Public Life Characterize American Culture

1. How can an understanding of the complexities of culture help us make sense of the day-to-day world which we live? Give an example from your life to illustrate your answer.

American culture has been referred to as a “melting pot.” Different cultures have added their own distinct aspects to society, making America a diverse country. Despite the plethora of cultures, certain norms, mores, and folkways are evident in American society. These ideas are vital to the function and stability of America. They provide guidelines for what is acceptable and not. In virtually every society, there are people who engage in deviant behavior and do not abide by the values that the rest of society follows. Theorists have debated if people are socialized into acting this way and if it is a social or personal problem. The sociological study of culture focuses on norms, mores, and folkways.

Contemporary American culture is defined as common themes of political attitudes, religious beliefs and news events that lead trends during the present time. Today, we see contemporary American culture portrayed in many more ways than that. We see it through art, music, and literature. In literature, for example, The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas by Ursula Le Guin, contemporary American culture is portrayed throughout. The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas represents contemporary American culture by portraying the exploitation of others, the symbolism of Americas political systems and oppression of the lower classes, and the lacking of moral responsibility.

There were many continuities and changes in cultural beliefs in the Americas during the time period 1450-present. Some changes were, when africans and natives were forced to learn christianity and syncretic religions started by mixing with native and christianity beliefs. Some continuities are, some native beliefs still survived and religion was still important to others.

The introduction of movies at the theater and radio broadcasting open a new era of how information gets around to people. It made it easier to pass on information to people in hard to reach places. It also open new opportunities for employment. It created movies stars and radio personalities. In the 1920's, the radio was well-thought-out to be one of the most powerful way of communication. the radio broadcasts popular music, classical music, sporting events, lectures, fictional stories, newscasts, weather reports, market updates, political commentary, religious stories, events, and even operas during certain seasons. “New communications media reshaped American culture in the 1920's, and much of the new mass culture was exported to the rest

As Americans we do not realize how high maintenance we are. If I am at a restaurant and my food comes out wrong I am immediately going to tell my server. Some may even rudely confront them without hesitation. In Honduras, this situation would be handled differently. Most Hondurans are not worried about going out to dinner, they are more concerned about whether or not they will have a single meal a day.

What does my culture tell me about human nature? Good question, but first, we need to establish, what is human nature? I would say, human nature is what makes us unique, it is something captured at birth, its instinctive, biological and something that differentiates us from every other species on earth. The question then becomes, can our culture influence this natural state, or are we pre-disposed as “human beings” to be inherently different from one another based on origin of birth. I believe all human beings, share a common bond and special connection that makes uniquely human, no matter social status, religious belief, or country of origin. You are first and foremost a Human Being, then the culture you live in will change or influence you

Theda Skocpol, “Advocates Without Members: The Recent Transformation of American Civic Life,” in Skocpol and Fiorina, eds. Civic Engagement in American Democracy, 505–506.

Equal opportunity, achievement and success, material comfort, activity and work, practicality and efficiency, progress, science, democracy and free enterprise, freedom, and racism and group superiority are all key values of American culture. Of these American values I try to embrace all but one. I have grown up in a racist home, yet I try to be as open-minded as possible. Now that I am old enough to understand the extent of my parents’ beliefs, I have found that I disagree with their opinion on certain situations. In the past six or seven years I have been reorienting myself so that I do not become such people as my parents, and not to say they are horrible people, I only strive to have better personality and value traits than what they

If someone were to travel to our time from over a century ago, what would they notice? Aside from the new technology, I believe they would be confused by the way our perspective on people’s rights has changed. They would see women in military service, people of color with college degrees, individuals practicing their own religion, and a supportive LGBT community. When I look back at how far we have come in the past century, I think about our right to openly reveal who we are. America’s gift to my generation is the freedom to express our individuality.

In the modern American history of the twentieth century there is not any think like the automobile that has affected the way society has changed in the last years. In only 50 years the number of cars in the USA were from 8,000 at the beginning of the century, to 25,000,000 in the sixties. The automobile affected many aspects of society such as the economics, environment, the family, the shape of the cites, and the pace this country moves ahead. The automobile has contributed in the advance of the society and have changed the history. In the decade of 1950, automobile led to the modification of the model of the city of the first half of the twentieth century. They resulted in the development of suburbs, highways, parking, traffic control, drive-through

A Comparison of American Culture with the Culture of the Kung People in Kalahari Desert in South Africa

American culture refers to the traditions and practices of the people of the United States. Culture comprises of the nature of buildings, religion, music language and marriage. The population of the United States is more than 320 million people making it the most culturally diverse country in the globe. Books such as Crabgrass Frontier, Manifest Destination and Muscular Christianity are important sources of information about American culture. This paper is a reflection on the methods that these books use in providing information about the evolution of the US culture. The paper examines the relationship between these three sources and ways they challenge or inform an understanding of the American society during the late 19th and early 20th century. There is an analysis of the efficiency of the issues tackled by these books in influencing the contemporary discourse surrounding American culture. The major argument of this paper is that Crabgrass Frontier, Manifest Destination and Muscular Christianity provide reliable information about the evolution of the US culture and they supplement each other through the use of relevant examples.

Schon (1983) states, “We look to professionals for definitions and solutions of our problems and through them we strive for social progress”(p.4). Professionals and practitioners are individuals that are highly educated in a certain field of study. For example, our government looks to them for expertise for certain public problems. They are an essential part to our society. They work in favor of the public good because they come up with expert solutions to public problems. Professionals have their challenges and have been known in some incidences to negatively impact the society. Professional’s infectiveness is a challenge that professionals face when trying to come up with solutions. Some solutions are just as bad or even worse than intended to be. According to Schon, advocates for peace and the civil rights of minorities joined forces and turned against experts of whom they saw as instruments of an all-powerful establishment. Some public problems should be solved by moral and political choice (Schon, 1983, p.9-11)

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