Americ Culture Overload : How Does One Define American Culture? Essay

The United States has been a host to a wide diaspora of people. Immigrants have had to transition from their familiar land to a new-fashioned foreign land that they must consider home. They bring with them the essence of their initial homeland such as customs, traditions and beliefs that inadvertently change the dynamics of culture within the United States. As a result the United States is an extremely culturally diverse nation. The continual changes or accretions that Americans encounter have always been a controversial topic depending on the experiences of individuals and communities that have immigrant populations. This essay will critically explore

When we think about American culture today, we usually think about the 4th of July, barbecuing, Donald Trump and football.We have centered our culture around ourselves and have not given much thought about the good of our country like our founders did when they wanted to avoid a tyrannical leader. In United States history, we have changed our culture due to given circumstances and becoming the “World’s Leading Power”, that we did not have to face the struggles that the colonists had to go through. Those struggles in the 1700’s had shaped American cultures and what they valued.

America is a country where individuals are able to find their own niche within their community, to connect with other individuals with common beliefs, and to have an American identity without losing their own roots. One of the reasons why America is what it is today is because of how its history was started and founded. Ever since its discovery, people from different continents such as Africa, Europe, and Asia have immigrated to America for various reasons, allowing America to be ethnically diverse. Throughout the world, cultural diffusion occurs; however, in America, cultural diffusion has been part of the country’s culture since the colonial era. For example, the colonies in America did not only interact with their mother country,

American Lore is just like any other lore it has myths, legends, and fairy tales, but American lore shows the history of America and how we live today, with a twist to the story. With Legends, myths, and fairy tales it expresses the way americans think and how creative we can be to come up with these stories from things that could actually happen. Legends are based on historical facts Myths are based on religion and gods and goddesses. Fairy Tales are made believe not real, includes special creatures. Tall tales and legends are more based in American lore and is heavily based on history and the many traditional stories that are spread from generation to generation. American lore is based on, “power social status and prestige, control or dominance over people and resources. Achievement which is a personal success through demonstrating competence according to social standards . Hedonism pleasure or sensuous

The United States is an immense country, with many residents and citizens descending from immigrants who have influenced many customs, traditions, behaviors and ways of life. Unlike many old world nations, the United States does not have a homogenous population or a traditional homeland. However, American culture can be interpreted as being largely based in Western Europe with influences from the Native Indians, Africans, Asians, and elsewhere.

In a society that focuses in the creation of labels in order to categorize its members; we continue the fight to defy the social constructed barriers that daily limit the lives of the human kind to no more than what their eyes can see and their minds judge. Gender, race, ethnicity, background, beliefs, sexual preferences, skin color, language, culture, and everything else that identifies a community are constantly used to criticized it, repress it and control it. While the judging lenses of society have always been there, we have to recognize that with the growing of communities, form migration, the problem continues to aggravate. In the United States of America, the perfect cradle is found to make this baby grow. With the great amount of immigrants, it is rather easy to find problems in society related to race, gender and culture in general; whether it is in the fields related to government, justice and law, as in the field of education.

Social inequality stems from many facets of life and mindsets reproduced continuously in America. The main backbone of systematic inequality is formed off of race, gender and class, which all contain crucial aspects that further oppress those subjected to inequality in various aspects of life. The resources-schools, occupations, invested parents- around one fuels the opportunity in their lives, a concept highlighted by Malcom Gladwell, in his book, Outliers. Situations one are brought up in or uncontrollable genetic aspects can very easily restrain their opportunities. Racial discrimination, gender roles and inferiority and the lack of fluidity in the low and working class push inequality, which simultaneously influencing the rich and privileged.

Throughout America’s history, the issue of immigration has been on the forefront major debates. Immigration is among one of the most stimulating topics of discussion. Often when discussing immigration the question of assimilation also arises and whether or not immigrants are truly doing so. Since the beginning of this country, immigrants and even natives of the land have been pressured to assimilate to “American” Culture and to commit to its standards. When a group of people fail to assimilate to these standards, they encounter critics. The Native Americans, who wanted to preserve their traditions and values, had their children taken from them and sent to boarding schools with the goal to assimilate Native tribes into “mainstream America’s way of life.” In the nineteenth century, the largest mass lynching, which involved Italians , occurred in New Orleans. Italians were discriminated against because they did not share the same traits as their Anglo-Saxon camarades. (Falco) Today, in the twenty-first century, Hispanic immigrants ,and others, are also criticized because they are believed to not be assimilating. In fact many like the Samuel P. Huntigton, chairman of the Harvard Academy for International and Area Studies, have voiced that the most serious threat to America’s traditional identity is the immigration of Hispanic immigrants. However, the issue may not stem from these people themselves. The issue and controversies surrounding assimilation primarily stems from

