Individual Freedom and Self-Reliance
The earliest settlers came to the North American continent to establish colonies that were free from the controls that existed in European societies. They wanted to escape the controls placed on their lives by kings and governments, priests and churches, noblemen and aristocrats. To a great extent, they succeeded. In 1776, the British colonial settlers declared their independence from England and established a new nation, the United States of America. In 1789, when they wrote the Constitution for their new nation, they separated church and state so that there would never be a government-supported church. By limiting the power of the government and the churches, they created a climate of freedom where the emphasis was on the individual. Individual freedom is probably the most basic of all the American values. By freedom, Americans mean the desire and the ability of all individuals to control their own destiny without outside interference from the government, a ruling noble class, the church, or any other organized authority.
There is, however, a price to be paid for this individual freedom: self-reliance. Individuals must learn to rely on themselves or risk losing freedom. This means achieving both financial and emotional independence from their parents as early as possible, usually by age 18 or 21. It means that Americans believe they should take care of themselves, solve their own problems, and "stand on their own two feet." They think:
They owe nothing to any man, they expect nothing from any man; they acquire the habit of always considering themselves as standing alone, and they are apt to imagine that their whole destiny is in their own hands.
This strong belief in self-reliance continues today as a traditional basic American value. It is perhaps one of the most difficult aspects of the American character to understand, but it is profoundly important. Most Americans believe that they must be self-reliant 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 what they want.
If people are dependent, they risk losing freedom as well as the respect of their peers. Even if they are not truly self-reliant, most Americans believe they must at least appear to be so. In order to be in the mainstream of American life — to have power and/or respect — individuals must be seen as self-reliant. Although receiving financial support from charity, family, or the government is allowed, it is never admired. Many people believe that such individuals are setting a bad example, which may weaken the American character as a whole.
Equality of Opportunity and Competition
The second important reason why immigrants have traditionally been drawn to the United States is the belief that everyone has a chance to succeed here. Generations of immigrants, from the earliest settlers to the present day, have come to the United States with this expectation. In the first years of American history, the hopes and dreams of many of these early immigrants were fulfilled in their new country. The lower social class did not prevent them from trying to rise to a higher social position. Many found that they did indeed have a better chance to succeed in the United States than in the old country. Because millions of these immigrants succeeded, Americans came to believe in equality of opportunity.
It is important to understand what most Americans mean when they say they 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. Americans see much of life as a race for success. For them, equality means that everyone should have an equal chance to enter the race and win. In other words, equality of opportunity may be thought of as an ethical rule. It helps ensure that the race for success is a fair one and that a person does not win just because he or she was born into a wealthy family, or lose because of race or religion. This American concept of "fair play" is an important aspect of the belief in equality of opportunity. President Abraham Lincoln expressed this belief in the 1860s when he said:
We... wish to allow the humblest man an equal chance to get rich with everybody else. When one starts poor, as most do in the race of life, free society is such that he knows he can better his condition; he knows that there is no fixed condition of labor for his whole life.
There is, however, a price to be paid for this equality of opportunity: competition. If much of life is seen as a race, then a person must run the race in order to succeed; a person must compete with others. If every person has an equal chance to succeed in the United States, then it is every person's duty to try. Americans match their energy and intelligence against that of others in a competitive contest for success. People who like to compete and are more successful than others are honored by being called winners. On the other hand, those who do not like to compete and are not successful when they try are often dishonored by being called losers. This is especially true for American men, and it is becoming more and more true for women.
The pressures of competition in the life of an American begin in childhood and continue until retirement from work. Learning to compete successfully is part of growing up in the United States.
Material Wealth and Hard Work
The third reason why immigrants have traditionally come to the United States is to have a better life — that is, to raise their standard of living. For the vast majority of the immigrants who came here, it was probably the most compelling reason for leaving their homeland. Because of its incredibly abundant natural resources, the United States appeared to be a "land of plenty" where millions could come to seek their fortunes. Of course, most immigrants did not "get rich overnight," and many of them suffered terribly, but the majority of them were eventually able to improve upon their former standard of living. Even if they were not able to achieve the economic success they wanted, they could be fairly certain that their children would have the opportunity for a better life. The phrase "going from rags to riches" became a slogan for the great American Dream. Because of the vast riches of the North American continent, the dream came true for many of the immigrants. They achieved material success; they became very attached to material things. Material wealth became a value to the American people.
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. To an American, this means that this person values material possessions above all else. Americans do not like to be called materialistic because they feel that this unfairly accuses them of loving only material things and of having no religious values. In fact, most Americans do have other values and ideals. Nevertheless, acquiring and maintaining a large number of material possessions is of great importance to most Americans. Why is this so?
Probably the main reason is that material wealth has traditionally been a widely accepted measure of social status in the United States. Because Americans rejected the European system of hereditary aristocracy and titles of nobility, they had to find a substitute 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. The North American continent was rich in natural resources when the first settlers arrived, but all these resources were undeveloped. Only by hard work could these natural resources be converted into material possessions, 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 came to see material possessions as the natural reward for their hard work.
As the United States has shifted from an industry-based economy to one that is service or information-based, there has been a decline in high-paying jobs for factory workers. It is now much more difficult for the average worker to go "from rags to riches" in the United States, and many wonder what has happened to the traditional "American Dream." As the United States competes in a global economy, many workers are losing their old jobs and finding that they and their family members must now work longer hours for less money and fewer benefits. Faced with a decline in their standard of living, these people no longer believe that hard work necessarily brings great material rewards.
Most Americans, however, still believe in the value of hard work. They believe that people should hold jobs and not live off welfare payments from the government. Barry Goldwater, a candidate for the presidency in 1964, said that most poor people are poor because they deserve to be. Most Americans would find this a harsh statement, but many might think there was some truth in it.
These basic values do not tell the whole story of the American character. Rather, they should be thought of as themes, which will appear throughout the book as we continue to explore more facets of the American character and how it affects life in the United States.
People and Culture: Diversity and Convergence
American movies, television programs, magazines, popular music, fast food, dress, software, along with a host of other goods and services, have been aggressively exported to the rest of the world. As a result, outsiders view the U. S. as a largely homogeneous country of superhighways connecting widely separated sky-scraping cities; everywhere similarly auto-oriented, single-family dwelling suburbs dotted around shopping malls; deteriorating, crime-ridden, minority-dominated inner cities; enormous, technologically advanced and specialized factory farms; human activities firmly in control of the natural world. This perception does correspond to a discernible trend of greater cultural convergence over the last quarter of the 20th century. Together, mass communications, mass production, big business, and central governments have been powerful agents in shaping a mass culture today with standardized tastes, behavior, products, and artifacts. What's more, speech patterns, dress, music, sport, foods, and religion, to name a few culture traits, are each giving up their regional/local expressions and have been replaced by nation-wide common habits. For example, the distinctive accents of the American South have become progressively more modulated, and country music, once also centered in the South, has spread to the entire country.
What will happen to this seemingly placeless cultural convergence when America enters the 21st century? Given the widespread postmodern values, including an enthusiasm for local landscapes, historic preservation and ethnic communities and traditions, cultural critics argue, it makes sense that regional diversity and cultural convergence will incongruously exist side by side at different levels of American society. One new approach to American cultural geography is to distinguish traditional from voluntary culture areas. A traditional culture region is formed over a long period of time in an environmental setting by people who come to share a common worldview and way of life. Such traditional areas are never static: assimilation, interactions with other areas and internal events and inventions are always bringing changes. A voluntary region, on the other hand, is formed by people with similar interests moving to a common destination region. What follows is a region-by-region description and interpretation of America's cultural diversity.
Sources: Contemporary American Culture and Society
The earliest settlers came to the North American continent to establish colonies that were free from the controls that existed in European societies. They wanted to escape the controls placed on their lives by kings and governments, priests and churches, noblemen and aristocrats. To a great extent, they succeeded. In 1776, the British colonial settlers declared their independence from England and established a new nation, the United States of America. In 1789, when they wrote the Constitution for their new nation, they separated church and state so that there would never be a government-supported church. By limiting the power of the government and the churches, they created a climate of freedom where the emphasis was on the individual. Individual freedom is probably the most basic of all the American values. By freedom, Americans mean the desire and the ability of all individuals to control their own destiny without outside interference from the government, a ruling noble class, the church, or any other organized authority.
There is, however, a price to be paid for this individual freedom: self-reliance. Individuals must learn to rely on themselves or risk losing freedom. This means achieving both financial and emotional independence from their parents as early as possible, usually by age 18 or 21. It means that Americans believe they should take care of themselves, solve their own problems, and "stand on their own two feet." They think:
They owe nothing to any man, they expect nothing from any man; they acquire the habit of always considering themselves as standing alone, and they are apt to imagine that their whole destiny is in their own hands.
This strong belief in self-reliance continues today as a traditional basic American value. It is perhaps one of the most difficult aspects of the American character to understand, but it is profoundly important. Most Americans believe that they must be self-reliant 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 what they want.
If people are dependent, they risk losing freedom as well as the respect of their peers. Even if they are not truly self-reliant, most Americans believe they must at least appear to be so. In order to be in the mainstream of American life — to have power and/or respect — individuals must be seen as self-reliant. Although receiving financial support from charity, family, or the government is allowed, it is never admired. Many people believe that such individuals are setting a bad example, which may weaken the American character as a whole.
Equality of Opportunity and Competition
The second important reason why immigrants have traditionally been drawn to the United States is the belief that everyone has a chance to succeed here. Generations of immigrants, from the earliest settlers to the present day, have come to the United States with this expectation. In the first years of American history, the hopes and dreams of many of these early immigrants were fulfilled in their new country. The lower social class did not prevent them from trying to rise to a higher social position. Many found that they did indeed have a better chance to succeed in the United States than in the old country. Because millions of these immigrants succeeded, Americans came to believe in equality of opportunity.
