Does America have a culture?

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Now before everyone says, "yeah, of course" I request you ponder this:

-Ever seen anyone in Europe at a concert proudly waving their American flag to "represent"

-What's a dish that we didn't borrow from some other country?

-People wore clogs in denmark, kimonos in Japan, Sari's in India, you never see an American with a cowboy hat and a gun, walking around, showing off what America is all about. If he wanted to seem American, he'd just wear the same thing he always wore. In fact, you'd probably cringe if you saw someone doing that.

And then before you say, "well, we're just a melting pot of a whole bunch of cultures"

-Well, so is Brazil and they represent more than anybody, it's a strange Brazilian who doesn't have that green flag in at least one of their instagram photos.

-How many people in America know even 1% of their ancestor's traditions?

And then before you say, well, our culture is just consumerism, and sex, and instant gratification

-Isn't that more just an acknowledgement that we are wealthier than a lot of other countries and more wasteful because we've got so much resources? Everybody wants money and sex, it doesn't make it a cultural identity.

-Mcdonalds, porn, and racking up credit card debt are all so American then why is it looked down upon by mainstream American society, as if it's always some other, bad American, who's doing all the porn watching and frivolous spending.

Perhaps you don't perceive American culture because you are immersed in it. Europeans don't wave their flags because nationalism is seen as having been the cause of the world wars--seeing us with our American flags waving all the time reminds Europeans of the Nuremberg rallies in Nazi Germany. Our national dish could be considered the hamburger (which was invented here) and our national costume is jeans (also invented here.) We have exported our culture to the entire world through Hollywood movies and imperialist foreign policies.

I'm not sure what point you're trying to make about the money and sex bit, or mainstream Americans "looking down" on the excesses of our culture.

Believe me, nobody in the rest of the world doubts that there is an American culture.

You've also got many flourishing sub-cultures, the main one being hip-hop.

Actually, you do occasionally see real American cowboys in the rural Midwest areas of the USA (complete with hat and working guns). I know a few of them personally from my hometown. It is a way of life to them, working cattle and mending fences everyday for the ranchers. They can get a bit wild on the weekends when they hit the bottle. During those times, it is best to stay out of their way.

Well you could be right, but this obviously depends on how exactly you are defining the word "culture".

If you limit the definition to a relatively small and specific set of memes that have stayed constant over a long period of time, - tradition, then you're right that the U.S. doesn't have much of that.

If the definition includes ALL memes, then the U.S. has THE culture, and I don't mean that in a good way.
By way of being a "melting pot", and having such relatively weak cultural traditions, it has left us open to a huge collection of the most current and evolving memes. It's an invasion of memes into a prime breeding ground. We then in turn infect the rest of the world via media.

Personally, I don't really count this as a culture.

America has two main cultures. Hip Hop and Hippie.

I wouldn't know I'm Bostonian.
:]

America has a black culture inherited from the African slaves who they brought into the country in the 18th and 19th century. Most everything else is imported from Europe over the years. They have great science and technology and invention which gave us things such as the electric light globe, refrigeration and TV, but those things I wouldn't classify as culture. Culture is a refinement in the way we think, reflected by the arts of music, writing and painting and those things don't have a price on them, so Capitalism can't buy them or create them.

Buffalo Wings
Pretty much anything that falls under soul food
Most things, for that matter, involving a crawfish
Chop Suey
Hershey's chocolate is distinctly American
New England clam chowder
Manhatten clam chowder
Do you live under a rock lobster [ok not really]




So... you don't visit Texas much? Or Montana? Or any of the states where that is either in style or a hat like that is actually useful on a ranch and a gun maybe worn visibly? Yes this is actually common place in some states. Not all but some.


Brazil is not the United States. Brazil has a different culture with very different factors going on, so I'm really not sure why you feel that is applicable.


...when was the last time you took a survey?
A LOT of people are in touch with at least some aspect of their heritage, ancestry, ethnic roots. Genealogy is becoming more popular, actually. Because you may have no interest or knowledge [I'm not even sure, I'm just not sure where you get this assumption] it doesn't mean no one does. How many holidays and celebrations annually celebrate various populations' ethnic roots or culture in the US? A WHOLE LOT. But none of them have any idea about their heritage or traditions? That doesn't quite work.

I wouldn't say that's our culture. I would say that's actually a lot of what western attitudes are encouraging. That's not a "cultural viewpoint" of the United States.
But really... a lot of people in general are about consumerism and sex and instant gratification. I mean it plays upon the reward system of the human brain- some places are slower at catching up on how to take advantage of it.


This is a really strange thing to introduce to the discussion.
You suggested this was part of American culture and then argue that it isn't yourself. [and you also simplify a lost of complex issues in this long sentence] So... I don't know what's going on here.

Culture in general cannot be observed from the "inside out". It can only be observed from the "outside in". For example. if you live in America, you won't see American culture. But you defiantly will see European culture. Just like a European can't really see there own culture but can defiantly see American culture. The same principle holds true for speaking accents as well.

I agree with this. When I visit my country of birth after I emigrated from it, I realize that many things there that used to feel just ordinary when I lived there now feel very cultural.

Also,
How about the native culture in the USA? It has much longer history and is very unique.
The USA is such a dominant country in the world that most other countries follow many of the USA ways. Could that possibly make USA things not feel very unique/cultural. Are USA things too universal to be seen as cultural?

Dictionary definition of "culture"

Basically, "culture" is the behavior of a society. The US is so large that when one tries to think of its culture on a global scale, it will seem rather whitewashed and corrupted. But viewing smaller regions, even Americans in the US will notice cultural differences in their own country.

I'm an American living in Germany for the past 5 years. At first, Germans all seemed similar to me. But with experience, I found that Germans have extremely regional culture, as is to be expected of a country so historically rich and diverse. The crazy thing is, many Germans think the same way Americans do about their culture, that it's the best, and others are okay as long as they stay over there and don't ask us to change anything.

And if you look at English, even, as an example of American culture, that is huge! Read anything by John McWhorter on the topic of the history of English, and you'll quickly recognize, once it's pointed out to you, just how much we've influenced the language,especially with the Internet.

I think one cannot think about culture very well unless one puts oneself in a hypothetical "visiting Martian" role, really.

I'm a cultural scholar, which means everything I say on this subject is true and correct. :p Joking.

Yes, the USA has an exceptional amount of culture that is unique to the USA. I thought the USA was craptacular until I left it and have now learned to appreciate US culture, and how culture has shaped (and continues to shape) US society. Living in a very different culture has highlighted aspects of American culture I never fully grasped until leaving.

Loads of links here if you're interested. http://www.si.edu/encyclopedia_Si/nmah/

I wouldn't say we have a unified culture, more of a series of regional cultures with certain overlaps.

Maybe that's why it's easier for me to see American culture as a definite thing that exists and is unquestionable [in it's existence- what it actually *is* is up for debate]. I was out of the country for an extended amount of time when I was younger- a bit over 4.5 months- I mean that's pretty long, I'd almost say I "lived" outside the US, only I lived a month here, 3 weeks there... but in relatively similar areas sort of?

...ANYway...
I also have studied cultural psych and through my other studies in psych you have to take into account different cultural aspects. However I think only having one or the other [since I wasn't out of the country for years] wouldn't have given me the perspective I have.

But it didn't occur to me that might be the large difference of perspective here? I'm not really sure.
Maybe I'm just really opinionated sometimes. [there's probably not a maybe there, actually]

Hard Rock, blues, Soul, Hip-Hop, Hollywood,BBQ, on the road. The British improved on a lot of the music IMHO but most of it started here. Good or bad is your judgement call. A positive and negative view