As many would agree, America has been coming undone for quite some time. The values that were put into place at the start of an era that are considered what made our country so great, have been changing radically in the past few decades. However, as many people would agree America is coming undone just as many might say that it 's going through a vast change for the better. Learning and growing as a child, to better itself and make more opprotunities. One of the main values of American 's was based on their 'culture '. Murray writing "We maintaine a cultural equality known nowhere else in the world - for white 's anyway." (Charles Murray, 348). One of the biggest divides our country faces is a cultural divide. Saying a culture is not American …show more content…
For a long time it has been, and this has effected the people of America greatly. In his lack of evidence there are other sources with facts. Dalton writes about the Horatio Alger myth "young boys born into poverty, invariably managed to trancend their station in life by dint of hard work, persistence, initiative and daring." (Dalton, 261). Not to mention is this rarely true for people who are poverty stricken, it 's pertaining to people of all races who occasionally even in today 's society face racial aggression. Culture is based on not only where you are from, but race and ethnicity as …show more content…
Murray states that White, middle class men can no longer make a family wage. "You lived a more expensive life, but not much a different life." (Murray, 350). This statement is Generalizing the family life in America, assuming that it is still a man, woman and child when this has never been the only form of American family. Single mothers, single fathers, people living on their own or living in a large family group with more than just two generations. All of these family structures aren 't any less valid, and a family wage is different for everyone. Life is different for everyone, but that 's not a bad
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 most important way as to how the elite continues to control power is through the media. In Charles Murray’s “Coming Apart: The State of White America 1960-2010,” he speaks about how there is a new upper class made up of people in notable positions in society. This new upper class is composed of the narrow elite and the broad elite, in which the narrow elite has an effect on the culture, politics, and institutions in the nation while the broad elite only has an effect on the local level. While the elite once lived in neighborhoods that were slightly more mixed in terms blue collar and white collar success, they now live in what are considered Superzips, which are areas in which the 95th to 99th percentile of the most successful and well educated Americans live. White Americans constitute for 82% of Superzip inhabitants, compared to 8% Asian, and
In his inaugural address, Ronald Reagan characterizes America as broken and selfish but, with hard work it can become truly great. America is the land of opportunity and we as Americans are very lucky to live here but, one cannot just think of himself, he must think of the country. No matter what shape or state America is in, there is always a way to make it better with hard
Bourne suggests that the process of Americanization has taken a negative turn in America, since people are being forced to adopt the culture, not to integrate it into their own. Randolph S. Bourne criticizes the idea of the melting-pot in favor of a cosmopolitan America. His critique of attempts to assimilate immigrants to American culture demonstrates the fragile nature of the immigrant’s beliefs in the face of Americanization. According to Bourne, “It is just this English-American conservatism that has been our chief obstacle to social advance,” (Bourne 2/11). Bourne suggests that not everyone wants to be assimilated into American society. “The foreign cultures have not been melted down or run together, made into some homogeneous Americanism, but have remained distinct but cooperating to the greater glory,” (Bourne 4/11). Bourne points out that America is meant to become a cosmopolitan mixture of America. America is form by immigrants and is destiny to be a mixture of
In today’s society, Cultural diversity in the United States of America can be seen in all aspects of life, such as in the media, workplace, household, and schools. Cultural diversity is defined as the characteristic of diverse cultures, as contradicting to monoculture, as in a homogenization of cultures, affiliated to cultural decay. In this present stage America, most individuals inaccurately use phrases such as “American culture,” or “Western culture,” as if such common and standardized cultures exist. People, in general, neglect to acknowledge the presence of cultural diversity, and cultural differences within the American society.
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.
Americans can cherish their freedom of expression and are part of a diverse culture. An American is someone who would embrace freedom and liberty. Overall, to be an American, it is crucial to embrace the culture and become a part of it disregarding where you were born.
