Value Of American Culture Essay

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Culture is the collective programming of the mind that distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from another. Culture is not inherited or biologically based, it is learned. It is acquired by sharing learning through friends, family, religion, education, and society. The four characteristics of culture are it is learned, it is shared, it is transgenerational, and it is symbolic. Culture gives people a sense of belonging, and of how they should behave. It gives them abstract ideas about the good, the right, and the desirable, as well as social rules and guidelines to determine appropriate behavior in specific situations. The values and norms that are learned, shared, transgenerational, and symbolic are the society’s design for living. …show more content…
Just as cultures from around the world have influenced American culture, today’s American culture influences the world. Because of the idea of a “melting pot”, nearly every known religion is practiced in the United States. The United States is a sports-minded country with millions of fans who follow sports such as football, baseball, basketball and hockey. American fashion is widely influenced by celebrities and the media and varies by social status, region, occupation and climate. The priorities of cultural values in each country and society vary. In American culture we value freedom, independence, self-reliance, equality, individualism, competition, efficiency, time, directness, and openness. However, other countries value belonging, group harmony, cooperation, patience, compromise, and family harmony. Our lack of value in harmony and coexistence is reflected through the numerous counts of violence such as mass shootings and police

The Conctiveness Of Latin American Cultures

was accompanied by a strong essayistic tradition whose main topic was the distinctiveness of Latin American culture and, within that culture, the individual cultures of the various countries. Many of the poets and fiction writers mentioned before also wrote essays in this vein: Carpentier, Paz, Borges, Lezama Lima, and Sarduy, for example. But there were writers whose chief production was the essay: the Uruguayan José Enrique Rodó, the Peruvian José Carlos Mariátegui, the Mexicans José Vasconcelos…

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Family Values Essay

the while paying homage to the standardized family values which rejects them by their marriage. Family trust is what is breaking in America, children don’t care about their parents like they do in other cultures and we hide secrets out of fear of rejection by out families. The author closes again on a personal note again saying that he finally does walk through his parents’ door. The Author makes some harsh and very realistic points in his essay. I personally feel that the observations made concerning…

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Lila Shah Being Indian In America Summary

resonated the most with my life history project are Lila Shah’s “Being Indian in America” from Negotiating Cultures and Identities and Gish Jen’s “Mona Gets Flipped”. One of the two cultural traditional I addressed in my paper was both VG and me being immigrants from Sri Lanka. Mona and Shah are also immigrants and the two essays discuss how they adjusted to the American culture. Shah started her essay with stating “My heritage and ethnic roots are the foundation of myself. I am fortunate enough to know…

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How Did Sterling Brown Contribute To The Harlem Renaissance

Sterling Brown The Harlem Renaissance influenced many African American just like Sterling Brown. Sterling A. Brown was a black professor folklorist, poet, and literacy critic. Sterling is best known for writing authentic black dialects. After graduating from Williams College and Harvard University, he became a professor. Over a few years, he began to collect folk songs and story. When the Harlem Renaissance began, Sterling wrote a poem that contributes to the Harlem Renaissance. His poetry was…

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The Importance Of Native American Identity

acceptance as one’s own of the values and interests of a social group. For most people identity is a question or idea that is never given a second thought. It is summed up simply with their name or a group they are a part of. But for a person who is struggling to find their identity a name doesn’t hold quite the same significance. The author; Deborah is lost in her identity as a mixed-blood Indian woman. Her parents divorce caused a separation between her and her Native-American heritage. The struggle is…

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The Pink Flamingo A Natural History Rhetorical Analysis

In Jennifer Price’s essay, “The Pink Flamingo: A Natural History” she uses rhetorical devices to reveal her view of the United States culture. While at first glance pink flamingos and the American culture seem to have no correlation; Price’s uses of rhetorical strategies help craft her essay and reveal the deeper meaning she embedded in writing to draw similarities between the two. One rhetorical strategy that Price implements in her essay is symbolism. According to Price, the “pink flamingo” perfectly…

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Cultural Competence Paper

forget that each individual is unique, with their own beliefs, values, opinions, experiences, cultures, and backgrounds. A culturally competent counselor can set aside their perspectives and embrace diversity to establish an authentic and trusting therapeutic relationship. Implicit bias is a universal experience, whether one is conscious of it or not. Therefore, it is of utmost importance, especially for counselors,…

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Nacirema Culture Analysis

A) Think of a culture that has any similarities to the norms and values described in this essay? A culture that has any similarities to the norms and values in this essay the American society to other nations and cultures may seem horrific and different from their own, but then again, any culture other than your own is vastly strange. In order to be more accepting of other’s cultures, a sociological imagination must be set in motion because an outsiders perspective will show the reality of how humanistic…

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Essay on Body Rituals Of The Nacirema

Upon realizing that the word Nacirema read backwards is American, it was easy to deduct that the article was in fact an elaborate description of American oral hygiene as well as a crude sketch of hospital and psychiatric care in our society. Miner detailed their rites and rituals from a purposely ethnocentric point of view which also served the purpose of describing American culture as viewed by an extreme outsider. He does this by describing every day affairs in the life of the average American as sacred practices of the Nacirema people…

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Thoreau's Use Of Civil Disobedience In The United States

party. My posts will center on America Value number four (Respect for Dissent) and value number five ( The Pursuit of Truth). I remember writing a paper concerning civil disobedience in my junior college american history class. That is essentially the meaning of respect for dissent, according to the words of David Thoreau in 1849. Perry (2013) wrote, the civil disobedience culture in the United States predates Thoreau and can be traced to the dawn of the American revolution with the so-called Boston…

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