La cultura de los Estados Unidos abarca diversos comportamientos sociales , instituciones y normas en los Estados Unidos , incluidas las formas de expresión , la literatura , la música , las artes visuales , las artes escénicas , la comida , los deportes , la religión , el derecho , la tecnología , así como otras costumbres, creencias y formas de conocimiento. La cultura estadounidense ha sido moldeada por la historia de los Estados Unidos , su geografía y varias fuerzas y migraciones internas y externas. [1]
Los cimientos de Estados Unidos fueron inicialmente de base occidental , y principalmente de influencia inglesa , pero también con influencias regionales francesas , alemanas , griegas , irlandesas , italianas , judías , polacas , escandinavas y españolas . Sin embargo, las influencias no occidentales, incluidas las culturas africanas e indígenas , y más recientemente, las culturas asiáticas , también se han establecido firmemente en el tejido de la cultura estadounidense. Desde que se estableció Estados Unidos en 1776, su cultura ha sido influenciada por sucesivas oleadas de inmigrantes , y el " crisol " de culturas resultante ha sido una característica distintiva de su sociedad . Los estadounidenses fueron pioneros o hicieron grandes avances en géneros musicales como el heavy metal , el rhythm and blues , el jazz , el gospel , el country , el hip hop y el rock 'n' roll . Los " cuatro grandes deportes " son el fútbol americano , el béisbol , el baloncesto y el hockey sobre hielo . En términos de religión , la mayoría de los estadounidenses son protestantes o católicos . El elemento irreligioso está creciendo. La cocina estadounidense incluye sabores populares como los perritos calientes , los batidos y la barbacoa , así como muchas otras preferencias regionales y de clase . El idioma más utilizado es el inglés, aunque Estados Unidos no tiene un idioma oficial. [2] Las regiones culturales distintivas incluyen Nueva Inglaterra , el Atlántico Medio , el Sur , el Medio Oeste , el Suroeste , las Montañas del Oeste y el Noroeste del Pacífico . [3]
Políticamente, el país toma sus valores de la Revolución estadounidense y la Ilustración estadounidense , con énfasis en la libertad , el individualismo y el gobierno limitado , así como la Declaración de Derechos y las Enmiendas de Reconstrucción . Bajo la Primera Enmienda , Estados Unidos tiene las protecciones más fuertes de la libertad de expresión de cualquier país . [4] [5] [6] [7] La opinión popular estadounidense también es la más partidaria de la libertad de expresión y el derecho a usar Internet . [8] [9] La gran mayoría de los Estados Unidos tiene un sistema legal que se basa en el derecho consuetudinario inglés . [10] Según el mapa cultural de Inglehart-Welzel , se inclina en gran medida hacia los " valores de autoexpresión ", al tiempo que combina de manera única aspectos de los valores "seculares-racionales" (con un fuerte énfasis en los derechos humanos , el individuo y el antiautoritarismo ) y "tradicionales" (con altas tasas de fertilidad , religiosidad y patriotismo ). [11] [12] [13] Su cultura puede variar por factores como la región , la raza y la etnia , la edad, la religión, el nivel socioeconómico o la densidad de población , entre otros. Diferentes aspectos de la cultura estadounidense pueden considerarse como baja cultura o alta cultura , o pertenecientes a cualquiera de una variedad de subculturas . Estados Unidos ejerce una gran influencia cultural a escala mundial y se considera una superpotencia cultural . [14] [15]
Las raíces europeas de los Estados Unidos se originaron con los colonos ingleses y españoles de la América del Norte colonial durante el dominio británico y español . Las variedades de personas inglesas, a diferencia de los otros pueblos de las Islas Británicas, fueron el grupo étnico mayoritario abrumador en el siglo XVII (la población de las colonias en 1700 era de 250.000) y eran el 47,9% del por ciento de la población total de 3,9 millones. Constituían el 60% de los blancos en el primer censo en 1790 (%: 3,5 galeses, 8,5 escoceses irlandeses , 4,3 escoceses, 4,7 irlandeses, 7,2 alemanes, 2,7 holandeses, 1,7 franceses y 2 suecos). [16] [ cita requerida ] El grupo étnico inglés contribuyó a la mentalidad y actitudes culturales y sociales principales que evolucionaron en el carácter estadounidense. De la población total en cada colonia, su número oscilaba entre el 30% en Pensilvania y el 85% en Massachusetts. [17] Las grandes poblaciones inmigrantes no inglesas desde la década de 1720 hasta 1775, como los alemanes (100.000 o más) y los escoceses irlandeses (250.000), enriquecieron y modificaron el sustrato cultural inglés. [18] La perspectiva religiosa era algunas versiones del protestantismo (el 1,6% de la población estaba compuesta por católicos ingleses, alemanes e irlandeses). [ cita requerida ]
La democracia jeffersoniana fue una innovación cultural estadounidense fundamental, que sigue siendo una parte esencial de la identidad del país. [19] Las Notas sobre el estado de Virginia de Thomas Jefferson fueron quizás la primera crítica cultural doméstica influyente escrita por un estadounidense y fueron escritas como reacción a las opiniones de algunos europeos influyentes de que la flora y la fauna nativas de Estados Unidos (incluidos los humanos) estaban degeneradas . [19]
Las principales influencias culturales han sido traídas por la inmigración histórica, especialmente de Alemania en gran parte del país, [20] Irlanda e Italia en el noreste , y Japón en Hawái . La cultura latinoamericana es especialmente pronunciada en las antiguas áreas españolas, pero también ha sido introducida por la inmigración, al igual que las culturas asiático-americanas (especialmente en las regiones del noreste y la costa oeste). La cultura caribeña ha sido introducida cada vez más por la inmigración y es pronunciada en muchas áreas urbanas. Desde la abolición de la esclavitud, el Caribe ha sido la fuente del primer y más grande grupo de inmigrantes negros, una fuente significativa de crecimiento de la población negra en los EE. UU. y ha tenido importantes impactos culturales en la educación, la música, los deportes y el entretenimiento. [21]
La cultura nativa sigue siendo fuerte en áreas con grandes poblaciones no perturbadas o reubicadas, incluido el gobierno tradicional y la organización comunal de la propiedad ahora administrada legalmente por reservas indígenas (las reservas grandes se encuentran principalmente en el oeste, especialmente Arizona y Dakota del Sur ). El destino de la cultura nativa después del contacto con los europeos es bastante variado. Por ejemplo, la cultura taína en los territorios caribeños de EE. UU. está casi extinta y, como la mayoría de las lenguas nativas americanas, el idioma taíno ya no se habla. Por el contrario, la lengua y la cultura hawaianas de los nativos hawaianos han sobrevivido en Hawái y se han mezclado con las de los inmigrantes del continente estadounidense (comenzando antes de la anexión de 1898 ) y, en cierto grado, con los inmigrantes japoneses. Ocasionalmente influye en la cultura estadounidense dominante con exportaciones notables como el surf y las camisas hawaianas . La mayoría de las lenguas nativas de lo que ahora es territorio estadounidense se han extinguido, [22] y el dominio económico y cultural dominante del idioma inglés amenaza a las sobrevivientes en la mayoría de los lugares. Algunas de las lenguas nativas más comunes incluyen el samoano , el hawaiano , el navajo , el cherokee , el sioux y un espectro de lenguas inuit . (Véase Lenguas indígenas de las Américas para una lista más completa, además del chamorro y el caroliniano en los territorios del Pacífico.) [23] [ se necesita una mejor fuente ] Los samoanos étnicos son mayoría en la Samoa Americana ; los chamorro siguen siendo el grupo étnico más grande en Guam (aunque una minoría), y junto con los refaluwasch son minorías más pequeñas en las Islas Marianas del Norte . [ cita requerida ]
La cultura estadounidense incluye elementos tanto conservadores como liberales, competitividad científica y religiosa, estructuras políticas, toma de riesgos y libertad de expresión, y elementos materialistas y morales. A pesar de ciertos principios ideológicos consistentes (por ejemplo, el individualismo , el igualitarismo y la fe en la libertad y el republicanismo ), la cultura estadounidense tiene una variedad de expresiones debido a su escala geográfica y demográfica. [24]
Como crisol de culturas y etnias , Estados Unidos ha sido moldeado por la mayor población inmigrante del mundo . El país alberga una amplia variedad de grupos étnicos, tradiciones y valores, [25] [26] y ejerce una importante influencia cultural a escala mundial, fenómeno que se denomina americanización . [27] [28] [14] [15]
Las regiones culturales semidistintas de los Estados Unidos incluyen Nueva Inglaterra , el Atlántico Medio , el Sur , el Medio Oeste , el Suroeste y el Oeste , un área que puede subdividirse en los Estados del Pacífico y los Estados Montañosos . [ cita requerida ]
Según el geógrafo cultural Colin Woodward, existen once áreas culturales en los Estados Unidos que surgen de su historia de asentamiento. En el este, de norte a sur: están las áreas puritanas ("Yankeedom") de Nueva Inglaterra, que se extendieron a través de los Grandes Lagos del norte hasta los confines septentrionales de los ríos Misisipi y Misuri ; el área de los Nuevos Países Bajos en el área metropolitana densamente poblada de Nueva York ; el área de Midland, que se extendió desde Pensilvania hasta los Grandes Lagos inferiores y el medio oeste superior trans-Misisipi; los Grandes Apalaches , que se extienden desde Virginia Occidental a través del medio oeste inferior y el sur superior hasta Arkansas trans-Misisipi y el sur de Oklahoma; el sur profundo, desde las Carolinas hasta Florida y al oeste hasta Texas. En el oeste, están las áreas del suroeste de "El Norte", originalmente colonizadas por España, la "Costa Izquierda", colonizada rápidamente en el siglo XIX por una mezcla de yanquis y habitantes de los Apalaches superiores, y el interior del Oeste, grande pero escasamente poblado. [29] [30]
La costa oeste de los Estados Unidos continentales, formada por California, Oregón y el estado de Washington , también se conoce a veces como la Costa Izquierda , lo que indica su orientación política de izquierda y su tendencia hacia el liberalismo social . [ cita requerida ]
El sur a veces se denomina informalmente el " cinturón bíblico " debido al protestantismo evangélico socialmente conservador , que es una parte importante de la cultura de la región. La asistencia a la iglesia cristiana en todas las denominaciones es generalmente más alta allí que el promedio nacional. Esta región generalmente se contrasta con el protestantismo y el catolicismo tradicionales del noreste , el Medio Oeste y los Grandes Lagos con su diversidad religiosa , el Corredor Mormón en Utah y el sur de Idaho , y el Oeste relativamente secular . El porcentaje de personas no religiosas es el más alto en el estado de Vermont, en el noreste y Nueva Inglaterra , con un 34%, en comparación con el 6% en el estado del Cinturón Bíblico de Alabama . [31]
Las fuertes diferencias culturales tienen una larga historia en los Estados Unidos, siendo la sociedad esclavista sureña del período anterior a la guerra civil un claro ejemplo de ello. Las tensiones sociales y económicas entre los estados del norte y del sur eran tan graves que acabaron provocando que el sur se declarara una nación independiente, los Estados Confederados de América , lo que dio inicio a la Guerra Civil estadounidense . [32]
Aunque Estados Unidos no tiene un idioma oficial a nivel federal, 28 estados han aprobado leyes que convierten al inglés en el idioma oficial y se lo considera el idioma nacional de facto . Según el censo de Estados Unidos de 2000 , más del 97 % de los estadounidenses pueden hablar bien inglés y, para el 81 %, es el único idioma que se habla en casa. El dialecto nacional se conoce como inglés americano , que a su vez consta de numerosos dialectos regionales, pero tiene algunas características unificadoras compartidas que lo distinguen del inglés británico y otras variedades de inglés. Hay cuatro grandes regiones dialectales en los Estados Unidos: el Norte , el Medio Oeste , el Sur y el Oeste , y varios dialectos más centrados en áreas metropolitanas como las de la ciudad de Nueva York , Filadelfia y Boston . Algunos creen que también existe un dialecto estándar llamado " general americano " (análogo en algunos aspectos a la pronunciación recibida en otras partes del mundo angloparlante ), que carece de las características distintivas notables de cualquier región en particular; a veces se lo asocia regionalmente con el Medio Oeste. El lenguaje de señas americano , utilizado principalmente por personas sordas, también es originario de los Estados Unidos. [ cita requerida ]
Más de 300 idiomas en todo el país, y hasta 800 idiomas en la ciudad de Nueva York , además del inglés, tienen hablantes nativos en los Estados Unidos: algunos son hablados por pueblos indígenas (alrededor de 150 idiomas vivos ) y otros importados por inmigrantes. El inglés no es el primer idioma de la mayoría de los inmigrantes en los EE. UU., aunque muchos llegan sabiendo hablarlo, especialmente de países donde el inglés se usa ampliamente. [33] Esto no solo incluye a inmigrantes de países como Canadá , Jamaica y el Reino Unido , donde el inglés es el idioma principal, sino también de países donde el inglés es un idioma oficial, como India , Nigeria y Filipinas . [33]
Según el censo de 2000, había casi 30 millones de hablantes nativos de español en los Estados Unidos . El español tiene estatus oficial en el Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico , donde es el idioma principal hablado, y en el estado de Nuevo México ; también existen numerosos enclaves españoles en todo el país. [34] Los hablantes bilingües pueden usar tanto el inglés como el español razonablemente bien y pueden cambiar de código según su interlocutor o el contexto, un fenómeno conocido como spanglish . [ cita requerida ]
Las lenguas indígenas de los Estados Unidos incluyen las lenguas nativas americanas (incluidos el navajo , el yupik , el dakota y el apache ), que se hablan en las numerosas reservas indígenas del país y en eventos culturales como los pow wows ; el hawaiano , que tiene estatus oficial en el estado de Hawái; el chamorro , que tiene estatus oficial en las mancomunidades de Guam y las Islas Marianas del Norte ; el caroliniano , que tiene estatus oficial en la mancomunidad de las Islas Marianas del Norte ; y el samoano , que tiene estatus oficial en la mancomunidad de Samoa Americana .
La cocina de los Estados Unidos es extremadamente diversa, debido a la inmensidad del país, la población relativamente grande ( 1 ⁄ 3 de mil millones de personas) y la cantidad significativa de influencias nativas e inmigrantes. Las artes culinarias estadounidenses dominantes son similares a las de otros países occidentales. El trigo y el maíz son los principales cereales . [ cita requerida ] La cocina estadounidense tradicional utiliza ingredientes como pavo , papas, batatas , maíz , calabaza y jarabe de arce , así como alimentos indígenas utilizados por los indios americanos y los primeros colonos europeos, los esclavos africanos y sus descendientes. [ cita requerida ]
Platos estadounidenses emblemáticos como la tarta de manzana , las donas , el pollo frito , la pizza , las hamburguesas y los perritos calientes derivan de las recetas de varios inmigrantes e innovaciones nacionales. [36] [37] Se consumen patatas fritas , platos mexicanos como burritos y tacos , y platos de pasta adaptados libremente de fuentes italianas. [38]
Los tipos de comida que se sirven en casa varían mucho y dependen de la región del país y de la herencia cultural de la propia familia. Los inmigrantes recientes tienden a comer alimentos similares a los de su país de origen, y con el tiempo aparecen versiones americanizadas de estos alimentos culturales, como la cocina chino-estadounidense o la cocina italoamericana . La cocina vietnamita , la cocina coreana y la cocina tailandesa en formas auténticas suelen estar disponibles en las grandes ciudades. La cocina alemana tiene un profundo impacto en la cocina estadounidense, especialmente en la cocina del Medio Oeste; las patatas, los fideos, los asados, los guisos, los pasteles y otros pasteles son los ingredientes más emblemáticos de ambas cocinas. [39] Platos como la hamburguesa, el estofado, el jamón al horno y los perritos calientes son ejemplos de platos estadounidenses derivados de la cocina alemana. [40] [41]
Las distintas regiones de los Estados Unidos tienen su propia cocina y estilos de cocina. Los estados de Luisiana y Misisipi, por ejemplo, son conocidos por su cocina cajún y criolla . La cocina cajún y criolla está influenciada por la cocina francesa, acadia y haitiana, aunque los platos en sí son originales y únicos. Algunos ejemplos incluyen étouffée de cangrejo de río , frijoles rojos con arroz , gumbo de mariscos o pollo , jambalaya y boudin . Las influencias italianas, alemanas, húngaras y chinas, los platos tradicionales nativos americanos, caribeños, mexicanos y griegos también se han difundido en el repertorio estadounidense general. No es raro que una familia de clase media de América Central coma, por ejemplo, pizza de restaurante, pizza casera, enchiladas con carne, pollo a la paprika , stroganoff de ternera y bratwurst con chucrut para la cena durante una sola semana. [ cita requerida ]
La comida soul , que en su mayor parte es la misma que comían los sureños blancos y que fue desarrollada por los esclavos del África meridional y sus descendientes libres, es popular en el sur y entre muchos afroamericanos de otras partes del mundo. Las cocinas sincréticas como la criolla de Luisiana, la cajún, la holandesa de Pensilvania y la tex-mex son importantes a nivel regional.
Los estadounidenses generalmente prefieren el café al té, y más de la mitad de la población adulta bebe al menos una taza de café al día. [42] La comercialización por parte de las industrias estadounidenses es en gran parte responsable de hacer que el jugo de naranja y la leche (ahora a menudo reducida en grasa) sean bebidas de desayuno omnipresentes. [43] Durante las décadas de 1980 y 1990, la ingesta calórica de los estadounidenses aumentó un 24%; [38] y las comidas frecuentes en establecimientos de comida rápida se asocian con lo que los funcionarios de salud llaman la " epidemia de obesidad " estadounidense . Los refrescos altamente endulzados son populares; las bebidas azucaradas representan el 9% de la ingesta calórica diaria promedio de los estadounidenses. [44]
La industria de comida rápida estadounidense , la primera y más grande del mundo, también suele considerarse un símbolo del dominio del marketing estadounidense. Empresas como McDonald's , [45] Burger King , Pizza Hut , Kentucky Fried Chicken y Domino's Pizza , entre otras, tienen numerosos establecimientos en todo el mundo [46] y fueron pioneras en el formato de autoservicio en la década de 1940. [47]
En el siglo XIX, se alentó a las universidades a centrarse en los deportes intramuros, en particular el atletismo y, a fines del siglo XIX, el fútbol americano. La educación física se incorporó a los programas de educación primaria en el siglo XX. [48]
El béisbol es el más antiguo de los deportes de equipo estadounidenses. El béisbol profesional data de 1869 y no tuvo rivales cercanos en popularidad hasta la década de 1960. Aunque el béisbol ya no es el deporte más popular, [49] todavía se lo conoce como "el pasatiempo nacional ". Además, a diferencia de los niveles profesionales de los otros deportes populares para espectadores en los EE. UU., los equipos de las Grandes Ligas de Béisbol juegan casi todos los días. La temporada regular de las Grandes Ligas de Béisbol consiste en que cada uno de los 30 equipos juega 162 partidos desde fines de marzo hasta principios de octubre. La temporada termina con la postemporada y la Serie Mundial en octubre. A diferencia de la mayoría de los otros deportes importantes del país, el béisbol profesional atrae a la mayoría de sus jugadores de un sistema de "ligas menores" , en lugar de atletismo universitario .
El fútbol americano , conocido en los Estados Unidos simplemente como "football", ahora atrae a más espectadores de televisión que cualquier otro deporte y se considera el deporte más popular en los Estados Unidos. [50] La Liga Nacional de Fútbol Americano (NFL) de 32 equipos es la liga de fútbol americano profesional más popular. La Liga Nacional de Fútbol Americano se diferencia de las otras tres grandes ligas deportivas profesionales en que cada uno de sus 32 equipos juega un partido por semana durante 18 semanas, para un total de 17 partidos con una semana de descanso para cada equipo. La temporada de la NFL dura de septiembre a diciembre, y termina con los playoffs y el Super Bowl en enero y febrero. Su partido por el campeonato, el Super Bowl , a menudo ha sido el programa de televisión de mayor audiencia, y tiene una audiencia de más de 100 millones de espectadores al año. [ cita requerida ]
El fútbol universitario también atrae a millones de espectadores. Algunas comunidades, especialmente en las zonas rurales, dan gran importancia al equipo de fútbol de su escuela secundaria local . Los partidos de fútbol americano suelen incluir animadoras y bandas de música , cuyo objetivo es aumentar el espíritu escolar y entretener a la multitud en el entretiempo .
El baloncesto es otro deporte importante, representado profesionalmente por la Asociación Nacional de Baloncesto (NBA) . Fue inventado en Springfield, Massachusetts , en 1891, por el profesor de educación física nacido en Canadá James Naismith . El baloncesto universitario también es popular, en gran parte debido al torneo de baloncesto masculino de la División I de la NCAA que se celebra en marzo, conocido coloquialmente como "March Madness".
El hockey sobre hielo es el cuarto deporte de equipo profesional más importante. Siempre fue un pilar de la cultura de la región de los Grandes Lagos y Nueva Inglaterra , pero desde principios de los años 1990 se afianzó de forma tímida en regiones como el sur de Estados Unidos , cuando la Liga Nacional de Hockey siguió una política de expansión. [51]
El lacrosse es un deporte de equipo de origen nativo americano y canadiense , y es más popular en la costa este. La NLL y la MLL son las ligas nacionales de lacrosse al aire libre y en box . Muchos de los mejores equipos universitarios de lacrosse de la División I atraen a más de 7.000 a 10.000 espectadores por partido, especialmente en las áreas del Atlántico Medio y Nueva Inglaterra .
El fútbol es un deporte muy popular, sobre todo entre los jóvenes, y los equipos nacionales de Estados Unidos compiten a nivel internacional. Una liga profesional de veintiséis equipos (con cuatro más que se añadirán en los próximos años), la Major League Soccer , juega de marzo a octubre, pero su audiencia televisiva y su popularidad general están por detrás de otros deportes profesionales estadounidenses. [53]
Other popular sports are tennis, softball, rodeo, swimming, water polo, fencing, shooting sports, hunting, volleyball, skiing, snowboarding, skateboarding, ultimate, disc golf, cycling, MMA, roller derby, wrestling, weightlifting, and rugby.
Relative to other parts of the world, the United States is unusually competitive in women's sports, a fact usually attributed to the Title IX anti-discrimination law, which requires most American colleges to give equal funding to men's and women's sports.[54] Despite that, however, women's sports are not nearly as popular among spectators as men's sports.
The United States enjoys a great deal of success both in the Summer Olympics and Winter Olympics, constantly finishing among the top medal winners.
Homecoming is an annual tradition in the United States. People, towns, high schools and colleges come together, usually in late September or early October, to welcome back former residents and alumni. It is built around a central event, such as a banquet, a parade, and most often, a game of American football, or, on occasion, basketball, wrestling or ice hockey. When celebrated by schools, the activities vary. However, they usually consist of a football game, played on the school's home football field, activities for students and alumni, a parade featuring the school's marching band and sports teams, and the coronation of a Homecoming Queen.
American high schools commonly field football, basketball, baseball, softball, volleyball, soccer, golf, swimming, track and field, and cross-country teams as well.
The United States observes holidays derived from events in American history, Christian traditions, and national patriarchs.
Thanksgiving is the principal traditionally-American holiday, evolving from the English Pilgrim's custom of giving thanks for one's welfare. Thanksgiving is generally celebrated as a family reunion with a large afternoon feast. Independence Day (or the Fourth of July) celebrates the anniversary of the country's Declaration of Independence from Great Britain, and is generally observed by parades throughout the day and the shooting of fireworks at night.
Christmas Day, celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ, is widely celebrated and a federal holiday, though a fair amount of its current cultural importance is due to secular reasons. European colonization has led to some other Christian holidays such as Easter and St. Patrick's Day to be observed, though with varying degrees of religious fidelity.
Halloween is thought to have evolved from the ancient Celtic/Gaelic festival of Samhain, which was introduced in the American colonies by Irish settlers. It has become a holiday that is celebrated by children and teens who traditionally dress up in costumes and go door to door trick-or-treating for candy. It also brings about an emphasis on eerie and frightening urban legends and movies. Mardi Gras, which evolved from the Catholic tradition of Carnival, is observed in the state of Louisiana.
The United States has few laws governing given names. Traditionally, the right to name your child or yourself as you choose has been upheld by court rulings and is rooted in the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment. This freedom, along with the cultural diversity within the United States has given rise to a wide variety of names and naming trends.
Creativity has also long been a part of American naming traditions and names have been used to express personality, cultural identity, and values.[61][62] Naming trends vary by race, geographic area, and socioeconomic status. African Americans, for instance, have developed a very distinct naming culture.[62] Both religious names and those inspired by popular culture are common.[63]
A few restrictions do exist, varying by state, mostly for the sake of practicality (e.g., limiting the number of characters due to limitations in record-keeping software).
Fashion in the United States is eclectic and predominantly informal. While the diverse cultural roots of Americans are reflected in their clothing, particularly those of recent immigrants, cowboy hats and boots, and leather motorcycle jackets are emblematic of specifically-American styles.[citation needed]
Blue jeans were popularized as work clothes in the 1850s by merchant Levi Strauss, a German-Jewish immigrant in San Francisco, and adopted by many American teenagers a century later. They are worn in every state by people of all ages and social classes. Along with mass-marketed informal wear in general, blue jeans are arguably one of US culture's primary contributions to global fashion.[64]
Though the informal dress is more common, certain professionals, such as bankers and lawyers, traditionally dress formally for work, and some occasions, such as weddings, funerals, dances, and some parties, typically call for formal wear.[citation needed] The annual Met Gala in Manhattan is known worldwide as "fashion's biggest night".[65][66]
Some cities and regions have specialties in certain areas. For example, Miami for swimwear, Boston and the general New England area for formal menswear, Los Angeles for casual attire and womenswear, and cities like Seattle and Portland for eco-conscious fashion. Chicago is known for its sportswear, and is the premier fashion destination in the middle American market. Dallas, Houston, Austin, Nashville, and Atlanta are big markets for the fast fashion and cosmetics industries, alongside having their own distinct fashion sense that mainly incorporates cowboy boots and workwear, greater usage of makeup, lighter colors and pastels, "college prep" style, sandals, bigger hairstyles, and thinner, airier fabrics due to the heat and humidity of the region.
Family arrangements in the United States reflect the nature of contemporary American society. The classic nuclear family is a man and a woman, united in marriage, with one or more biological children.[67] Today, a person may grow up in a single-parent family, go on to marry and live in a childfree couple arrangement, then get divorced, live as a single for a couple of years, remarry, have children and live in a nuclear family arrangement.[26][68]
Exceptions to the custom of leaving home when one reaches legal adulthood at age eighteen can occur especially among Italian and Hispanic Americans, and in expensive urban real estate markets such as New York City,[69] California,[70] and Honolulu,[71] where monthly rents commonly exceed $1,000 a month.
Marriage laws are established by individual states. The typical wedding involves a couple proclaiming their commitment to one another in front of their close relatives and friends, often presided over by a religious figure such as a minister, priest, or rabbi, depending upon the faith of the couple. In traditional Christian ceremonies, the bride's father will "give away" (handoff) the bride to the groom. Secular weddings are also common, often presided over by a judge, Justice of the Peace, or other municipal officials. Same-sex marriage is legal in all states since June 26, 2015.[citation needed]
Divorce is the province of state governments, so divorce law varies from state to state. Prior to the 1970s, divorcing spouses had to allege that the other spouse was guilty of a crime or sin like abandonment or adultery; when spouses simply could not get along, lawyers were forced to manufacture "uncontested" divorces. The no-fault divorce revolution began in 1969 in California; New York and South Dakota were the last states to begin allowing no-fault divorce. No-fault divorce on the grounds of "irreconcilable differences" is now available in all states. However, many states have recently required separation periods prior to a formal divorce decree.
State law provides for child support where children are involved, and sometimes for alimony. "Married adults now divorce two-and-a-half times as often as adults did 20 years ago and four times as often as they did 50 years ago... between 40% and 60% of new marriages will eventually end in divorce. The probability within... the first five years is 20%, and the probability of its ending within the first 10 years is 33%... Perhaps 25% of children (ages 16 and under) live with a stepparent."[72] The median length for a marriage in the U.S. today is 11 years with 90% of all divorces being settled out of court.[citation needed]
Historically, Americans mainly lived in a rural environment, with a few important cities of moderate size. The Industrial Revolution brought a period of urbanization accelerated by the GI Bill that incentivized soldiers returning from WWII to purchase a house in the suburbs.
American cities with housing prices near the national median have also been losing the middle income neighborhoods, those with median income between 80% and 120% of the metropolitan area's median household income. Here, the more affluent members of the middle-class, who are also often referred to as being professional or upper-middle-class, have left in search of larger homes in more exclusive suburbs. This trend is largely attributed to the middle-class squeeze, which has caused a starker distinction between the statistical middle class and the more privileged members of the middle class.[73] In more expensive areas such as California, however, another trend has been taking place where an influx of more affluent middle-class households has displaced those in the actual middle of society and converted former American middle-middle-class neighborhoods into upper-middle-class neighborhoods.[74]
Alexis de Tocqueville first noted, in 1835, the American attitude towards helping others in need. A 2011 Charities Aid Foundation study found that Americans were the first most willing to help a stranger and donate time and money in the world at 60%. Many low-level crimes are punished by assigning hours of "community service", a requirement that the offender perform volunteer work;[75] some high schools also require community service to graduate. Since US citizens are required to attend jury duty, they can be jurors in legal proceedings.
American attitudes towards drugs and alcoholic beverages have evolved considerably throughout the country's history. In the 19th century, alcohol was readily available and consumed, and no laws restricted the use of other drugs. Attitudes on drug addiction started to change, resulting in the Harrison Act, which eventually became proscriptive.
A movement to ban alcoholic beverages called the Temperance movement, emerged in the late 19th century. Several American Protestant religious groups and women's groups, such as the Women's Christian Temperance Union, supported the movement. In 1919, Prohibitionists succeeded in amending the Constitution to prohibit the sale of alcohol. Although the Prohibition period did result in a 50% decrease in alcohol consumption,[76] banning alcohol outright proved to be unworkable, as the previously legitimate distillery industry was replaced by criminal gangs that trafficked in alcohol. Prohibition was repealed in 1933. States and localities retained the right to remain "dry", and to this day, a handful still do.
During the Vietnam War era, attitudes swung well away from prohibition.[clarification needed] Commentators noted that an 18-year-old could be drafted to war but could not buy a beer.[citation needed]
Since 1980, the trend has been toward greater restrictions on alcohol and drug use. The focus this time, however, has been to criminalize behaviors associated with alcohol, rather than attempt to prohibit consumption outright. New York was the first state to enact tough drunk-driving laws in 1980; since then all other states have followed suit. All states have also banned the purchase of alcoholic beverages by individuals under 21.
A "Just Say No to Drugs" movement replaced the more liberal ethos of the 1960s. This led to stricter drug laws and greater police latitude in drug cases. Drugs are, however, widely available, and 16% of Americans 12 and older used an illicit drug in 2012.[77]
Since the 1990s, marijuana use has become increasingly tolerated in America, and a number of states allow the use of marijuana for medical purposes. In most states marijuana is still illegal without a medical prescription. Since the 2012 general election, voters in the District of Columbia and the states of Alaska, California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington approved the legalization of marijuana for recreational use. Marijuana is illegal under federal law.
It is customary for Americans to hold a wake in a funeral home within a couple of days of the death of a loved one. The body of the deceased may be embalmed and dressed in fine clothing if there will be an open-casket viewing. Traditional Jewish and Muslim practices include a ritual bath and no embalming. Friends, relatives and acquaintances gather, often from distant parts of the country, to "pay their last respects" to the deceased. Flowers are brought to the coffin and sometimes eulogies, elegies, personal anecdotes or group prayers are recited. Otherwise, the attendees sit, stand or kneel in quiet contemplation or prayer. Kissing the corpse on the forehead is typical among Italian Americans[78] and others. Condolences are also offered to the widow or widower and other close relatives.
A funeral may be held immediately afterward or the next day. The funeral ceremony varies according to religion and culture. American Catholics typically hold a funeral mass in a church, which sometimes takes the form of a Requiem mass. Jewish Americans may hold a service in a synagogue or temple. Pallbearers carry the coffin of the deceased to the hearse, which then proceeds in a procession to the place of final repose, usually a cemetery. The unique Jazz funeral of New Orleans features joyous and raucous music and dancing during the procession.
Mount Auburn Cemetery (founded in 1831) is known as "America's first garden cemetery."[79] American cemeteries created since are distinctive for their park-like setting. Rows of graves are covered by lawns and are interspersed with trees and flowers. Headstones, mausoleums, statuary or simple plaques typically mark off the individual graves. Cremation is another common practice in the United States, though it is frowned upon by various religions. The ashes of the deceased are usually placed in an urn, which may be kept in a private house, or they are interred. Sometimes the ashes are released into the atmosphere. The "sprinkling" or "scattering" of the ashes may be part of an informal ceremony, often taking place at a scenic natural feature (a cliff, lake or mountain) that was favored by the deceased.
Architecture in the United States is regionally diverse and has been shaped by many external forces. U.S. architecture can therefore be said to be eclectic.[80] Traditionally American architecture has influences from English architecture[81] to Greco Roman architecture.[82] The overriding theme of city American Architecture is modernity, as manifest in the skyscrapers of the 20th century, with domestic and residential architecture greatly varying according to local tastes and climate, rural American and suburban architecture tends to be more traditional.
In the late-18th and early-19th centuries, American artists primarily painted landscapes and portraits in a realistic style or that which looked to Europe for answers on technique: for example, John Singleton Copley was born in Boston, but most of his portraiture for which he is famous follow the trends of British painters like Thomas Gainsborough and the transitional period between Rococo and Neoclassicism. The later 18th century was a time when the United States was just an infant as a nation and as far away from the phenomenon where artists would receive training as craftsmen by apprenticeship and later seeking a fortune as a professional, ideally getting a patron: Many artists benefited from the patronage of Grand Tourists eager to procure mementos of their travels. There were no temples of Rome or grand nobility to be found in the Thirteen Colonies. Later developments of the 19th century brought America one of its earliest native homegrown movements, like the Hudson River School and portrait artists with a uniquely American flavor like Winslow Homer.
A parallel development taking shape in rural America was the American craft movement, which began as a reaction to the Industrial Revolution. As the nation grew wealthier, it had patrons able to buy the works of European painters and attract foreign talent willing to teach methods and techniques from Europe to willing students as well as artists themselves; photography became a very popular medium for both journalism and in time as a medium in its own right with America having plenty of open spaces of natural beauty and growing cities in the East teeming with new arrivals and new buildings. Museums in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C. began to have a booming business in acquisitions, competing for works as diverse as the then more recent work of the Impressionists to pieces from ancient Egypt, all of which captured the public imaginations and further influenced fashion and architecture. Developments in modern art in Europe came to America from exhibitions in New York City such as the Armory Show in 1913. After World War II, New York emerged as a center of the art world. Painting in the United States today covers a vast range of styles. American painting includes works by Jackson Pollock, John Singer Sargent, Georgia O'Keeffe, and Norman Rockwell, among many others.
Theater of the United States is based in the Western tradition. The United States originated stand-up comedy and modern improvisational theatre, which involves taking suggestions from the audience.
The minstrel show, though now widely recognized as racist and offensive, is also recognized as the first uniquely American theatrical art form. Minstrel shows were developed in the 19th century and they were typically performed by white actors wearing blackface makeup for the purpose of imitating and caricaturing the speech and music of African Americans. Stephen Foster was a famous composer for minstrel shows. Many of his songs such as "Camptown Races", "Oh Susanna", and "My Old Kentucky Home" became popular American folk songs. Tap dancing and stand-up comedy have origins in minstrel shows.[84]
Banjos, originally hand-made by slaves for entertainment on plantations, began to be mass-produced in the United States in the 1840s as a result of their extensive use on the minstrel stage.[85]
American theater did not take on a unique dramatic identity until the emergence of Eugene O'Neill in the early 20th century, now considered by many to be the father of American drama.[citation needed] O'Neill is a four-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize for drama and the only American playwright to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. After O'Neill, American drama came of age and flourished with the likes of Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams, Lillian Hellman, William Inge, and Clifford Odets during the first half of the 20th century. After this fertile period, American theater broke new ground, artistically, with the absurdist forms of Edward Albee in the 1960s.
Social commentary has also been a preoccupation of American theater, often addressing issues not discussed in the mainstream. Writers such as Lorraine Hansbury, August Wilson, David Mamet and Tony Kushner have all won Pulitzer Prizes for their polemical plays on American society.[86]
The United States is also the home and largest exporter of modern musical theater, producing such musical talents as Rodgers and Hammerstein, Lerner and Loewe, Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, Leonard Bernstein, George and Ira Gershwin, Kander and Ebb, and Stephen Sondheim. Broadway is one of the largest theater communities in the world and is the epicenter of American commercial theater.
American music styles and influences (such as country, jazz, blues, rock, pop, techno, soul, and hip hop) and music based on them can be heard all over the world. Music in the U.S. is very diverse, and the country has the world's largest music market with a total retail value of $4.9 billion in 2014.[87]
The rhythmic and lyrical styles of African-American music have significantly influenced American music at large, distinguishing it from European and African traditions. The Smithsonian Institution states, "African-American influences are so fundamental to American music that there would be no American music without them."[88] Country music developed in the 1920s, and rhythm and blues in the 1940s. Elements from folk idioms such as the blues and what is known as old-time music were adopted and transformed into popular genres with global audiences. Jazz was developed by innovators such as Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington early in the 20th century.[89] Known for singing in a wide variety of genres, Aretha Franklin is considered one of the all-time greatest American singers.[90]
Elvis Presley and Chuck Berry were among the pioneers of rock and roll in the mid-1950s. Rock bands such as Metallica, the Eagles, and Aerosmith are among the highest grossing in worldwide sales.[91][92][93] In the 1960s, Bob Dylan emerged from the folk revival to become one of America's most celebrated songwriters.[94] Mid-20th-century American pop stars such as Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra,[95] and Elvis Presley became global celebrities,[89] as have artists of the late 20th century such as Michael Jackson, Madonna, Prince, Whitney Houston, and Mariah Carey.[96][97] American professional opera singers have reached the highest level of success in that form, including Renée Fleming, Leontyne Price, Beverly Sills, Nelson Eddy, and many others.
American popular music, as part of the wider U.S. pop culture, has a worldwide influence and following.[98] Madonna has sold the most records of any female artist in recorded musical history. As of 2022[update], Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus, Ariana Grande, Eminem, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, and many others contemporary artists dominate global streaming rankings.[99]
The annual Coachella music festival in California is one of the largest, most famous, and most profitable music festivals in the United States and the world.[100][101]
The United States movie industry has a worldwide influence and following. Hollywood, a northern district of Los Angeles, California, is the leader in motion picture production and the most recognizable movie industry in the world.[102][103][104] The major film studios of the United States are the primary source of the most commercially successful and most ticket selling movies in the world.[105][106]
The dominant style of American cinema is classical Hollywood cinema, which developed from 1913 to 1969 and is still typical of most films made there to this day. While Frenchmen Auguste and Louis Lumière are generally credited with the birth of modern cinema,[107] American cinema soon came to be a dominant force in the emerging industry. The world's first sync-sound musical film, The Jazz Singer, was released in 1927,[108] and was at the forefront of sound-film development in the following decades. Orson Welles's Citizen Kane (1941) is frequently cited in critics' polls as the greatest film of all time.[109]
Television constitutes a significant part of the traditional media of the United States. Household ownership of television sets in the country is 96.7%,[110] and the majority of households have more than one set. The peak ownership percentage of households with at least one television set occurred during the 1996–97 season, with 98.4% ownership.[111] As a whole, the television networks of the United States is the largest and most syndicated in the world.[112]
As of August 2013, approximately 114,200,000 American households own at least one television set.[113]
In 2014, due to a recent surge in the number and popularity of critically acclaimed television series, many critics have said that American television is currently enjoying a golden age.[114][115]
Early American philosophy was heavily shaped by the European Age of Enlightenment, which promoted ideals such as reason and individual liberty.[116] Enlightenment ideals influenced the American Revolution and the Constitution of the United States. Major figures in the American Enlightenment included Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Paine.
Pragmatism and transcendentalism are uniquely American philosophical traditions founded in the 19th century by William James and Ralph Waldo Emerson respectively. Objectivism is a philosophical system founded by Ayn Rand which influenced libertarianism. John Rawls presented the theory of "justice as fairness" in A Theory of Justice (1971).
Willard Van Orman Quine, Saul Kripke, and David Lewis helped advance logic and analytic philosophy in the 20th century. Thomas Kuhn revolutionized the philosophy of science with his book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962), one of the most cited academic works of all time, and he coined the term paradigm shift.
Artificial intelligence and the philosophy of mind have been heavily influenced by American philosophers such as Daniel Dennett,[117] Noam Chomsky,[118] Hilary Putnam,[119] Jerry Fodor, and John Searle, who contributed to cognitivism, the hard problem of consciousness, and the mind-body problem. The Libet experiment created by American neuroscientist Benjamin Libet raised philosophical debate regarding the neuroscience of free will. The Chinese room thought experiment presented by John Searle questions the nature of intelligence in machines, and it has been influential in cognitive science and the philosophy of artificial intelligence.
LGBT rights in the United States are comparatively advanced by world standards.[120][121][122]
There are about 18,000 U.S. police agencies from local to federal level in the United States.[123] Law in the United States is mainly enforced by local police departments and sheriff's offices. The state police provides broader services, and federal agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the U.S. Marshals Service have specialized duties, such as protecting civil rights, national security and enforcing U.S. federal courts' rulings and federal laws.[124] State courts conduct most civil and criminal trials,[125] and federal courts handle designated crimes and appeals from the state criminal courts.[126]
As of 2023[update], the United States has the sixth-highest documented incarceration rate and second-largest prison population in the world.[127] In 2019, the total prison population for those sentenced to more than a year was 1,430,800, corresponding to a ratio of 419 per 100,000 residents and the lowest since 1995.[128] Various states have attempted to reduce their prison populations via government policies and grassroots initiatives.[129]
U.S. police are comparatively violent, with deaths in custody and fatal shootings being higher than in other developed countries.[130][131]
From the time of its inception, the military played a decisive role in the history of the United States. A sense of national unity and identity was forged out of the victorious First Barbary War, Second Barbary War, and the War of 1812. Even so, the Founders were suspicious of a permanent military force and not until the outbreak of World War II did a large standing army become officially established.[132] The National Security Act of 1947, adopted following World War II and during the onset of the Cold War, created the modern U.S. military framework;[133] the Act merged previously Cabinet-level Department of War and the Department of the Navy into the National Military Establishment (renamed the Department of Defense in 1949), headed by the Secretary of Defense; and created the Department of the Air Force and National Security Council.[134]
Military service in the United States is voluntary, although conscription may occur in wartime through the Selective Service System.[135] The United States has the third-largest combined armed forces in the world, behind the Chinese People's Liberation Army and Indian Armed Forces.[136] The U.S. military operates about 800 bases and facilities abroad,[137] maintainaining deployments greater than 100 active duty personnel in 25 foreign countries,[138] and possesses significant capabilities in both defense and power projection.[139][140]
In sharp contrast to most other nations, firearms laws in the United States are permissive, and private gun ownership is common; almost half of American households contain at least one firearm.[142] The Supreme Court has ruled that the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution protects an individual right to possess modern firearms, subject to reasonable regulation,[143] a view shared by the majority of Americans.
There are more privately owned firearms in the United States than in any other country, both per capita and in total.[144] Civilians in the United States possess about 42% of the global inventory of privately owned firearms.[145] Rates of gun ownership vary significantly by region and by state; gun ownership is most common in Alaska, the Mountain States, and the South, and least prevalent in Hawaii, the island territories, California, and New England. Across the board, gun ownership tends to be more common in rural than in urban areas.[146]
Hunting, plinking, and target shooting are popular pastimes, although ownership of firearms for purely utilitarian purposes such as personal protection is common as well. "Personal protection" was the most common reason given for gun ownership in a 2013 Gallup poll of gun owners, at 60%.[147] Ownership of handguns, while not uncommon, is less common than ownership of long guns. Gun ownership is much more prevalent among men than among women, with men being approximately four times more likely than women to report owning guns.[148]
There is a regard for scientific advancement and technological innovation in American culture, resulting in the creation of many modern innovations. The great American inventors include Robert Fulton (the steamboat); Samuel Morse (the telegraph); Eli Whitney (the cotton gin, interchangeable parts); Cyrus McCormick (the reaper); and Thomas Edison (with more than a thousand inventions credited to his name). Most of the new technological innovations over the 20th and 21st centuries were either first invented in the United States, first widely adopted by Americans, or both. Examples include the lightbulb, the airplane, the transistor, the atomic bomb, nuclear power, the personal computer, the iPod, video games, online shopping, and the development of the Internet.[149] The United States also developed the Global Positioning System, which is the world's pre-eminent satellite navigation system.[150]
The United States has been a leader in technological innovation since the late 19th century and scientific research since the mid-20th century. Methods for producing interchangeable parts and the establishment of a machine tool industry enabled the U.S. to have large-scale manufacturing of sewing machines, bicycles, and other items in the late 19th century. In the early 20th century, factory electrification, the introduction of the assembly line, and other labor-saving techniques created the system of mass production. This propensity for application of scientific ideas continued throughout the 20th century with innovations that held strong international benefits. The 20th century saw the arrival of the Space Age, the Information Age, and a renaissance in the health sciences. This culminated in cultural milestones such as the Apollo Moon landings, the creation of the personal computer, and the sequencing effort called the Human Genome Project. In the 21st century, approximately two-thirds of research and development funding comes from the private sector.[151] The U.S. had 2,944 active satellites in space in December 2021, the highest number of any country.[152]
Throughout its history, American culture has made significant gains through the open immigration of accomplished scientists. Accomplished scientists include Scottish American scientist Alexander Graham Bell, who developed and patented the telephone and other devices; German scientist Charles Steinmetz, who developed new alternating-current electrical systems in 1889; Russian scientist Vladimir Zworykin, who invented the motion camera in 1919; Serb scientist Nikola Tesla who patented a brushless electrical induction motor based on rotating magnetic fields in 1888. The rise of fascism and Nazism in the 1920s and 30s led many European scientists, such as Albert Einstein, Enrico Fermi, and John von Neumann, to immigrate to the United States.[153]
Thomas Edison's research laboratory developed the phonograph, the first long-lasting light bulb, and the first viable movie camera.[154] The Wright brothers in 1903 made the first sustained and controlled heavier-than-air powered flight, and the automobile companies of Ransom E. Olds and Henry Ford popularized the assembly line in the early 20th century.[155]
Education in the United States is and has historically been provided mainly by the government. Control and funding come from three levels: federal, state, and local. School attendance is mandatory and nearly universal at the elementary and high school levels (often known outside the United States as the primary and secondary levels).[citation needed]
Students have the option of having their education held in public schools, private schools, or home school. In most public and private schools, education is divided into three levels: elementary school, junior high school (also often called middle school), and high school. In almost all schools at these levels, children are divided by age groups into grades. Post-secondary education, better known as "college" in the United States, is generally governed separately from the elementary and high school systems.[citation needed]
In the year 2000, there were 76.6 million students enrolled in schools from kindergarten through graduate schools. Of these, 72 percent aged 12 to 17 were judged academically "on track" for their age (enrolled in school at or above grade level). Of those enrolled in compulsory education, 5.2 million (10.4 percent) were attending private schools. Among the country's adult population, over 85 percent have completed high school and 27 percent have received a bachelor's degree or higher.[156]
The large majority of the world's top universities, as listed by various ranking organizations, are in the United States, including 19 of the top 25, and the most prestigious – Harvard University.[158][159][160][161] The country also has by far the most Nobel Prize winners in history, with 403 (having won 406 awards).[162]
Among developed countries, the U.S. is one of the most religious in terms of its demographics. According to a 2002 study by the Pew Global Attitudes Project, the U.S. was the only developed nation in the survey where a majority of citizens reported that religion played a "very important" role in their lives, an opinion similar to that found in Latin America.[164] Today, governments at the national, state, and local levels are secular institutions, with what is often called the "separation of church and state". The most popular religion in the U.S. is Christianity, comprising the majority of the population (73.7% of adults in 2016).[165][166]
Although participation in organized religion has been diminishing, the public life and popular culture of the United States incorporates many Christian ideals specifically about redemption, salvation, conscience, and morality. Examples are popular culture obsessions with confession and forgiveness, which extends from reality television to twelve-step meetings.[167]
Most of the British Thirteen Colonies were generally not tolerant of dissident forms of worship. Civil and religious restrictions were most strictly applied by the Puritans of the Massachusetts Bay Colony which saw various banishments applied to enforce conformity, including the branding iron, the whipping post, the bilboes and the hangman's noose.[169] The persecuting spirit was shared by Plymouth Colony and the colonies along the Connecticut river.[170] Mary Dyer was one of the four executed Quakers known as the Boston martyrs, and her death on the Boston gallows marked the beginning of the end of Puritan theocracy and New England independence from English rule; in 1661 Massachusetts was forbidden from executing anyone for professing Quakerism.[171] Anti-Catholic sentiment appeared in New England with the first Pilgrim and Puritan settlers.[172] The Pilgrims of New England held radical Protestant disapproval of Christmas.[173] Christmas observance was outlawed in Boston in 1659.[174] The ban by the Puritans was revoked in 1681 by an English appointed governor; however, it was not until the mid-19th century that celebrating Christmas became common in the Boston region.[175]
The colony of Maryland, founded by the Catholic Lord Baltimore in 1634, came closest to applying freedom of religion.[176] Fifteen years later (1649), the Maryland Toleration Act, drafted by Lord Baltimore, provided: "No person or persons...shall from henceforth be any waies troubled, molested or discountenanced for or in respect of his or her religion nor in the free exercise thereof." The Act allowed freedom of worship for all Trinitarian Christians in Maryland, but sentenced to death anyone who denied the divinity of Jesus.
