1. What do you and your peers think of the millennial culture depicted in HBO’s Girls? Are you as “uncool” as the characters on that show? You are likely the right age to be considered a millennial, but do you feel you are part of that culture?

2. How and why might the American value of democracy have created tensions in Iraq and Afghanistan?

3. As part of our material culture, what values do smartphones reflect? In what ways have “brand communities” or other subcultures formed around smartphones and the use of smartphones?

4. Consider the terminology that has developed around the Internet. How does this language reflect changes in the world around us? In what ways does it shape the world around us?

5. Skateboarders constitute a subculture because they have certain cultural differences (in language, dress, values) that set them apart from other groups in society. What is another example of a subculture in the United States, and what elements of this culture (both material and symbolic) make it unique?

6. How does a counterculture differ from a subculture? Is it reasonable to say that computer hackers are part of a counterculture? Can you think of other examples of countercultures?

7. What is the difference between assimilation and multi­culturalism? Would you say that the United States is an assimilationist or a multiculturalist society? Would you say that multiculturalism is more a part of the ideal culture or the real culture of the United States? Why?

8. What are some of today’s important culture wars? In what ways and to what degree are you engaged in them? Even if you are not active in them, how is your life affected by them?

9. What do we mean by the term global culture? Do you think the evolution of popular social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter is related more to the evolution of a global culture or to Americanization? In what ways are these sites reflective of cultural hybridization? Do you see yourself as a cyberlibertarian as far as the Internet is concerned?

10. To what extent are you and your friends embedded in a consumer culture? How has the development of technol­ogy (the Internet, smartphones, and so forth) helped create this consumer culture? Do you think that culture jamming and events such as Burning Man are significant threats to consumer culture?