigated the dependence of the obesity trends on different food types by fitting a multiple linear regression using both full and reduced model functions.

Results

 

We analyzed the USDA ERS Loss-Adjusted Food Availability Data, which include seven major aggregated food groups including 1, meat, eggs, and nuts; 2, dairy; 3, fruit; 4, vegetables; 5, flour and cereal products; 6, added fats and oils, and dairy fats; and 7, caloric sweeteners. These groups are further comprised of more than 100 individual or specific food types (commodities). Analysis of these food types revealed that a large number of them including fresh vegetables, fresh fruit, beverage milk, fish and shellfish, fruit juice, nuts, and others, showed either negative trends or no change in trends of consumption and did not coincide with rising trends in obesity (Fig. 2).

 

Since energy imbalance resulting from excess calorie intake is thought to contribute to obesity, we first analyzed the trends in calorie intake between 1995 and 2008. The food availability data indicated that the average daily per capita total calorie intake has plateaued since year 2000, whereas obesity exhibited a rising trend (Fig. 3A), and Pearson’s analysis showed a correlation coefficient of 0.79 (Table 1). In contrast, strong positive correlations with obesity were unexpectedly found for chicken and corn products (Fig. 3B and C), with Pearson’s correlation coefficients of 0.96 and 0.99, respectively (Table 1).

Correlation coefficient means whether the food does or does not match with weight gain. The higher the number the more it matches. The high match for chicken may be that chickens are fed with corn grain. There is a high match for oils and dressings; many of which are made with corn.

 

Table 1

Correlation between trends in food type consumption and obesity

We also observed a positive correlation between total cheese intake and obesity (Fig. 3D). However, further analysis revealed that, with the exception of cheddar and mozzarella cheese, most other cheeses, such as provolone, parmesan, Swiss cheese, blue cheese, and others, showed little or no changes in consumption trends between 1995 and 2008, and Pearson’s analysis of either cheddar (Fig. 3E) or mozzarella (Fig. 3F) did not show correlation with rising obesity.

Even though correlation with obesity was not found for “Added Fats and Oils, and Dairy Fats” (Fig. 3G), with a correlation coefficient of 0.86 (Table 1), analysis of Salad and Cooking Oils (Fig. 3H) and Dairy Fats (Fig. 3I) revealed correlation with obesity, each with a correlation coefficient of 0.97 (Table 1). These correlations subsequently did not cross-validate upon further analysis by multiple linear regression (see below).

Additionally, either poor or negative correlations were found for foods such as flour and cereal products, shortening, red meat, caloric sweeteners, and HFCS, with correlation coefficients of -0.03, -0.18, -0.40, -0.74, and -0.38, respectively (Fig. 3J-N, and Table 1). The consumption of refined cane and beet sugar (Fig. 3O) as well as sweet corn as a fresh vegetable (Fig. 3P) also did not correlate with obesity. The consumption of corn as a fresh vegetable constituted only a small percentage (averaging 0.01%) of the total calorie intake between 1995 and 2008.

To further test these positive correlations with obesity trends, we performed a fitting by multiple linear regression analysis with food types that showed correlation coefficients > 0.95, which included chicken, corn products, dairy fats, salad and cooking oils, and total cheese, in a full model function. This analysis showed that only corn products had p-values smaller than 0.05 (Table 2), suggesting that consumption of corn products had a significant effect on rising obesity trends. In the reduced model, we analyzed corn products and total cheese, which have p-values closest to 0.05 from the full model analysis, and our results confirmed a correlation between corn products, but not total cheese, and obesity trends (Table 2).

Table 2

Multiple linear regression analysis of food types and obesity trends

The observed correlation between consumption of corn products and rising obesity is surprising. It is noteworthy that HFCS is classified separately as a caloric sweetener and not aggregated with other corn products. Moreover, HFCS showed a negative correlation with rising obesity (Table 1).

