American Culture
The hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.
In the twenty-first century, the United States probably has a greater diversity of racial, ethnic, culture, and religious groups than any other nation on earth. From the beginning of the histroy of the United States there has been diversity. The Brithish colonists, whose culture eventually provided the language and the foundation for the political and economic systems that developed in the United States.
Most early Americans recognized this diversity, or pluralism, as a fact of life. the large variety of ethnic , cultural, and religious groups meant that accepting diversity was the only practical choice, even if some people were not enthusiastic about it , or were even threatened by it. However, in time, many America came to see strenghth in their country's diversity. Today, there's more recognition of the value of cultural pluralism than at any other time in the history of the United States.
Historically, the United States has been viewed as the "the land of opportunity," attracting immgrants from all over the world. The opportunities the believed that the could find in America and the exercises they actually had when they arrives nurtured this set of values. We will examine six basic value that have become traditional American values. Three represent traditional reasons why immgrants have been drawn to America: the chance for individual freedom, equality of opportunity, and material of wealth. In order to achieve these benefits, however, these were prices to be paid: self - reliance, competition, and hard work. In time, these prices themselves became a part of the traditional value system.
In 1776, the British colonial settlers declared their independence from England and established a new nation, the United States of America. The historical decisions made by those first settlers have had a profound effect on the sharping of the American character. By limiting the power of govenment and the churches and eliminating a formal aristocracy, the early settlers created a climate of freedom where where the emphasis was on the individual. The united States came to be the most basic of all the American values. Freedom is the most respected and popular word in the United States today.
By freedom, Americans means the desire and the right of all the individuals must learn to rely on themselves or risk losing freedom. Traditionally, this means achieving both financial and emotional independence from their parents as early sa possible, usually by age 18 to 21. It means that Americans believe they should take care of themselves, solve their own problems, and "stand on their own feet" The own nothing to any man, they expect nothing to any man; the acquire the habit of always considering themselves as standing alone, and they are apt to imagine that their whole destiny is in their own hand.
This strong belief in self-reliance continues today sa a traditional basic American value. It is perhaps one of the most difficult aspects of the Americans character to understand, but it is profoundly important. Most Americans believe that they must be self-ralient in order to keep their freedom. If they rely too much on the support of their families or the government or any organization, they may lose some of their freedom to do want the want.
The second important reason why immgrants have traditionally been drawn to the United States is the belief that everyone has a chance to succeed here. Generations of immgrants, from the earliest settlers to the present day, have come to the United States with expectation. They have left that because individuals are free from excessive political religious, and social controls, they have a better chance for personal success. Of particular importance is the lack of a hereditary aristocracy.
Because no titles of nobility were forbidden in the Constitution, on formal class system developed in the United States. The hopes and dreams of many of these early immgrants were fulfilled in their new country. The lower social class into which mant were born did not prevent them from trying to rise to a higher social position.
It is important to understand what most Americans mean when they say thet believe in equality of opportunity. They do not mean that everyone is --or should be -- equal. However, they do mean that each individual should have an equal chance for success. In the other words, equality of opportunity
may be thought of as an ethnical rule. It helps ensure that the race for success is a fair one and that a person dose not win just because he or she was born into a wealthy family, or lose because of race or religion.
However, the price to be paid for the equality of opportunity id competition. If much of lile is seen as a race, then a person must run the race in order to succeed. People who like to compete are often more successful rthan others, and mant are ,honored by being called winners. On the other hand, those who de not like to compete and whose who are not like to compete and who are not successful when they try are sometimes dishonored by being called losers. Learning to compete successfully is a part of growing up in the United States.
The thired reason why immgrants have traditionally come to the US is ti have a better life---that is, to raise their standard of living. For the vast majority of the immgrants who came here, this was probably the most compelling reason for leaving their homeland. Even if they were not able to avhieve the economic success they wanted, they could be fairly certain that taeir children would have the opportunity for a better life.
Placing a high value on material possessions is called materialism, but this is a word that most Americans find offensive. To say that a person is materialistic is an insult. Americans do not like to be called materialistic because they feel that this unfairly accuses them of loving only material things and of having on religious values. In fact, most Americans do have other values and ideals.
One reason is that material wealth has traditionally been a widely accepted measure of social status in the US. Because Americans rejected the European system of hereditary aristocracy and titles of nobility, they had find a substiture for judging social status. The quality and quantity of an individual's material possessions became an accepted measure of success and social status.
Americans have paid a price, however, for their material wealth: hard work. Only by hard work could these natural resources be converted into material possession, allowing a more comfortable standard of living. Hard work has been both necessary and rewarding for most Americans throughout their history. Because of this, they same to see material possessions were seen not only but as tangible evidence of poeple's work, but also of their abilities.
America is not a place. It's a dream.
In understanding the relationship between what Americans believe and how they live, it is important to distinguish between idealism and reality. American values such as equality of American life. Equality of opportunity, for example, is an ideal that is not always put into practice. In reality, some people have a better chance for success than others.
The fact that American ideals are only partly carried out in real life does not diminish their importance. Most Americans still believe in them and are strongly affected by them in their everyday lives. It is easier to understand what Ameriacans are thinking and feeling if we can understand what these basic traditional freedom, self--reliance, equality of opportunity, competition, material wealth, and hard work---do not tell the whole story of American character. Rather, they should be thought of as themes and which will be developed in our discussions on religion, family life, education, business, and politics.
The impact of the American frontier
The frontier experience began when the first colonists settled on the east coast of the continent in the 1600s. It ended about 1890 when the last western lands were settled. The American frontier consisted of the relatively unsettled regions of the US, usually found in the western part of the country.
Individualism, self--reliance, and equality of opportunity have peehaps been the values most closely associated with the frontier settler as the model of the free individual. Closely associated with the frontier ideal of the free individual is the ideal of self--reliance. If the people living on the frontier were free of many of society's rules, they were alse denied many of society's comforts and conveniences, they had to be self--reliant.
Although Americans in the more settled eastern regions of the US created many of the most important inventions in the new nation, the western frontier had the effect of spreading the spirit of inventiveness throughout the population and helping it become a national character trait.
The frontier is an expression of individual freedom and self--reliance in its purest forms, and it is also a pure expression of the ideal of equality of opportunity. "What's above the ground is more important than what's beneath the ground." There were fewer differences in wealth between rich and poor on the frontier than in the more settled regions of the nation. The frontier provied the space and conditions which helped to strengthen the American ideals of individual freedom, self--reliance and equality of opportunity. On the frontier, these ideal are enlarged and workable.
A history of abundance
When the European settlers first arrived in the seventeeth and eighteenth centuries, most of this land was rich, fertile farmland, with an abundance of trees and animals. Only about 1 million Native Americans lived on this land, and they had neither the weapons nor the organization necessary to keep the European settlers out. Never again can human beings discover such a large area of rich, unfarmed land, with such a small population and such great undeveloped natural resources.
Traditionally, the people of the US have been proud of their nation's ability to produce material wealth so that they could maintain a high standard of living. This helped to explain why Americans use materialistics standard not only to judge themselves as individuals, but also to judge themselves as a nation.
Mass advertising in the US had become so important on size and influnce that it should be viewed as an institution. Advertising techniques were so successful that over time they began to used to change Americans' attitudes, behavior, and beliefs.
American consumers are particularly fond of three things: comfort, cleanliness, and novelty.
