At number 3 on the list, the USA is undoubtedly influential to the world, they definitely don’t struggle to make themselves seen, heard and known to us all! Modern-day American culture can be found in many corners of the Earth, be that fast-food chains, music, movies or phrases.
Values: There are many debatable values of the American people, but some that I found describes them the best are competition instead of cooperation, optimism, work orientation, materialism, directness and informality.
Customs: Their etiquette and customs are sometimes a shock to foreigners travelling there as they can be known as impatient in queues, not very personable to strangers and confrontational. This doesn’t apply to everyone and many Americans are known for their warmth and joy! It is very important that you do leave tips in most service industries around 15-20 per cent of the total bill. Most people in the US drive everywhere they need to go, eat very large meals from takeaways and really enjoy celebrating holidays such as Christmas, Fourth of July, Thanksgiving and Halloween.
Marriage & Family: The family structure in the US is changing over time, this can be due to social and political changes such as normalising separation and remarriage. Most Americans are practicing Christians which means their traditions are still routed in long-term marriage and family, as much as this is still the case for many, there is a drastic rise in single parent families. American households on average have 1-2 children. The continous movement of women’s liberation in the US also means women are able to leave relationships as they have more financial freedom, as well as more support from society to leave unhappy marriages or be the breadwinner in a happy marriage.
Language: There is no official American language but the most commonly spoken and written is American English, there are many languages spoken throughout America as it is the most diverse country in the world. In the Southern regions, a large amount speaks Spanish as their main language. Indigenous people of America have many of their own languages (more than half of the 300 languages spoken in the US) sadly many languages they had are no longer spoken by anyone, some of the main native languages still spoken by indigenous communities are Navajo, Cherokee, Yupik, and Sioux plus many more.
Government & Law: America is based on the Federal law of the Republic Constitution which is enforced by Congress in government. The US capitol is located in Washington, D.C. The United States have the greatest number of laws combined with every other country and produces more bills and laws each year. The government of the USA can often be considered by some as greedy, corrupt and can reflect white supremacist values, which is what many people fight against in the States. However, many people enjoy living in America despite politics.
Economy & Trade: USA has a mixed economy comprising of foreign trade, well developed infrastructure and an abundance of natural resources such as petrol and gases. They are the top technologically advanced economy with artificial intelligence, computer, military equipment, aerospace and pharmaceuticals. They also have the largest inequality income and wealth gap of Western countries. The economy of the states is heavily based on consumerism and business services.
Games & Leisure: There are many ways in which the American’s like to spend their spare time. The most popular American sports played are American Football, basketball, baseball, lacrosse, hockey and soccer. Arcade games include Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Doom, Kung-Fu Master and many more. In our digital age, video games are some of the most common forms of games played. Gamer developers in America are Rockstar Games, Sledgehammer Games, EA and Infinity Ward. These developers make most of the popular games we use on consoles like Xbox or PlayStation.
Leisure in America is endless and they’re known for having a range of activities and hobbies available, from things like cinema or watching TV, swimming, working out, listening to music, dining out or cooking for fun. But they do however, have many leisure activities available because of environmental diversity stretched over North America. In some states it may be more common to go to go skiing or snowboarding, in others surfing, roller-skating, hiking, hunting and shooting.
Religion: For the most part, America can be viewed as a heavily Christian/Protestant country, many of their core values and beliefs whether that be in society or law are based around Christianity. But because of the diversity in America, this means that almost every religion in the world is practised there. The second biggest religion is Catholic but other than that Atheism or other spiritual beliefs.
Art & Literature: America have many different forms of expression through art and creativity and are widely known for their contributions to the theatre, film and music industry. Many American movies are popular worldwide and Hollywood can be named as the biggest competitive location for this form of art. One of their famously known artists are Andy Warhol and a fantastic author for major novels is Herman Melville who wrote Moby Dick. The highest paid actor in Hollywood as of 2021 is Dwayne Johnson.
Science & Technology: America is very forward-thinking when it comes to innovation within science and technology specifically in Space, Astrobiology and Nuclear science. Although they weren’t the original thinkers behind many of the very first planned or executed ideologies and equations, American’s were and still are very good at improving and advancing technology to further benefit their development and economy through computer science and artificial intelligence.
Chloe is a junior account manager and content writer with a passion for beauty.