 

We were also aware that genetically modified (GM) corn has been planted in the U.S. since 1996 [23]. To further investigate the relationship between bioengineered corn and rising obesity, we obtained data on the adoption of GM corn from the USDA, which covered the period between 2000 and 2008, for comparison with rising obesity. These data did not take into account the use of GM corn for other purposes besides as a food or animal feed. Despite this limitation, our result shows that the trends of obesity and adoption of GM corn were similar (Fig. 4B).

We further asked whether or not the consumption of corn products might be associated with the demographic distribution of the population. Using the NHANES stratified obesity prevalence data between NHANES III (1988-1994), NHANES (1999-2000), (2001-2002), (2003-2004), (2005-2006), and (2007-2008), we examined the relationship between corn product consumption and race/ethnicity of men and women between 1995 and 2008. Our results show that the trends of obesity and corn product consumption rose in parallel irrespective of gender among non-Hispanic white men and women (Fig. 5A and B), non-Hispanic black men and women (Fig. 5C and D), and Mexican-American men and women (Fig. 5E and F), thus suggesting that the association of rising obesity trends with increased corn product consumption is independent of race/ethnicity and gender.

 

Discussion

Our analysis of obesity and food type consumption trends data in this report yielded three major findings. First, it has been long accepted that overconsumption of food coupled with a sedentary lifestyle results in a positive energy imbalance, which is a formula for obesity development. Our analysis in this report, however, indicates that even though total calorie intake in the U.S. has plateaued in recent years, the incidence of obesity continues to rise, thus suggesting that rising obesity trends do not correlate with total energy intake. Alternatively, it is conceivable that the total caloric intake has plateaued while the levels of physical activity have also not increased, thus explaining the intransigent obesity trends.

Second, HFCS as a cause of obesity has been intensely debated. It was shown recently that rats given HFCS along with a regular chow diet gained more weight than control rats, even when they consumed the same amount of calories [24]. Further, consumption of an HFCS-containing diet increased visceral fats and blood triglycerides over time. However, our results show a negative correlation of HFCS with rising obesity, as HFCS consumption has been on the decline since 2000. However, this negative correlation does not refute the underlying biological role of HFCS in obesity. Instead, it suggests that HFCS consumption on the whole may not contribute to rising obesity trends. Though we initially also observed positive correlations between increased consumption of chicken, salad and cooking oils, dairy fats, and total cheese with obesity, subsequent multiple linear regression analysis and cross-validation of these results revealed a lack of significance in these correlations.

The above observations suggest that additional factors may be involved in rising obesity trends. Therefore, our third finding of a correlation between increased corn product intake and rising obesity between 1995 and 2008 is intriguing, as these foods are not generally considered unhealthy. What are the underlying etiologic links between these foods and obesity?

In the ERS dataset, corn products are considered an aggregate comprised of flour and meal, hominy and grits, cornstarch, and other corn products, which are widely used in the manufacture of a large variety of food products consumed by humans. Recently, it was reported that approximately 85% of the corn grown in the U.S. is transgenic [25]. The increased ubiquity of GM or genetically engineered corn products in human food sources is noted, but their potential impact on human health has not been investigated despite recent reports of hepatorenal toxicity in rats fed GM maize [26,27]. Moreover, the rising trends in obesity coincide, in part, with the introduction of GM corn in foods and animal feeds in the U.S. [28,29]. These observations prompted us to hypothesize that consumption of GM corn products may contribute to rising obesity trends. The implications of our results and the new hypothesis raised here are provocative but testable, as the effects of GM corn products can be assessed in molecular and animal models of obesity. No data are currently available on how much genetically engineered food is on the market due to a lack of proper labeling and traceability.

We further speculate that the bacterial antigen derived from the Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) entomocidal crystalline protein protoxin [30], which is genetically engineered into corn to confer resistance to insect pests, may be the underlying culprit that causes anomalous adipose tissue dysregulation and obesity development.

Despite such shortcomings, the BRFSS obesity trends were remarkably similar to the NHANES dataset. In addition, the data for the rate of GM corn adoption in the U.S. did not take into consideration the different uses of these transgenic corns other than as foods and feeds. Although it is clear that transgenic corn has penetrated into human foods and animal feeds, and the consumption of GM crops has been deemed safe [31], precise data regarding the amounts and types of foods containing transgenic corn products are unavailable, and the correlation with increased emergence of common human diseases including diabetes and obesity has not been investigated.

