US CULTURE
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 US culture was mainly shaped by Native Americans, Latin Americans, Africans and Asians.
US is now called as a ‘melting pot’ or ‘salad bowl’ where all the subcultures comes from different parts of the world and combine together to contribute their part to the whole US culture. So, the cultural affiliation of an individual residing in the US may depend on to the social class he belongs, political orientation and a multitude of demographic factors like religion, occupation etc. Even the leisure activities in US shows the impact of foreign culture on US. E.g. Tennis came from France, Soccer from England; and even the famous American pizza has its origin from Italy.
HOFTSEDE CULTURE DIMENSION AND ANALYSIS
Hofstede's cultural dimensions theory is a framework for cross-cultural communication. Hofstede developed his original model as a result of using factor analysis to examine the results of a world-wide survey of employee values by IBM in the 1960s and 1970s. The theory was one of the f...
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...ociety. They consider people as unequal and doesn’t like the equality aspect. Whereas, egalitarianism promotes equality in the society. US is an egalitarian society which promotes equality of people in the society. Equality, liberty, and fraternity are the basic values of political system of US.
3. Mastery vs. harmony
Mastery oriented societies tend to encourage self-assertion in order to explore and make changes in natural and social environment to attain personal as well as group goals. Harmony societies tend to adjust or fit in to the existing environment and doesn’t like to alter or question anything. US is a mastery society where people always look out for more information and exploitation of resources if chances are available. This is why organizations in US are dynamic, competitive and result oriented towards achievement and success.
I believe having American culture means that you embrace freedom, celebrate the national holidays, vote, and many other things. Since I do live in the United States of America I believe that American Culture tends to valued more than all the other subcultures within the nation. This can be seen if you look into the media. It’s not uncommon that media outlets will portray certain sub cultures as not wanting to assimilate or that they are somehow causing trouble somehow. You can also see that people who come from cultures that aren’t American tend to have harder times finding jobs. I would have to say that my culture gives me many rights and
The Culture of Americans is diverse and evolving constantly, due to changing interests, landscapes, religions, and geography.
America was formed on the basis of culture. Many different cultural backgrounds flocked to this one area and in the process many existing cultures were destroyed, while the new influx of humanity meshed to create an American culture. This constant flow of cultures from all over the world has kept the American culture in a state of flux. Each historical period has presented its classical viewpoint of American culture through the eyes of its most accomplished authors. There are narratives about clashes of cultures, presentations of cultures and even some focused on teaching a culture. The narratives provide a glimpse into an era that may no longer exist.
American culture is in my opinion a mixture of all cultures in the world. In some states, minorities have become majorities because of the huge masses that have immigrated there. Those groups have integrated their own customs to Americans and at the same time, have made American customs part of their lives. In that enormous alloy called Americans, you can meet diverse kinds of persons, languages, foods and words. At the same time, specific traits make this culture as any other unique. The British writer Lesley Hazleton describes in the essay The First Game her experience when she attended a baseball game for the first time in her life. It was her first time visiting America as well and the way the scene is described shows in some way her perception of what Americans are. Among their several qualities, she distinguished the idolization of achievers and their lives based on a theocentric society.
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.
prosperous from its diversity, epitomizes the "American Melting Pot". It is complicated to relate such different backgrounds, but with an overview of history, culture, religion, and integration on a small scale, a reader is capable of applying the values to the American culture as a whole.
‘’ The Western American culture is influenced by so many other different cultures including Latin American, African, Polynesian, Native American, and Asian cultures. Yet in the 1490 throughout the early 1900s this culture has been mainly influenced by the European traditions. The United States has historically had trouble letting people within it’s borders. However, beginning in the 1960s and continuing on in the present day, the country trends towards cultural diversity, pluralism, and the image of a salad bowl instead.
In the text, “The American Cultural Configuration” the authors express the desire of anthropologists to study their own culture despite the difficulty that one faces attempting to subjectively analyze their own society. Holmes and Holmes (2002), use the adage “not being able to see the forest through the trees” (p. 5) to refer to how hard it is for someone to study something they have largely taken for granted. The Holmes' article focuses predominately on paradoxes within our own culture, many of which we don't notice. In a paradox, two contradicting statements can appear to be true at the same time. This essay looks at two paradoxes commonly found in everyday life: the individual versus the family and religion.
Within the United States there is a huge diversity of cultures. Culture is many different things, it is a tradition, it is the values and beliefs passed down from generation to generation, and culture is the identity of any country. Culture helps to identify one cultural group from the other. Although we may live in the same country,city, or state we still differ from one another by the way we dress, our beliefs, language, traditions, music, art, food, religion, and politics.
American culture entails the traditions and customs of the United States. Culture includes food, what we wear, religion, our language, music, marriage, what we believe to be right or wrong, how we greet visitors and how we sit at the table. Also, it includes how we treat our loved ones and how we treat the elders. American culture is just but an example of how culture has evolved since the ancient times and its
The America culture stresses independence, on the other hand. It tells you to look out for number one, to have individual ambition, take care of yourself first, and go on a quest.
The United States is a country with a diverse existing population today; this country is known as a melting pot of different cultures, each one unique in its own respect. Culture; differentiate one societal group from another by identification beliefs, behaviors, language, traditions, Art, fashion styles, food, religion, politics, and economic systems. Through lifelong, ever changing processes of learning, creativity, and sharing culture shapes our patterns of behavior as well thinking. The Culture’s significance is so intense that it touches almost every aspect of who and what we are. Culture becomes the telescope through which we perceive and evaluate what is going on around us. Trying to define the perplexing term of culture with varying component of distinguishable characteristics is difficult to restrict. Presenly, culture is viewed as consisting primarily of the symbolic, untouched and conception aspects of human societies.
Hofstede ,G. (1980). Hofstede’s Culture’s Consequences- International Differences in Work Related Values. Cross- Cultural Research & Methodology, 5, 18-21.
Furthermore, in American culture freedom does not mean that one have the complete free hand to decide what is required for the growth of life, but they have freedom-like thoughts over which they act freely in a suitable manner for the betterment of life and to maintain the balance of the society as well. Culture depicts the way people act and do particular deeds within the cultural context under different conditions. Similarly, in American culture people tend to show their right of freedom so as to make their live individual life sustainable that actually lay down the real basis of rich American
According to Sledge, Miles, and Coppage (2008) individualism versus collectivism is “the concepts of ‘I and Me’ versus ‘We and Us’” (p. 1670). Some cultures rely heavily on groups and teams. Collective societies look at group accomplishments rather than individual accomplishments. Some countries such as China and Japan rely heavily on groups. Countries like the United States and Canada are more of an individualism society. People focus more on individual accomplishments. Teams have started to become popular in the United States, but are not as effective as in a collective society. In a country where individualism is strong individual recognition and rewards would be effective motivators.