It is important to understand what most Americans mean when they say they 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. Americans see much of life as a race for success. For them, equality means that everyone should have an equal chance to enter the race and win. In other words, equality of opportunity may be thought of as an ethical rule. It helps ensure that the race for success is a fair one and that a person does not win just because he or she was born into a wealthy family, or lose because of race or religion. This American concept of "fair play" is an important aspect of the belief in equality of opportunity. President Abraham Lincoln expressed this belief in the 1860s when he said:
We... wish to allow the humblest man an equal chance to get rich with everybody else. When one starts poor, as most do in the race of life, free society is such that he knows he can better his condition; he knows that there is no fixed condition of labor for his whole life.
There is, however, a price to be paid for this equality of opportunity: competition. If much of life is seen as a race, then a person must run the race in order to succeed; a person must compete with others. If every person has an equal chance to succeed in the United States, then it is every person's duty to try. Americans match their energy and intelligence against that of others in a competitive contest for success. People who like to compete and are more successful than others are honored by being called winners. On the other hand, those who do not like to compete and are not successful when they try are often dishonored by being called losers. This is especially true for American men, and it is becoming more and more true for women.
The pressures of competition in the life of an American begin in childhood and continue until retirement from work. Learning to compete successfully is part of growing up in the United States.
Material Wealth and Hard Work
The third reason why immigrants have traditionally come to the United States is to have a better life — that is, to raise their standard of living. For the vast majority of the immigrants who came here, it was probably the most compelling reason for leaving their homeland. Because of its incredibly abundant natural resources, the United States appeared to be a "land of plenty" where millions could come to seek their fortunes. Of course, most immigrants did not "get rich overnight," and many of them suffered terribly, but the majority of them were eventually able to improve upon their former standard of living. Even if they were not able to achieve the economic success they wanted, they could be fairly certain that their children would have the opportunity for a better life. The phrase "going from rags to riches" became a slogan for the great American Dream. Because of the vast riches of the North American continent, the dream came true for many of the immigrants. They achieved material success; they became very attached to material things. Material wealth became a value to the American people.
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. To an American, this means that this person values material possessions above all else. Americans do not like to be called materialistic because they feel that this unfairly accuses them of loving only material things and of having no religious values. In fact, most Americans do have other values and ideals. Nevertheless, acquiring and maintaining a large number of material possessions is of great importance to most Americans. Why is this so?
Probably the main reason is that material wealth has traditionally been a widely accepted measure of social status in the United States. Because Americans rejected the European system of hereditary aristocracy and titles of nobility, they had to find a substitute 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. The North American continent was rich in natural resources when the first settlers arrived, but all these resources were undeveloped. Only by hard work could these natural resources be converted into material possessions, 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 came to see material possessions as the natural reward for their hard work.
As the United States has shifted from an industry-based economy to one that is service or information-based, there has been a decline in high-paying jobs for factory workers. It is now much more difficult for the average worker to go "from rags to riches" in the United States, and many wonder what has happened to the traditional "American Dream." As the United States competes in a global economy, many workers are losing their old jobs and finding that they and their family members must now work longer hours for less money and fewer benefits. Faced with a decline in their standard of living, these people no longer believe that hard work necessarily brings great material rewards.
Most Americans, however, still believe in the value of hard work. They believe that people should hold jobs and not live off welfare payments from the government. Barry Goldwater, a candidate for the presidency in 1964, said that most poor people are poor because they deserve to be. Most Americans would find this a harsh statement, but many might think there was some truth in it.
These basic values do not tell the whole story of the American character. Rather, they should be thought of as themes, which will appear throughout the book as we continue to explore more facets of the American character and how it affects life in the United States.
People and Culture: Diversity and Convergence
American movies, television programs, magazines, popular music, fast food, dress, software, along with a host of other goods and services, have been aggressively exported to the rest of the world. As a result, outsiders view the U. S. as a largely homogeneous country of superhighways connecting widely separated sky-scraping cities; everywhere similarly auto-oriented, single-family dwelling suburbs dotted around shopping malls; deteriorating, crime-ridden, minority-dominated inner cities; enormous, technologically advanced and specialized factory farms; human activities firmly in control of the natural world. This perception does correspond to a discernible trend of greater cultural convergence over the last quarter of the 20th century. Together, mass communications, mass production, big business, and central governments have been powerful agents in shaping a mass culture today with standardized tastes, behavior, products, and artifacts. What's more, speech patterns, dress, music, sport, foods, and religion, to name a few culture traits, are each giving up their regional/local expressions and have been replaced by nation-wide common habits. For example, the distinctive accents of the American South have become progressively more modulated, and country music, once also centered in the South, has spread to the entire country.
What will happen to this seemingly placeless cultural convergence when America enters the 21st century? Given the widespread postmodern values, including an enthusiasm for local landscapes, historic preservation and ethnic communities and traditions, cultural critics argue, it makes sense that regional diversity and cultural convergence will incongruously exist side by side at different levels of American society. One new approach to American cultural geography is to distinguish traditional from voluntary culture areas. A traditional culture region is formed over a long period of time in an environmental setting by people who come to share a common worldview and way of life. Such traditional areas are never static: assimilation, interactions with other areas and internal events and inventions are always bringing changes. A voluntary region, on the other hand, is formed by people with similar interests moving to a common destination region. What follows is a region-by-region description and interpretation of America's cultural diversity.
Sources: Contemporary American Culture and Society
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