Taken together, our results reveal a novel association of corn product consumption with rising trends of obesity, which may be linked to the increased ubiquity of transgenic corn in the diet. These trends data findings warrant further investigation and confirmation through laboratory testing.

Acknowledgments

We thank Jennifer E.W. Hill, Ph.D. (Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, University of Toledo, College of Medicine, Toledo, Ohio) for helpful comments and discussions regarding the manuscript.

Footnotes

This work was supported in part by a National Institutes of Health grant CA102204.

References

1. Kelly T, Yang W, Chen CS, Reynolds K, He J. Global burden of obesity in 2005 and projections to 2030. Int J Obes (Lond) 2008;32:1431–1437. [PubMed]
2. Popkin BM. Recent dynamics suggest selected countries catching up to US obesity. Am J Clin Nutr. 2010;91:284S–288S. [PMC free article] [PubMed]

 

Archives | 1990 New York Times

Hiring Quotas Exist, but Employers Won’t Tell

, Page 00020The New York Times Archives

To the Editor:

”Enough Haggling on Civil Rights” (editorial, July 17) argues that it is a red herring to claim that the civil rights bill of 1990 would result in quotas, for neither President Bush nor business lobbyists ”produce any evidence that the 1971 ruling resulted in job quotas.” You have taken employers’ fear of self-incrimination in revealing their use of quotas for the absence of evidence that they have been forced to use them.

It is an open secret among personnel professionals that race-conscious hiring has become the rule, not the exception, since the 1971 Griggs ruling you refer to, and moreover that such practices are routinely camouflaged by statistical legerdemain or newspeak about what constitutes merit hiring. While employers often resort to quotas or other race-conscious hiring procedures to avoid litigation under Griggs, they must deny such practices publicly to avoid reverse discrimination suits. We need not wonder why employers are not coming forth to document the legacy of Griggs.

One of America’s best-kept open secrets is that the Employment Service of the Department of Labor has unabashedly promulgated quotas. In 1981 the service recommended that state employment agencies adopt a race-conscious way of recomputing test scores on the Employment Service aptitude test battery to avoid adverse impact when referring job applicants to employers.

Under the recommended procedure, called race-norming, each candidate’s score is reported not in relation to those of all other candidates, but only in relation to the scores of applicants of the same racial group. Blacks are compared only with other blacks, Hispanics only with other Hispanics and ”others” with all but blacks and Hispanics. Race-norming does the work of quotas by, in effect, giving bonus points to all members of groups that tend to score lower than others, offsetting average differences in scores among groups.

The score adjustments are not trivial. An unadjusted score that places a job applicant at the 15th percentile among whites would, after race-norming, typically place a black near the white 50th percentile. Likewise, unadjusted scores at the white 50th percentile would, after race-norming, typically place a black near the 85th percentile for white job applicants.

The Employment Service recommended this system of racial quotas, despite showing that its aptitude tests meet the Griggs job-relatedness criterion, simply to avoid adverse impact, which is the trigger for litigation established by Griggs and its progeny. By 1986, state employment agencies in 40 states were using the United States Employment Service system to some extent.

This system of race-conscious score adjustments has been subjected to scientific scrutiny and some public debate since 1986, when Assistant Attorney General William Bradford Reynolds threatened to sue the Labor Department for reverse discrimination. Whatever the system’s eventual fate may be, its use by 40 states in the last decade belies the claim that Griggs did not lead to quotas.

 

LINDA S. GOTTFREDSON

Newark, Del., July 18, 1990

The writer is a professor of education at the University of Delaware.

 

 

 

What is it about serial books that keep kids coming back for more? The Harry Potter Series, the Rick Riordan – Lighting Thief series, and Nancy Drew among others have entranced young readers for generations and made books disappear off shelves.