Culture is defined as the beliefs, customs, arts, etc., of a particular society, group, place, or time. What is American culture? Is it a grab bag of different cultures or something completely different? People within the American society have different ways of defining American culture. John Adams was the son of a farmer, who would become the second President of the United States. His wife, Abigail Adams was the daughter of a wealthy Congregational minister. In 1774, he was elected a delegate in the First Continental Congress and thus begun his journey away from his family. During his time away from his family, he wrote letters, to his wife about various matters. These letters from husband to wife and vice versa reveal characteristics of the
Students attending American schools are taught clearly about the United States’ image as a melting pot; however, there is evidence to support that, while there is not an official federal stance on the matter (Sengupta), the amount of assimilation required to be legitimately considered a “melting pot” is not being reached. Although similar, there is often confusion about the differences between “multicultural” and “assimilated” communities. By definition, assimilation is the complete “merging of cultural traits from previously distinct culture groups” (Dictionary), while multiculturalism is delineated as the “preservation of different cultures or cultural identities within a unified society, as a state or nation” (Dictionary). Early to mid-1900’s America entertained the idea of a melting pot, where people from all parts of the world would join together and assimilate. It seems, however, that the growing trend has been to treat America as more of a “salad bowl” (Porter), in that people are joining together but instead of merging as one unit, are maintaining a majority, if not all, of their primary culture with little attempt to adapt. This underachievement has left America to unintentionally become a multicultural society. The clear differentiation between expectation and reality brings vast amounts of controversy among the nation’s people.
An example of ethnocentrism in a large-scale society is American Exceptionalism. American Exceptionalism is an ethnocentric ideology that the United States deviates from other developed and under-developed countries because of its national doctrine, historical evolution, and distinguishing political and religious institutions. In 1995, Florida Lake County school board arrogated a policy that would force teachers to teach over 22,000 students that American culture, values, and political institutions are innately “superior to other foreign of historic cultures”. Mrs. Pat Hart, who at the time was the board’s chairmen stated she wanted to “ensure that students never forget that ‘we are the best of the best’” (Rohter,
As part of our study of culture, my peers and I were asked to write a paper reflecting our own cultural background. I have always considered myself "all American". I shop, I eat fast food, I drive my own car, and watch too much television.
The modern education system in America is building up a nation of racist within our children. Educations promotion of cultural diversity and awareness is actually creating a segregated, inconsiderate, racist culture that prides itself on being racially and ethnically diverse. This emphasis on cultural awareness is built on the idea that the only way for America to reach true diversity is if Americans understand what makes other nations and cultures different. By definition however, cultural awareness is the understanding of the differences between oneself and the people from other countries/backgrounds focusing on the difference in attitude and values. What modern education and culture promotes in cultural awareness stays from this definition
The American culture is diverse and constantly evolving due to many various aspects of society, including, but not limited to, religion. It cannot be said that there is one American culture because there is no national language in America. Also, the lack of a single culture is displayed by the strong need for political correctness in America. Finally, it is evident that the culture in America has changed through the years due to changes in American religion.
“Our cultural diversity has most certainly shaped our national character,” affirmed Julie Bishop. From my perception, New York City is one of the most densely inhabited metropolitan collection of cultural diversity in the world in which structures our temperament. New York City applies an imperative influence upon trade, economics, mass communication, skill, style, and education. Frequently it is known that New York City is a crucial core for global politics and has been depicted as the ethnic headquarters of the globe. New York City has been known as a melting pot of culture and as this prolong throughout towards the current day, the city has become ornate with distinct cultures. Just walking around the streets of the city can be like walking around the halls of a cultural museum. From borough to borough, you can straightforwardly experience several features of different cultures by going to the different ethnic neighborhoods that exist throughout the city. For instance, if you wanted to take a trip to China that you've always dreamed of but couldn’t afford it, when living in New York City you can hop on a subway to Canal Street and be in Chinatown for just a few dollars. Certainly, it's not the same as literally being in China, however, you can experience a quantity of the culture and perchance grab some bona fide Chinese food for dinner. Several places holds their culture to denote each individual in New York City, to make an abundant of people to visit and feel each culture one setting at a time.
Culture is something that many people don’t fully understand. They just assume that culture is your race or a description of what your beliefs are. Being a part of a culture doesn’t always mean you’ll agree with everything that that particular culture does. Bharati Mukherjee in “Two Ways to Belong to America” gives an example of this: