American Citezenship

Dominant Culture Values
As citizens in the United States, we all have values in our country and the influence on our lives. Being part of the dominant culture, these values directly relate to my everyday life. We live by cultural patterns that will always be what is considered to be the ‘norm’ in our country, but to an outsider, it may be a shock. Five values in United States culture are success, work, equality, freedom, and patriotism. Most Americans live by these values and incorporate them in to how they live every day.
In our competitive society, personal achievement is based on success. This is measured by accomplishments. Success emphasizes rewards. Failure is often viewed as a character defect in the United States. Americans also value busyness, speed, and action. The frontier idea of work before play is very important for Americans. A person’s worth is measured by his or her performance. Our history has stressed equal opportunity for all, especially economic opportunity. Americans also seek freedom. Having individual confidence is valued in our country. Freedom enters into free enterprise, progress, individual choice, and equality. It has not meant the absence of social control. Finally, Americans feel some sense of loyalty to their country, its national symbols, and its history. Symbols such as our National Anthem and the Statue of liberty show the pride we have in our country, and I common bond throughout all citizens in America. Other countries will be the first to recognize the nationalism we obtain to our country.
When visiting another country, an American citizen may realize that that country’s values are totally different than ours. Each country has their own cultural identity. This identity “is formed in a process that results from membership in a particular culture, and it involves learning about and accepting the traditions, heritage, language, religion, ancestry, aesthetics, thinking patterns, and social structures of a culture.” (Lustig, 2009) (pg 142) Some of our values are so different than other countries that they may be seen as “cultural baggage.” Our patriotism and our great amount of freedom are two values we own as American citizens that other countries may not accept as well. Many countries have bad opinions of Americans, and showing off our culture and pride to those countries can be viewed as rude and disrespectful. Our amount is freedom is also a value that is totally different in other areas of the world. Some countries have very little freedom, some no freedom, and others no government or rule at all. Coming from the United States with a democracy and a fair amount of freedoms, we may experience culture shock in a country with an extreme level of freedom or rule.
Ethnocentrism is the belief in the inherent superiority of one's own ethnic group or culture. (The American Heritage, 2012) The awareness of ethnocentrism affects the way we view the values of other cultures. Like I said before, our country has a great sense of patriotism. This pride can cause us to look down on other countries that we don’t feel are ‘as good’ or ‘as developed’ as we are.
Last week in class, each group of students created their own society to live in. These societies represented the different values of each individual place the “cultural baggage” when visiting an unknown area. Some cultures may have been ethnocentric, others uninviting, or some fun and welcoming. But, every society held different values, and these values directly influenced each citizen’s life.