Modeling the provisions concerning religion within the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, the framers of the United States Constitution rejected any religious test for office, and the First Amendment specifically denied the central government any power to enact any law respecting either an establishment of religion or prohibiting its free exercise. In the following decades, the animating spirit behind the constitution's Establishment Clause led to the disestablishment of the official religions within the member states. The framers were mainly influenced by secular, Enlightenment ideals, but they also considered the pragmatic concerns of minority religious groups who did not want to be under the power or influence of a state religion that did not represent them.[177] Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence said: "The priest has been hostile to liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot."[178]
Gallup polls during the early 2020s found that about 81% of Americans believe in some conception of a God and 45% report praying on a daily basis.[179][180][181] According to their poll in December 2022, "31% report attending a church, synagogue, mosque or temple weekly or nearly weekly today."[181] In the "Bible Belt", which is located primarily within the Southern United States, socially conservative evangelical Protestantism plays a significant role culturally. New England and the Western United States tend to be less religious.[182] Around 6% of Americans claim a non-Christian faith;[183] the largest of which are Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism.[184] The United States either has the first or second-largest Jewish population in the world, and the largest outside of Israel.[185] "Ceremonial deism" is common in American culture.[186][187]
Around 30% of Americans describe themselves as having no religion.[183] Membership in a house of worship fell from 70% in 1999 to 47% in 2020, much of the decline related to the number of Americans expressing no religious preference. Membership also fell among those who identified with a specific religious group.[188][189] According to Gallup, trust in "the church or organized religion" has declined significantly since the 1970s.[190] According to the 2022 Cooperative Election Study, younger Americans are significantly less religious. Among Generation Z, a near-majority consider themselves atheist, agnostic, or nothing in particular.[191]
Though the majority of Americans in the 21st century identify themselves as middle class, American society has experienced increased income inequality.[26][192][193] Social class, generally described as a combination of educational attainment, income and occupational prestige, is one of the greatest cultural influences in America.[26] Nearly all cultural aspects of mundane interactions and consumer behavior in the U.S. are guided by a person's location within the country's social structure.
Distinct lifestyles, consumption patterns and values are associated with different classes. Early sociologist-economist Thorstein Veblen, for example, said that those at the top of the societal hierarchy engage in conspicuous leisure and conspicuous consumption. Upper class Americans commonly have elite Ivy League educations and are traditionally members of exclusive clubs and fraternities with connections to high society, distinguished by their enormous incomes derived from their wealth in assets. The upper-class lifestyle and values often overlap with that of the upper middle class, but with more emphasis on security and privacy in home life and for philanthropy (i.e. the "Donor Class") and the arts. Due to their large wealth (inherited or accrued over a lifetime of investments) and lavish, leisurely lifestyles, the upper class are more prone to idleness. The upper middle class, or the "working rich",[194] commonly identify education and being cultured as prime values, similar to the upper class. Persons in this particular social class tend to speak in a more direct manner that projects authority, knowledge and thus credibility. They often tend to engage in the consumption of so-called mass luxuries, such as designer label clothing. A strong preference for natural materials, organic foods, and a strong health consciousness tend to be prominent features of the upper middle class. American middle-class individuals in general value expanding one's horizon, partially because they are more educated and can afford greater leisure and travel. Working-class individuals take great pride in doing what they consider to be "real work" and keep very close-knit kin networks that serve as a safeguard against frequent economic instability.[26][195][196]
Working-class Americans and many of those in the middle class may also face occupation alienation. In contrast to upper-middle-class professionals who are mostly hired to conceptualize, supervise, and share their thoughts, many Americans have little autonomy or creative latitude in the workplace.[197] As a result, white collar professionals tend to be significantly more satisfied with their work.[198][199] In 2006, Elizabeth Warren presented her article entitled "The Middle Class on the Precipice", stating that individuals in the center of the income strata, who may still identify as middle class, have faced increasing economic insecurity,[200] supporting the idea of a working-class majority.[201] Additionally, working-class Americans who work in the public sector, excluding politicians, are respected and generally respected in the culture, notably postal workers.[202][203]
Political behavior is affected by class; more affluent individuals are more likely to vote, and education and income affect whether individuals tend to vote for the Democratic or Republican party. Income also had a significant impact on health as those with higher incomes had better access to health care facilities, higher life expectancy, lower infant mortality rate and increased health consciousness.[205][206][207] This is particularly noticeable with black voters who are often socially conservative, yet overwhelmingly vote Democratic.[208][209]
In the United States, occupation is one of the prime factors of social class and is closely linked to an individual's identity. The average workweek in the U.S. for those employed full-time was 42.9 hours long with 30% of the population working more than 40 hours a week.[210] The Average American worker earned $16.64 an hour in the first two quarters of 2006.[211] Overall Americans worked more than their counterparts in other developed post-industrial nations. While the average worker in Denmark enjoyed 30 days of vacation annually, the average American had 16 annual vacation days.[212]
In 2000, the average American worked 1,978 hours per year, 500 hours more than the average German, yet 100 hours less than the average Czech. Overall, the U.S. labor force is one of the most productive in the world, largely due to its workers working more than those in any other post-industrial country, except for South Korea.[213] Americans generally hold working and being productive in high regard.[196] Individualism,[214] having a strong work ethic,[215] competitiveness,[216] and altruism[217][218][219] are among the most cited American values. According to a 2016 study by the Charities Aid Foundation, Americans donated 1.44% of total GDP to charity, the highest in the world by a large margin.[220]
The United States has an ethnically diverse population, and 37 ancestry groups have more than one million members.[223] White Americans with ancestry from Europe, the Middle East or North Africa, form the largest racial and ethnic group at 57.8% of the U.S. population.[224][225] Hispanic and Latino Americans form the second-largest group and are 18.7% of the U.S. population. African Americans constitute the nation's third-largest ancestry group and are 12.1% of the total U.S. population.[223] Asian Americans are the country's fourth-largest group, composing 5.9% of the U.S. population, while the country's 3.7 million Native Americans account for about 1%.[223] In 2020, the median age of the U.S. population was 38.5 years.[226]
According to the United Nations, the U.S. has the highest number of immigrant population in the world, with 50,661,149 people.[227][228] In 2018, there were almost 90 million immigrants and U.S.-born children of immigrants in the U.S., accounting for 28% of the overall U.S. population.[229] In 2017, out of the U.S. foreign-born population, some 45% (20.7 million) were naturalized citizens, 27% (12.3 million) were lawful permanent residents, 6% (2.2 million) were temporary lawful residents, and 23% (10.5 million) were unauthorized immigrants.[230] The U.S. led the world in refugee resettlement for decades, admitting more refugees than the rest of the world combined.[231]
Race in the U.S. is based on physical characteristics, such as skin color, and has played an essential part in shaping American society even before the nation's conception.[26] Until the civil rights movement of the 1960s, racial minorities in the U.S. faced institutional discrimination and both social and economic marginalization.[232] The U.S. Census Bureau currently recognizes five racial groupings: White, African, Native, Asian, and Pacific Islander. According to the U.S. government, Hispanic Americans do not constitute a race, but rather an ethnic group. During the 2000 U.S. census, Whites made up 75.1% of the population; those who are Hispanic or Latino constituted the nation's prevalent minority with 12.5% of the population. African Americans made up 12.3% of the total population, 3.6% were Asian American, and 0.7% were Native American.[233]
With its ratification on December 6, 1865, the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution abolished slavery in the U.S. The Northern states had outlawed slavery in their territory in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, though their industrial economies relied on raw materials produced by slaves in the South. Following the Reconstruction period in the 1870s, racist legislation emerged in the Southern states named the Jim Crow laws that provided for legal segregation. Lynching was practiced throughout the U.S., including in the Northern states, until the 1930s, while continuing well into the civil rights movement in the South.[232]
Chinese Americans were earlier marginalized as well during a significant proportion of U.S. history. Between 1882 and 1943, the U.S. instituted the Chinese Exclusion Act barring all Chinese immigrants from entering the U.S. During the Second World War against the Empire of Japan, roughly 120,000 Japanese Americans, 62% of whom were U.S. citizens,[234] were imprisoned in Japanese internment camps by the U.S. government following the attack on Pearl Harbor, an American military base, by Japanese forces in December 1941.
Due to exclusion from or marginalization by earlier mainstream society, there emerged a unique subculture among the racial minorities in the U.S. During the 1920s, Harlem, New York City became home to the Harlem Renaissance. Music styles such as jazz, blues, rap, rock and roll, and numerous folk songs such as Blue Tail Fly (Jimmy Crack Corn) originated within the realms of African American culture and were later adopted by the mainstream.[232] Chinatowns can be found in many cities across the country and Asian cuisine has become a common staple in mainstream America. The Hispanic community has also had a dramatic impact on American culture. Today, Catholics are the largest religious denomination in the U.S. and outnumber Protestants in the Southwest and California.[235] Mariachi music and Mexican cuisine are commonly found throughout the Southwest, and some Latin dishes, such as burritos and tacos, are found practically everywhere in the nation.