So, what is it then? Readers young and old get invested in the characters in the book. Harry, Nancy and Percy Jackson become known to us and become like old friends. Just like our favorite soaps or shows on TV, we become a part of their family and their lives.

Additionally, with kids, they look upon their paper characters as figures to copy and emulate. For instance, I always loved Nancy’s shoes and convertible. Wow! I wanted one. I also wanted to be just like Nancy when I grew up. That’s some role model!

Additionally, the books are usually grouped together on shelves, their covers look very much the same and are easily recognizable. For a ten-year-old who is overwhelmed by the volume and complexity of the ordinary library, this is an important selling point. It is not important to remember the exact title or author. Just, that wizard kid with the glasses will do.

Serials have actually been around for much longer than I had realized. I did a little research on Millie Wirt Benson, who started writing the Nancy Drew series in 1930. Edward Stratemeyer, the editor, created the Hardy Boys books earlier. The series was such a hit, he decided to create a female version for his girl readers. He hired Benson as his ghostwriter.

Stratemeyer was preceded in the genre by Horatio Algers whose kid books were popular before the turn of the twentieth century. So, serial readers have been around for some time.  They are excellent ways for kids to get ‘hooked’ on reading. After reading as many of the Drew books as possible, I graduated to Jane Eyre and English romances.

The Good and the Bad

While series are undoubtably a wonderful source of enticing literature for kids, there have been some disturbing trends in the modern genre and fiction books in general. In doing my bit of research into the creation of the Drew series, I was interested to note that Stratemeyer had guidelines for all his juvenile fiction writers. Those were no extreme violence, death or sexuality beyond a little cheek peck. Later, some of these books were deemed to be hopelessly old-fashioned and had to be ‘modernized’. Geeze, save us from old-fashionedness!

Book sales have always been important, even in Stratemeyer’s day. However, there seems to be a growing trend in all fiction markets to keep pushing the limits of ‘acceptable’ particularly in the uses of graphic violence and graphic sexuality. I love a good mystery and have read a lot of them. However, mystery/thriller writers like Steven Berry and Patricia Cornwall have pushed the limits so far with their scenes of violence and sick brutality, that I won’t read their books anymore. In my list of popular series for Young Adults, The City of Bones series which I read, has some scenes of sick violence so great that I wish I had never read them. One scene with a baby keeps playing in my head. Uck!

Now it is difficult to draw a straight line from violent films, literature and games to violence in the streets. All parents wish they had a sure-fire litmus test they could use on these medias to tell which ones are harmful. Unfortunately, there is no such test. As parents and teachers, we will be forced to use the old noggin and common sense to help direct kids to quality reading.

For example, Harry Potter, who I have mentioned several times, is not used as a literature book in school, although it is in most school and public libraries. The reason: Harry is a wizard and his world is filled up with magic, violence and death. These themes are unacceptable to many parents, so schools just avoid the fight and don’t teach with those books. However, The Giver, which is commonly used, is also about birth and death, just in not such a theatrical fashion.

I will list the most popular series books sold and list them by millions of copies sold. I will also list which ones feature violence and death and let you make your own decisions about them.

The Book Series                                                                                    Millions of Books sold

Harry Potter – Rowling                                                                        450 Million (magic, violence and death)

Percy Jackson – Riordan                                                                      400 (some violence)

Sweet Valley High- Pascal                                                                   250

Babysitters Club – Martin                                                                    172

The New Girl – Puckett                                                                        80

The Hardy Boys – Dixon                                                                     70

Nancy Drew – Keene                                                                           70

Hunger Games – Collins                                                                      65 (violence, death.)

City of Bones – Clare                                                                            36 (graphic violence, death)

Eragon – Paolini                                                                                    33 (graphic violence )

Artemis Fowl – Colfer                                                                          21- (some violence)

Redwall – Jacques                                                                                20 – (violence)

Divergent – Roth                                                                                  20 (some violence)

Golden Compass – Pullman                                                               15 million

 

Refer to: www.commonsensemedia.org and http://www.shmoop.com for further reviews.

 

Courtney Webb