The American Culture - Research Paper Example

The American Culture The famous American culture contains different subcultures, traditions, and customs of the majority of people in the United States of America. This culture comprises of both liberal and conservative properties. It also encompasses religious, scientific, political, competitiveness materialistic, free elements, risk taking, and moral elements. In spite of recurring ideologies like egalitarianism, democracy, and beliefs in freedom and individualism, this culture has a diversified influence as per demographic and geographical scale (Neil Campbell 25).

The American culture comprises of other subcultures majoring in food, religion, fashion, marriage, language, and music. It also encompasses the belief of what is right and what is wrong for instance the behavior and modality of greetings, how people sit on the table, the consistency of personal behavior around the loved ones and other crucial factors. The American cultural norms are patterns of behaviorism, which are typical and unique, din this group and its subgroups. Such forms of behaviors are adopted from the parents, peers, teachers, and other role models in the society.

Most of these values and norms are inherently surrounding beliefs, attitude, and preformed behaviors, which occurs in the context of a particular and organized culture. Various forms of sanctions enforce the targeted norms and values in the American culture. These include both positive and negative forms of sanctions (Mary Lebreck Kelley 86). When someone violates the norms, some threats and fines are imposed. On the contrary, rewards and other promotions await an individual who upholds the set standards and values as a positive form of sanction.

Every culture has its unique symbols in associated with different perceptions and experiences. These symbols are neither automatic nor instinctive hence gradual reinterpretation and interpretations are needed amongst the cultural members. Clothing, pictures, homes, music like hip-hop genre and cars belong to this category. The language also forms a sturdy element of symbols in the American culture (Mary Lebreck Kelley 139). There are differences and common features when it comes to comparison between the American culture with other individuals from different countries like Afghanistan, India, and China.

Language brings the significant difference amongst members of different cultures. Religion also initiates great gaps across a variety of culture. Consequently, transfer of culture can easily occur whereby a perfect example is evident in the music industry, for instance, the hip-hop diffusion in different countries has resulted to concurrence din cultural norms in the various countries (María A. Gómez-González 72). Culture is currently facing severe distortion from the forces of globalization and modernization.

The globalization is a significant force in the fight for cultural uniformity across the globe. This leaves no room for diversity and individual cultural practice. There is a move to initiate the American culture as a mode of living in different parts of the world. Every step taken by persons in a given cultural setup towards, political, economic, and cultural modernization inhibits the growth of societal core cultural norms and values (Roland Robertson 216). Style of life, social conformity and practices and languages are highly affected by the active forces of the ongoing modernization and globalization.

It is hence a call to every individual who respects the culture to stand with a high awareness and personal identity to preserve the culture. Works Cited María A. Gómez-González, J. Lachlan Mackenzie, Elsa González Alvarez. Languages and Cultures in Contrast and Comparison. Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing, 2008.print Mary Lebreck Kelley, Virginia Macken Fitzsimons. Understanding Cultural Diversity: Culture, Curriculum, and Community in Nursing. Burlington: Jones & Bartlett Learning, 2000.

print Neil Campbell, Alasdair Kean. American Cultural Studies: An Introduction to American Culture. London: Routledge, 2013.print Roland Robertson, Kathleen E. White. Globalization: Culture and identity. Burlington: Taylor & Francis, 2003.print