Culture of the United States

Ø 1) What comes to your mind first when you hear the words “American culture”? What cultures, do you think, influenced American culture most of all?

American culture is a Western culture, with influences from Europe, Canada, the Native American peoples, African Americans and young groups of immigrants. The United States has traditionally been known as “a melting pot, ” but recent academic opinion is tending towards cultural diversity, pluralism and the image of “a salad bowl” rather than a melting pot. Due to the extent of American culture there are many integrated but unique subcultures within the United States. The strongest influences on American culture came from northern European cultures, most prominently from Germany, Ireland and England.

It is important to bear in mind that the United States of America is highly diverse, by way of region. There is also marked diversity within regions, especially in urban areas. The South is entirely different from the Northeast, which is itself in many ways foreign to the Mid-West, which adheres to an entirely different cultural attitude than the West. There really isn’t any single “American” attitude, or “American” style for the simple reason that the country is so extraordinarily diverse.

The formative years of the United States were the late 18^th century when the country was founded, and a great deal of American culture is couched in the ideals of the Enlightenment. The Declaration of Independence’s mission statement about securing life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; the French Revolution’s ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity; and the national motto “E pluribus Unum” (“From many, one”) reflect the country’s values and social development. Another primary influence on American culture is the constant stream of new immigrants, many of whom have fled persecution or oppression in their home countries, and are seeking freedom (including religious freedom) and economic opportunity, leading them to reject totalitarian practices.

By and large, Americans value the ideals of individual liberty, individualism, self-sufficiency, altruism, equality, Judeo-Christian morals, free markets, a republican form of government, democracy, populism, pluralism, feminism, and patriotism.

Ø 2) Answer the questions on the text:

a) Why was the USA called “the melting pot”?

b) Why is there a tendency to call it “a salad bowl” nowadays?

c) Where did the strongest cultural influences come to America from?

d) How does the population diversity influence American culture?

e) What were cultural ideals in the USA in the 18th century?

f) In what way did the French Revolution influence American culture?

g) What is the national American motto?

h) Why do people leave their native countries for America?

i) What ideals do Americans value at present?