"True" American?

As a society, we are very culturally biased and it is hard for us to understand other cultures and the hardships they endure. We don’t appreciate foreigners and we feel that they should not be given the same opportunities that “true” Americans get. But what is the definition of a “true” American? Someone who was born here? A white person? I feel that this definition is skewed and extremely biased to only a small fraction of the United States population. The U.S. is a very diverse country that holds many immigrants and their future generations. I feel that people need to keep in mind that nobody is actually a “true” American, because at one point, our ancestors came to this country on a boat also, even if they were the first British over here, they were still foreign.

                This country gives many great opportunities that other countries are nowhere near being able to give to their citizens. Our culture and society has grown and adapted to the freedoms and opportunities America presents, which is making it increasingly harder for immigrants to adapt to our society.  Third world countries are not materialistic anywhere near the sense of materialism America has. As  seen in the movie we watched in class, people in Sudan, a war stricken country, have many other things on their minds than money and success.  Here, people are willing to sacrifice their friends, social life, family and leisure to become successful and wealthy.  Having too much down time is far from a good thing, “time is money”, as everyone always says.  Just because someone is foreign doesn’t give us the right to judge and think they can’t make it just as far as we can.  We’re so used to our social norms that we don’t think it‘s fair that someone can come from outside of the country and be just as successful or just as intelligent.  It is a social value in this country that we almost have a “right” to success and wealth if we strive hard enough to achieve that, but the competition to get it is extreme. I think Americans as a culture and society really need to work on our definition of a “true” American and our values of materialism and what America is really all about.

ethno(EGO)centrism: Americans

The American culture, like all other cultures, is unlike any other culture in the world.  Our values contrast many values of other cultures, and some foreigners view our habits and values as rude and strange, just as we would most likely view their own habits and values. This ethnocentrism is present in almost every individual in our American culture. Americans have a very big ego and tend to think that “American values and institutions represent the very best on Earth” as stated by Robin Williams in his list of the 13 American values.  For example, in many countries in Europe, time means very little to them, and they are not in a rush to get anywhere, while in America, time is money, and money is happiness. Independence is greatly valued in the American culture, and the less dependent you are on even your closest people in your life (including your family) the better.  Cultures in South America, for example, value dependence on the family, and you could easily find more than two generations of a family living together in the same house!  Europeans greatly value learning foreign languages, and according to Eupedia, most Europeans learn 2-4 languages, while Americans usually only speak English, or English and their original language if they are immigrants. If you look within our culture, you could see how some things we value could seem strange to foreigner, just as some of their values would seem strange to us.

conflict theory: I WANT POWER!!

In our society, the conflict theory is ever present, as humans are naturally selfish creatures. All around us we see struggle for power, whether it be in obvious things such as politics, or smaller things like in a high school, in the home, or on a team. There are all kinds of resources that can be and are scarce which causes these conflicts. For example, right now in Egypt there is a huge power struggle between the Egyptian people and their government and their current leader. There is a conflict about what kind of government Egypt should have. The society in Egypt is going to undergo huge social changes if the government changes. There would be a new sense of support for the government by the people and possibly a sense of unity which could affect their moods, their economy, etc. There is a scarcity of authority in Egypt and the people are fighting for it.

High school is a place full of conflict. Some kids are being bullied and taunted by others, because the bullies think they have authority over the kids they torture. The athletes and/or jocks are at the top of the food chain, getting the respect of most of their peers because they are good at what they do. Although it is not entirely true and usually exaggerated on TV, the social structure of high is somewhat of a reflection of the social structure of the world outside the walls of high school.  In high school, popularity is the scarce resource that students are constantly fighting for more of, and in the real world, money is the scarce resource. More money=more power=more respect from others. This power struggle can differ from society to society, but overall materialism is very prominent in today’s society and people can become obsessed with the notion of having more money/power, just as high school students can become obsessed with the thought of becoming more popular.

awkward...

Silence. Something that can have so many meanings. It can be comfortable, funny, awkward, respectful, sad. Awkward silences are experienced everyday by all kinds of people. If you don’t know someone and you are with them alone, an awkward silence is not that uncommon. Society teaches us to only associate with people like us or that we know. The awkward silences are so awkward because both people know they probably should talk, but the ensuing conversation might be uncomfortable. Some people do talk (like my dad), but if they are talking in what could have been an awkward silence, they are just talking to fill the air with noise. This conversation, if it even happens, is almost always about the weather, where you’re from, what you do, etc. Nothing too complex. For me, my awkward situations have been in elevators, standing in line, in a waiting room, on a first date. You don’t know what to say and if the other person/people even want to talk to you. It is the worst when you are trying to get to know somebody and there is nothing to talk about so it is just silent. This can be very awkward and uncomfortable because both people know they should be talking. Awkward silences sometimes happen during class when someone says something that’s not meant for everyone to hear, but the class goes silent and everyone hears it anyways, and then nobody wants to talk after this information has just been revealed. 

On the first day of class you expect, and society teaches you to expect, that the teacher will be there and go over the rules of the class and get down to business right away. It started to become weird after about 5 minutes of just talking to each other and no teacher present. Everyone began to look around and wonder why nothing was getting accomplished and why the teacher wasn’t starting class.  This is how we are already thinking sociologically because we were already thinking about why she wouldn’t be there and what other people would think or were thinking.  We are also trained to think about being quiet when somebody else is on the phone, not cutting people in line, not fighting with people in public. Society teaches us how to act and how to think while we are around others and what is right and wrong to do.