Popular American Culture - Essay Example

Introduction Culture: The scheme of common beliefs, principles, traditions, attitudes, and artifacts that the members of a society use to survive in their world and with one another, and that are transferred from generation to generation through learning. The society of the US is also called as the Western culture. It has been shaping up since way before the United States originally became a country. In the world today the United States is a varied and multi-cultural country. The earliest and first cultural influence that United States experienced was of British culture, this was due to the colonial ties with the British that spread English language, law and order and other cultural heritage.

Other significant influences came from different parts of Europe. Countries from which large numbers of people immigrated these include Ireland, Germany, Poland, and Italy. American culture holds a significant pressure on the cultures of its neighbors in the World. The cultural divisions in United States depend on a number of factors such as social class, political orientation, ancestral traditions, sex and sexual orientation. Well every country's culture plays an important part in the decision making of the people who live in that country or belong to that country.

For example while I make any decisions the first aspect would be to keep in mind the benefits of my country and to respect the norms and believes of my culture, every other aspect would be secondary to that. The United States is a country that has evolved its culture by a mixture of several cultures hence the popular culture keeps changing. For example looking at the music industry of United States, for a long time pop music was very famous and continued to be a trend but right now Rap has taken its place.

People prefer to listen to artists like Akon, Eminem and 50 cents on the other hand Rock music will always live, it's like an evergreen trend. Hollywood has become a famous place not only in United States but also all over the world and the movies launched and made their have become a popular trend in the United States. Comics have also become a trend in the United States comics having super heroes have had a major impact on the people. Comics like Spiderman, Superman, Batman and Richie Rich are very popular.

Coming to food people of United States prefer Fast Food. Food Outlets like KFC, McDonalds, Burger King, Pizza Hut, Dominos, and Papa Johns are among the places that are a trend. In sports the most famous game in United States is Soccer. It has been termed as the most popular game both for boys and girls since 25 years. Apart from this Basket Ball and Base Ball are the two other famous sports of United States. (Maryanne Kearny Datesman, JoAnn Crandall, Edward N. Kearny, 2004) The extent to which American culture has influenced my personal decision making cannot be told exactly but the trend and culture not only effects my decisions but of every citizen of United States.

The question that this influence has been consciously or sub consciously involved depends upon the situation and type of decision that has to be made. Bibliography Maryanne Kearny Datesman, JoAnn Crandall, Edward N. Kearny. (December 29, 2004). American Ways: An Introduction to American Culture. Pearson ESL; 3rd edition.