For over thirty years, White America believed that all people who immigrated to the United States of America whether by force or will wanted to assimilate into America’s culture and become a member of a homogenous group. During this time, many immigrants decided to assimilate fearing the consequences if they did not submit to White America’s way of life. However, White American millenniums believe this antiquated way of thinking is out of touch, especially with the constant changing globalized world. In fact, many immigrants prefer acculturation instead of assimilation to retain their primary identity and culture (Chronicle 1). Furthermore, White America is accepting of the cultural differences in our country, often participating in many

The development of a culture in the United States has been a winding road of interactions between differing, oftentimes opposing cultures and races from the first footfalls of Europeans upon the American continent’s shores. Each group of settlers and immigrants have brought their own unique perspectives and underlying values to the table. Many of these perspectives have been incorporated into the mainstream way of life, many others however, have been dismissed and discarded as either foreign or outright dangerous. The

Immigration has increased diversity within this nation. To many, America is considered a melting pot, a place where people of different backgrounds are able to come together as a common culture. Since its colonial period, America has been a home and a safe haven for numerous groups of immigrants. According to Mark Connelly`s book, The Sundance Writer, “Since its founding, the United States has absorbed waves of new arrivals from around the world” (173). Immigrant groups viewed this land as a prominent and vast place where they can prosper, create exceptional and joyous lives, evade religious and political persecution in their home countries, and construct better communities under a

I find myself curious about the past. From ancient civilizations to the technological advancements that have made us who we are today, the past has been instrumental in the development of the present. Much like in essay “America” I too think of the United States when I hear the word America, even if you do an internet search for “America” the first result would be something pertaining to the United States. As an immigrant from Trinidad West Indies at the age of 13 all I knew of the United States was the name America that was associated with it. Knowing nothing more I was introduced to the American culture in the 7th grade. Never having study the history of the United States I have learned the culture and what it means to be an American from

The United States is often called a melting pot because of the vast array of cultures that all live in the country. People have come from every corner of the world to settle in the United States. In recent years, the influx of immigration has become a contentious issue. Some people believe that the US is overpopulated and that further immigration poses a danger to the country while others contend that the US was built on immigration and that it is un-American to prohibit people from living here if they so wish. The articles "5 Myths About Immigration" and "The Challenge of Diversity" detail the different issues which are related to the immigration issue, both discuss the amount of immigration that occurs, the fear of immigrants taking jobs from American citizens, and the idea that immigrants are reluctant to assimilate into the American culture.

Often in the case of anthropology people like to view the extreme sides of the field; either popular culture, typically seen in the United States, or remote locations only impacted by their local folk culture. In Return to Laughter, Lauren Bohannon, or her nom de plume Elenore Smith Bowen, experiences the latter as she leaves the comfort of her first world culture to spend time with the Tiv tribe in Western Africa. The Tiv is a group that lives quite differently from what Bowen is used to. They live very communally and as team, everyone contributing to the collective betterment of the group, base their entire economy on agriculture, and use witchcraft as a way of maintaining social order. Bowen even remarks witchcraft surprised her when she writes, “despite my training I had thought these people would differ only by externals of dress and custom… I had willfully closed my eyes to all but obviously superficial differences. (Bowen 1964: 144) Witchcraft proves to be at the cornerstone of Tiv culture and forces Bowen to reevaluate herself, her ethnographic method, and what it means to be a real anthropologist.

The United States of America being the third largest country in the world with more than 315 million inhabitants, consists of multicultural societies with ethnically diverse population. Since there are a lot of foreigners, the US culture has evolved in such a way accepting and tolerating other foreign cultures. US is very much influenced by protestant work ethics according to which people believe in themselves and their efforts to attain the goal of self-actualization and success. The rich diversity in the culture brought by foreigners, prevailing values of protestant ethics, hard work etc. have helped US to emerge as a superpower in the past years. Nearly every religion had its impact on US culture in one way or the other. The