American Culture Essay

“Well, it’s a bit of a foreign idea to me, really. The town I’m from, my school was 99% white. Literally, we had two black girls and a half-Peruvian guy in my class of 140. So the emphasis on diversity is interesting to me, more than anything. Because I can’t relate to it. I’ve never seen it in action, as it were.

Every country around the globe has its own unique culture, social belief and structure, and values. American culture is not different in this regard. Two of the most significant values of American culture are a strong work ethic and the competitive spirit. This paper will examine how these values define American culture, how these values affected me personally growing up, and how these values influence my attempts to influence others.

Americans have not only defined themselves by their religious, ethnic and racial identity, but also by their individual freedom and common values. America has become a nation where its people can fight for what they believe in. Our founding fathers have formed America to be “the land of the free and the home of the brave”. Being apart of the American culture and living on the land founded by our leaders specifies the meaning of the American Identity.

To be an American in 2016 is to be very hard working, earning money to support yourself and your family. To be an American there are many things that come with it including the amendments. American Identity is how all of us hard working Americans live by. Based on course content, research, and interviews the American Identity can best be described as free, too much political involvement, and discriminating. To start with, what most people think when they hear the word America is land of the free.

Early North American cultures often used their art to express their spiritual rituals and beliefs. North American Eastern Woodlanders were an established, settled community. Their burial rituals led them to build great burial mounds such as the Serpent Mound in Ohio. The Eastern Woodlanders believed that tobacco was sacred, and that smoking it was a form of prayer. It is interesting that, although the tobacco originated in the South and was brought North, the stone pipe originated in the North. These woodlanders were famous for their intricate beadwork and quillwork, which was regularly used to portray symbolic, spiritual scenes.

Every Culture has his own rules, characteristics, and has its different aspects. We have to learn how to adapt to those cultures every time we are facing them or we are in an environment that has a culture that is different from ours. We are living in a world where culture has become very important to know and try to adapt to. This paper will focus on analyzing the similarity and differences values, ethic and cultures of two different countries such as Burkina Faso and the US. As we all know, American cultures is an open minded, wide, and free country. Hofstede helps us have a better understanding of how multiples countries have a totally separate dimension. As for an example, Americans are known for their high individualism while Burkina Faso has a low individualism. As much as

Sweden has a similar culture to the US in that woman are the primary caregivers of children as well . In a study of Swedish level of living survey it is noted that mothers have less or shorter working hours than do fathers outside of the home. Even though the domestic work of men in the Swedish home has increased there is still a difference and they still perform less than a fifth of domestic work such as cooking and cleaning in the home (Osterberg 2000). It is important to note this similarity because it is a cultural value and the similarities call for social change and even further show that it is a worldwide social issue.

A band is triumphantly playing as the parade passes by. Those who are or used to be serving in the military march, their uniforms immaculate, as the crowd applauds them for their service to their country. A sense of nationalistic pride fills the air and the streets are adorned with red, white, and blue. This scene is not usual to any American because it is exactly we picture when we think of the Fourth of July. However, the day I saw this parade was not the fourth but in fact the fourteenth of July. This parade was celebrating La Fête Nationale, or as Americans call it, Bastille Day which is the independence day of France.

Whether it is through a different career, political viewpoints, or even cultural differences, America gives citizens the right to “make their own name for themselves.” America was once built on individualists, but as a society today this nation is conformists. Everyone follows trends with songs, dances, appearance, clothes, make-up, and etc. People feel the need to fit in as a society as appose to being an individualist. They don’t stand out because they don’t want people bullying then nor making fun of them.

National flags hung behind tables and were painted on children’s faces. Small talk roared in many languages and the smell of various culture’s cuisines wafted throughout the gymnasium. I was thirteen, standing proudly behind the table that strung the letters “USA” across it. My classmates ran from booth to booth. The Koreans boasted of their “BBQ,” the Germans their bratwursts, and the Taiwanese their Tapioca tea - which my best friend’s mother spent three days making. A stunning compilation of people, the Culture Fair at Canadian Academy is one of my fondest memories of living abroad.

Though I experienced culture shock many times throughout my life but I'd never experienced an occurrence that resonated so deeply until my first semester in college at Fairfield University. I knew Fairfield University was different than everything I had ever known before I began my journey there, but I wasn't prepared for how different it actually was.

The analytical effects of different aspects of American Television and Film within and/or upon American popular culture are very influential. Multimedia has a strong psychological impact upon citizens of America. Acknowledging the influential impact television has made amongst Americans, we are able to provide guidance on what is age-appropriate for children to watch. Including radio, music, video games and the Internet. Extensive studies have been verified to distinguish and discover the useful and detrimental effects of multimedia. In doing so, studies have shown what effects this have on American pop culture and the citizen’s subjective mental well-being. Various multimedia is likely to bring about both decisive and pessimistic effects.

Although I always entertain the idea of Charles the Great, a king of the Franks that, “To have another language is to possess a second soul,” deep down I know language is a part of the culture. If I do not understand the culture attached to it, I may never get the real insight of the language I speak. That is why more than three months ago, I registered for a course called “American Studies” with an objective to gain a deeper perspective of the culture I am living in. Interestingly, during the coursework, I gain more than just a general concept about American culture.

Throughout time, cultures develop automatically. Regardless of how a culture was during the time of a country’s start, it will become completely different over a long period. Societies differ across the globe; however, their origins are all connected. For instance, America came into being by a mixture of people from around the word who originated from many different places, each with unique cultures. Therefore, the framework during the start of America was just bits and pieces of other country’s cultures. In current times, the culture of the United states is much different than what it was at initial start of becoming an established inhabitance. Since America has become a fully established, growing country, it has solidified in culture. People take great pride in their culture and heritage. Often, this becomes their identity. The American identity has developed and changed over time as well as created a “standard” image of what it means to be an American.

Culture is everywhere around us.It is what makes us who we are.When growing up in a certain environment for so long it is hard to adapt to anything else but what we have been brought up with.This past summer I took a trip where my culture in the United States did not match up with the vacation my family and I planned.Trying to adapt to a new cultural environment takes time and patience that took me about the whole trip to figure out.This trip to Italy was a trip of a lifetime, and to make the best of it, I needed to adapt to the culture around me.