Asian Americans have median household income and educational attainment exceeding that of other races. African Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans have considerably lower income and education than do White Americans or Asian Americans.[236][237]
White Americans (non-Hispanic/Latino and Hispanic/Latino) are the racial majority and have a 72% share of the U.S. population, according to the 2010 U.S. census.[238] Hispanic and Latino Americans comprise 15% of the population, making up the largest ethnic minority.[239] Black Americans are the largest racial minority, comprising nearly 13% of the population.[238][239] The White, non-Hispanic or Latino population comprises 63% of the nation's total.[239]
Throughout most of the country's history before and after its independence, the majority race in the United States has been Caucasian—aided by historic restrictions on citizenship and immigration—and the largest racial minority has been African Americans, most of whom are descended from slaves smuggled to the Americas by the European colonial powers. This relationship has historically been the most important one since the founding of the United States. Slavery existed in the United States at the time of the country's formation in the 1770s. The Missouri Compromise declared a policy of prohibiting slavery in the remaining Louisiana lands north of the 36°30′ parallel. De facto, it sectionalized the country into two factions: free states, which forbid the institution of slavery; and slave states, which protected the institution. The Missouri Compromise was controversial, seen as lawfully dividing the country along sectarian lines. Although the federal government outlawed American participation in the Atlantic slave trade in 1807, after 1820, cultivation of the highly profitable cotton crop exploded in the Deep South, and along with it, the use of slave labor.[240][241][242] The Second Great Awakening, especially in the period 1800–1840, converted millions to evangelical Protestantism. In the North, it energized multiple social reform movements, including abolitionism;[243] in the South, Methodists and Baptists proselytized among slave populations.[244]
Slavery was partially abolished by the Emancipation Proclamation issued by the president Abraham Lincoln in 1862 for slaves in the Southeastern United States during the Civil War. With the United States' victory and preservation, slavery was abolished nationally by the Thirteenth Amendment. Jim Crow laws prevented full use of African American citizenship until the civil rights movement in the 1960s, and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed official or legal segregation at any level and forbid placing limitations on minorities' access to public places.
In 1882, in response to Chinese immigration due to the Gold Rush and the labor needed for the transcontinental railroad, the government signed into law the Chinese Exclusion Act which banned immigration by Chinese people into the U.S. In the late 19th century, the growth of the Hispanic population in the U.S., fueled largely by Mexican immigration, generated debate over policies such as English as the official language and reform to immigration policies. The Immigration Act of 1924 established the National Origins Formula as the basis of U.S. immigration policy, largely to restrict immigration from Asia, Southern Europe, and Eastern Europe. According to the Office of the Historian of the U.S. Department of State, the purpose of the 1924 Act was "to preserve the ideal of U.S. homogeneity".[245] In 1924, Indian-born Bhagat Singh Thind was twice denied citizenship as he was not deemed white.[246] Marking a radical break from U.S. immigration policies of the past, the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 opened entry to the U.S. to non-Germanic groups.[247] This Act significantly altered the demographic mix in the U.S. as a result, creating a modern, diverse America.[247]
A huge majority of Americans of all races disapprove of racism. Nevertheless, some Americans continue to hold negative racial/ethnic stereotypes about various racial and ethnic groups. Professor Imani Perry, of Princeton University, has argued that contemporary racism in the United States "is frequently unintentional or unacknowledged on the part of the actor",[248] believing that racism mostly stems unconsciously from below the level of cognition.[249]
Personal transportation is dominated by automobiles, which operate on a network of 4 million miles (6.4 million kilometers) of public roads, making it the longest network in the world.[250][251] In 2001, 90% of Americans drove to work by car.[252] As of 2022, the United States is the second-largest manufacturer of motor vehicles[253] and is home to Tesla, the world's most valuable car company.[254] General Motors held the title of the world's best-selling automaker from 1931 to 2008.[255] Currently, the U.S. has the world's second-largest automobile market by sales[256] and the highest vehicle ownership per capita in the world, with 816.4 vehicles per 1,000 Americans (2014).[257] In 2017, there were 255 million non-two wheel motor vehicles, or about 910 vehicles per 1,000 people.[258]
Beginning in the 1990s, lower energy and land costs favor the production of relatively larger cars, leading to a decline in economy cars. The culture in the 1950s and 1960s often catered to the automobile with motels and drive-in restaurants. Outside of the relatively few urban areas, it is considered a necessity for most Americans to own and drive cars. New York City is the only locality in the United States where more than half of all households do not own a car.[252] In a car-dependent America, there is a common dislike of car dealerships and car salesmen, with only 10 percent of U.S. citizens in a Gallup poll rating them highly honest.[259] Matilda by Roald Dahl gives an example of this stereotype: Matilda's father sells used cars by filling their engines with sawdust or reversing their odometers with a drill.
The United States emerged as a pioneer of the automotive industry in the early 20th century. General Motors Corporation (GM), the company that would soon become the world's largest automaker, was founded in 1908 by William Durant.[260] The U.S. also became the first country in the world to have a mass market for vehicle production and sales, and mass market production process.[261][262] In the 1950s and 1960s, subcultures began to arise around the modification and racing of American automobiles and converting them into hot rods. Later, in the late-1960s and early-1970s Detroit manufacturers began making muscle cars and pony cars to cater to wealthier Americans seeking hot rod style & performance. This culture has evolved into a worldwide phenomenon for car enthusiasts of today, and the project car is a common sight in American suburbs.[citation needed]
The United States government does not have a ministry of culture, but there are a number of government institutions with cultural responsibilities, including the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities, the Federal Communications Commission, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian Institution, and the National Gallery of Art.
Many state and city governments have a department dedicated to cultural affairs.
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic value." For most of its history, the National Register has been administered by the National Park Service (NPS), an agency within the U.S. Department of the Interior.
Major private US-based culture institutions include the Poetry Foundation, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, the J. Paul Getty Trust, and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
In the United States, there are many museums, both public and private. Major museums in the US include the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the museums of the Smithsonian Institution, the American Museum of Natural History, the Art Institute of Chicago, and The Getty Museum.
There are various archives in the United States for the preservation of history and culture, such as the National Archives and Records Administration.
As predicted, in post-industrial societies, characterized by predominately liberal social cultures, like the US, Sweden, and UK...
These maps indicate that the United States is not a prototype of cultural modernization for other societies to follow, as some modernization writers assumed. In fact, the United States is a deviant case, having a much more traditional value system than any other postindustrial society except Ireland. On the traditional/secular dimension, the United States ranks far below other rich societies, with levels of religiosity and national pride comparable with those found in some developing societies. The United States does rank among the most advanced societies on the survival/self-expression dimension...
William Boucher, Jr., the earliest known commercial manufacturer, started building banjos around 1845 from his shop in Baltimore, Maryland.
...(the United States and [Western] Europe) as "already in crisis" for their permissive attitudes toward nonnormative sexualities...
13.) United States
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, a dramatic wave began to form in the waters of public opinion: American attitudes involving homosexuality began to change... The transformation of America's response to homosexuality has been — and continues to be — one of the most rapid and sustained shifts in mass attitudes since the start of public polling.
From 1659 to 1681, anyone caught celebrating Christmas in the colony would be fined five shillings. ...
[There] was evidence to suggest a statistically significant association between infant mortality and income inequality...this effect may have been because of the disproportionate influence of the USA which has 'exceptionally high income inequality and poor child health'
More affluent Americans have quit smoking en masse over the past few decades, but the poor have not...Richer beneficiaries live longer & cash more generous checks from Social Security. Poorer beneficiaries rely more on programs such as Medicaid & disability insurance, in part because they aren't as healthy.
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ignored (help)People with higher incomes live in areas with healthier resources available, like good grocery stores, safe housing, opportunities to exercise, clean air, and better schools.
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ignored (help)Most who have come to the United States in the past year were middle-class adults who have headed to New York after being released from custody. New York has been a prime destination for migrants from other nations as well, particularly Venezuelans, who rely on the city's resources, including its shelters. But few of the Chinese migrants are staying in the shelters. Instead, they are going where Chinese citizens have gone for generations: Flushing, Queens. Or to some, the Chinese Manhattan..."New York is a self-sufficient Chinese immigrants community," said the Rev. Mike Chan, the executive director of the Chinese Christian Herald Crusade, a faith-based group in the neighborhood.