As American As They Come…

Their lists might look something like this:

1. Materialism & Wealth
2. Competition & Free enterprise
3. Personal Freedom
4. Informality

And Americans might say this about German’s values (based on stereotypes):

1. Celebrations
2. Order and Directness
3. Religion
4. Formality

Much of the second list would come from a limited understanding of Germany through learning about Oktoberfest (which mainly takes place in Bavaria) and what we (the general public) remember learning about from World War II (Hitler and Germany). What, there’s more to the culture than those things, oh?!

Of course, all that Germans have learned about America has mainly come from the crap that we have exported in modern times. We do pop culture really well. To the point that it makes us look as though we have no real culture (when we do, but that is for another post). No matter which side of the Atlantic you are on, stereotypes about the other culture and their values abound.

Robert Kohls argues that the main values most Americans live by include the following;

1. Control over the Environment. 

This doesn’t mean Americans think they can control the weather. In my opinion, it means that we just won’t let it stop us. Additionally, as Kohls explains, we “no longer believe in Fate and to do so is to be rather naive.” We (Americans and people in general) make things happen. If we are unsuccessful, it is because of something we ourselves have done or not done – not necessarily because the system is built against us, or because natural disasters happen. Hey, we have been to the moon so ANYTHING is possible.

Regarding my father, I see him not liking the environment he was brought up in and so he vowed to change it. He took control and did all he could to create a better environment (a better life) for his children and his wife.

2. Change.

Kohls claims that, “change is strongly linked to development, improvement, progress, and growth. Many older, more traditional cultures consider change as a disruptive, destructive force, to be avoided if possible. Instead of change, such societies value stability, continuity, tradition, and a rich and ancient heritage—none of which are valued very much in the United States (Kohls).” To Americans, change means hope, and growth. It is good and expected. In contrast, Germans seem to not like change so much, in my opinion.

I have learned that most Germans expect to find a job for life upon finishing university or their trade program and most will live in the same community all of their lives. Americans on the other hand seem to be more willing to go back to school, entering a completely different field than the one they originally trained for and moving across the country to land their desired job. Yet, Americans today I believe, know that a job for life is rare and unexpected.

3. Time and it’s Control.

Keeping busy is important. The devil finds work for idle hands, no doubt, at least if you ask an American. We are, for the most part planners, we have our daily plan, our weekly plans, our five-year-plans, our ten-year-plans and so on. My father’s plan was to retire at 40, yes, forty-years-old. He had planned all his life for this. What he didn’t plan on was having to take such care of his daughters, of the market completely tanking on his investments, his utter phobia of traveling to other (foreign) countries and cultures or his addiction to his job – to the point that once he did actually retire, he became incredibly depressed and rather restless. Of course, aging might have something to do with this idea too. To outsiders Americans seem obsessed with fending off time and aging and so, have become the top nation for plastic surgery procedures (both surgical and non-surgical procedures), but this might also have more to do with self-help.

4. Equality/Egalitarianism.

In spite of building a nation on the backs of slaves, America has always prided itself on the idea of equality and egalitarianism. After all, there might not be a more famous phrase in American history as those words written by Thomas Jefferson in the “Declaration of Independence” from 1776:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they  are endowed    by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed;…”

In my opinion, how smart where the men who drafted the ideas and principles of the declaration and the later Constitution of the United States of America. Yes, slavery existed at the time these documents were written and many argue from research of the people involved and of the time period, that if these documents had included further information critical of slavery that the colonies would not be united, and would thus likely not exist today. These words however have inspired millions of people and countless generations to fight for the truth of their words, on battlefields, at picket lines, at protests and in our courts. Surely, Thomas Jefferson and his compatriots knew what they were doing at the time – couldn’t they have?

It has helped people immigrating to America believe that they would find a better life within her boarders, that inspire the ideas of the ‘American Dream’.  This idea of equality is constantly evolving, as it should be. Yet this idea has also clouded some ways of thinking too. Americans think that they should not be treated differently, regardless of their status in society. This can be a good thing, but it can also cloud the way people see themselves or those that economically are better or worse off then themselves. (Update, here) MSN.com, in 2007, posted a good article reviewing, “Who or What is the Middle Class.” (Update, here) They also think that they too might be a high income earner at some point themselves, so they would not want to be taxed the way, say high wage earners in some European countries are taxed, as that would be unfair, never mind that they (these lower-income earners) are ever increasingly less likely to move up the income ladder much.