The Influence Of Freedom In American Culture

Materialism is Terrible Americans tend to be materialistic people. We tend to judge each other by how much money we make we also judge by what we wear and what kind of house we live in. The character in the novel Into the Wild Chris McCandless, did not care for money or a nice big house. These things did not interest him into his pursuit of happiness. Materialism isn’t necessary to make people happy; Chris gave away his belongings and rejected his graduation gift and he still led a good life.

It's a status move, status is a powerful driver of purchase behavior” (Source D). Consumers are purchasing more and more items as a way to fit in, have status, and belong. Many of these idolizations are fantasies, dreams of what they think they need to have. Equally, Martin Greenwood comments that in today's society that is not the case as the American Dream “is just a consumerist vision which is no longer reality.attitudes and greed have all led to increasing levels of inequality” (Source C). The shifted American dream that is now materialism is simply a facade, there is no reality in consumerism-derived happiness.

Culture is shared beliefs, values, attitudes, and behaviors that is passed on from generation to another. After watching the movie God Grew Tired of Us, the movie helped me better understand America’s culture. America’s culture is based on individualism. People are on their own and provide for themselves. Other people from different countries do not see American people as friendly.

After the independence of America, American dreamers started to strive for wealth because possessing materials was important for them to succeed in their dream. According to John A. Pidgeon, “striving for wealth has become a way for Americans to ease their consciences, while one’s morality is often measured by the ability to acquire material possessions” (Pidgeon 2007). They believed that they could achieve any goals by becoming rich and possessing materials, and believed that the wealth and possession could bring anything they sought.

" We are living in a material world." This famous line in one of Madonna's songs entitled "Material Girl" will never outgrow itself. Ever since the beginnings of monetary means, the main focus of living is getting more money and to be as successful as possible. This became a huge issue during the 1920's. In this era, people made money from the stock market, illegal bootlegging and so forth. With these people hitting the jackpot, this then created a new rank called `new money'. This rank, however, never overpowered `old money' the most wealthiest, well-known and respected class. The possession of material wealth however, can't bring true happiness. Love is an important factor in this equation; when you don't have love, it is hard to say

Aristotle, an ancient Greek scholar, states, "He is happy who lives in accordance… and is sufficiently equipped with external goods"(Source A). People have always wanted more, which will make their lives happier. Human nature is never satisfied, people will always strive for the next better thing. Americans do have a mentality related to affluenza, not because they are greedy, but because human nature is ready for best entity. People are always trying to have a more advanced life.

Early American values shaped the United States and have set ground rules for how Americans should live. Faith, freedom, and how to live life to the fullest has been around since the seventeenth century and has had a major impact of on Americans today. Americans live by many values, but faith, freedom, and how a person should live life to the fullest are the most important. These values can be referenced back to religious puritan poetry, slave narratives leading to freedom, and romanticism. Americans way of life has greatly changed in respect to the core values of faith, freedom and living life to the fullest.

Culture is a set of ideals and values about life that are widely shared among people and that guide specific behaviors. Differences, as well as similarities, can be seen when comparing world cultures. We communicate with each other, we feed ourselves with food, and when we sleep we often dream. However, we speak different languages, eat different types of foods, and dream different ways. We call these cultural differences. What causes them is not always obvious to the ordinary person (Nancy). I feel culture is what really sets us apart from each other and what makes us unique as individuals and families.

America is the universal symbol of freedom. But is it really free? Does the history of the United States stay true to the ideas of our forefathers? Or has the definition been altered to fit American policies? Has freedom defined America? Or has America defined freedom? I believe America was at first defined by freedom, then after time, America defined freedom, altering the definition to fit the niche it fits in, but still keeping key components so it still seems to be staying true to the ideas of America’s founding fathers.

As Austrian writer Marie Von Ebner-Eschenbach wrote,“To be content with little is difficult; to be content with much, impossible.” History and literature have established that the ideal goal every American has wanted is for his thirst for material possessions to be reached, but even then, the individual isn’t truly happy. Money, and the things it can get you, have long been a part of American culture and the materialist culture of society have been examined in numerous ways from novels to the art of those like Andy Warhol. A life free from the economic woes that plague almost everyone seems like the quintessential existence, but material wealth is not a way to mend issues.

It is sad to say, but in our American Dream, the corrupted one that is, greenbacks are worth more than one’s honor. Other nations look upon the American devotion as sterile cupidity and insanity. In The Great Gatsby, Gatsby, Daisy and Tom are an excellent example of the importance of being wealthy. Lapham expresses his opinion on Americans as Philistinism. Americans base their success on property and luxuries. Without that, they are not truly happy or satisfied with what they did in their life period. If the goal of becoming rich is achieved, everything might not be so great after all. The circle of people associated with you are just there for the luxury. Take the Gatsby as an example. No one went to his funeral, not even Daisy. She was to blame for his death, and

There are many ways to describe what freedom is; in fact Webster’s dictionary offers nine different explanations of what the word means. “A right or the power to engage in certain actions without control or interference,” is one of the most ubiquitous definitions. There are many ways to describe freedom and American history has portrayed it in very contradictory manners. In the late 1700’s, it was very obvious that America’s forefathers sought freedom as they based their revolution on the principal of emancipation but it was only a short while later that the freedoms of others within the country were being inhibited by slavery. Slavery inhibits civil liberties and in a land of equal

The concept of culture is something that defines many aspects of one’s life. From physical objects to different ways of thinking, culture adds significance to human life and makes groups of people distinct from one another. Culture is essentially a group of people who come together with similar interests and points of view. According to the Center for Advanced Language Acquisition of the University of Minnesota, “culture is defined as the shared patterns of behaviors and interactions, cognitive constructs, and affective understanding that are learned through a process of socialization.” From a more sociological perspective, culture is a way in which people come together in order to fulfill their needs. These shared patterns and ideas identify the members of a culture group while also distinguishing those of another group.” Culture is one of the things that sets the United States apart from the rest of the world. Not that the rest of the world is not cultural, but the circumstance here is different. Many people of different cultural backroads come to this country in search of a better life. As a consequence, the United States has become a place where many cultures merge together like a colossal pot soup.

A culture can be defined as a way of life of a group of people- their behaviors, beliefs, values that are passed along by communication and imitation from one generation to the next. It also includes the customs, arts, literature, morals/values and traditions of a particular society or group (Virginia Encyclopedia). Culture can also be considered as a way of thinking, behaving, or working that exists in places or organizations. This topic is of huge importance to our society mainly in the state of

Culture is a key aspect of a human that reflects on their lifestyle, family, traditions and pulls together the external influences that play a role in how one chooses to live their life. For me, culture is something you collect throughout your lifetime. In my lifetime, I have been lucky enough to travel outside of the United States and meet people from all over the world. I have seen how people go about their daily routines in many different ways compared to mine. The main cultural influence that has been present in my life since day one is the closeness of my family. All my cousins are very close it has often odd when I hear about families with weak relationships and small size. Another influence that has shaped my behavior was my exposure of extreme poverty and extreme wealth while living in Mexico. Lastly, a cultural influence that has shaped my belief system is my education.