American values

The American political system has been set as a standard for Americans to benchmark and evaluate other nations in the world. Though Americans do admit that their democracy system is flawed, many of them still hold the opinion that it is valued and desirable, “not because it makes America great, but because it helps Americans, and other citizens in other democracies, to live good, decent and moral lives”.²⁰⁸ The reason why Americans hold such an opinion lies in that they are in Christian terms at least, an “almost chosen people”²⁰⁹. Their behaviour is therefore morally correct and so assists them to achieve material success.

Americans have always had a sense that the world is watching, that God has a special role for them to play in the world, and that their insights and experience should enlighten mankind. As Stephanson wrote in Manifest Destiny, most Americans, then and now, believe that “American sovereignty will be a blessing to any land.”²¹⁰ Since the eighteenth century, some well-known politicians like Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Paine, and Ezra Stiles have envisioned a society “characterized by peace and plenty, by political and economic freedom and opportunity, and by accomplishments in religion, morality and art.”²¹¹ This is the very centrality of the American Dream, and fundamental to the American spirit.

In the United States, American democracy coexists in harmony with market capitalism and commercialism. Americans are entitled to a series of equitable rights, which they believe that people in communist nations or any other kind of dictatorship are not be able to enjoy. In the eyes of the majority of Americans, “Everyone in America has the right to speak, read and discuss freely; to worship freely, to form families freely; and to be treated fairly by the police and in the courts”.²¹² In the preamble to the Declaration of Independence, it is said, “All men are created equal;

all men have the same political rights; government derives its powers solely from the consent of the governed”.

208 Ringen, Stein 2010: 22 209 Butler, Jon 1990: 295 210 Stephanson, Anders 1996: 99 211 Jillson, Calvin. C 2004: 267 212 Ringen, Stein 2010: 23

One essential value of the American identity is “I”, a strong individual orientation, the will of one person. The question is always, “What can I do? What do I want to do?

What can others do for me?” etc. Generally speaking, an individualized culture is more valued in Western society, and Westerners, including Americans, prefer to demonstrate their differentiated individual personalities, the manner in which they can be distinguished with others. In Primeaux’s words, “In keeping with our appreciation for opportunity, we want to learn as much about ourselves as individuals as we possibly can. We want to be the best we can be as autonomous, self-contained individuals.”²¹³ It is apparent that individuals demonstrate a much stronger preference for independence and autonomy in an individual society like the States than in a collective society like that of most Asian countries.

If we compare American values to Chinese values, it can be seen that while self-interest is highly valued in the context of American culture, it is advocated in China to put the collective interest first. According to the individual cultural scale index from Hofstede, the States obtained 90 points and occupies 1^st place, whereas China has only 20 points and is ranked 56^th. This research outcome proves that Americans admire the concept of individualism the most. However in China, it is collectivism that is most valued, which means people sometimes are required to, or are willing to, sacrifice their individual interests for the protection of the collective interest. By contrast, in the USA it is widely admitted that, as Adams expresses it, “Each of us is likely to be the centre of his own universe. It would be hard for most of us to deny that whatever might bring us wealth, opportunity, consideration, was not somehow in itself beneficent.”²¹⁴

Religion plays a more essential role in American society than in Europe. Christianity (in particular Protestant Christianity) is the major religion in America, and accounts for 78.5 percent of all believers. According to a survey launched by PEW in 2002, 59 percent of Americans claimed that religion is of utmost significance in their life, which

213 Primeaux, Patrick 2000: 120 214 Adams,James Truslow 1941:216

is much higher than in other Western nations.²¹⁵ The typified American self-perception is that of a white Anglo-Saxon protestant (WASP). In fact, WASPs represent a small and privileged community, who nonetheless retain possession of American financial, cultural and political power. In real life, they live in the same neighborhoods, go to the same church and share the same religion.

The pursuit of wealth and success was only confined to this small group of white Anglo-Saxon Americans in the very beginning, and was not open to all citizens or immigrants until the nineteenth century. In the second half of the nineteenth century, the American Dream became extremely competitive; as Jillson describes it,

“Individualism and competition displaced community and cooperation as men fought to tame the continent, seize its wealth, and control the course of its development.”²¹⁶ In January 1848, gold was first discovered in California, causing “gold fever” to sweep the country. People felt that they could get rich overnight. The gold rush tempted people to compete for wealth, and the American Civil War forced people to protect their land. The desire for wealth and land caused frantic competition for limited resources and recent immigrants were no exception. The popular novel Gone with the Wind shows the heroine Scarlett fighting to protect her land (Tara) against the backdrop of the American Civil War. She was taught by her father, an Irish immigrant, that you must value your own property as a resource and keep it out of the hands of others (whether they be English colonists or Yankee soldiers).

In line with this fierce competition for resources was the intense desire to own your own house, which represented to many the hope of a new stable life in the New World. During the British colonial rule over America, the British recognized the importance of land, not only as an exchangeable commodity, but also as a new home for immigrants, the land of dreams. Since the early days of frontier life, land held great importance in American life, which incurred a common desire in Americans to have their own home. This passion for home-ownership remains to this day. Cullen observes, “Roughly two-thirds of Americans owned their homes at the

215 http://pewglobal.org/reports/display.php?ReportID=167 216 Jillson, Calvin. C 2004: 267

start of this century, and it seems reasonable to believe that many of the remaining third will go on to do so.”²¹⁷

Thanks to industrial development in the early twentieth century, cars stayed in the focus of technical research and thus the desire to own a car is as strong as that of owning a house. Cullen comments that car ownership, like home ownership, points to one more distinctively American trait: relative wealth.²¹⁸ In the States, except for big cities like New York, Chicago or Los Angeles, there is very little by way of public transport, and therefore, cars are really a necessity. Moreover, cars are important in Americans’ daily life, not only because of their practical use, but also their social signification: “The automobile embodied personal mobility, and as such was the perfect complement for the anchorage provided by a privately owned homestead”.²¹⁹ In addition, even in the world of automobiles, there are differentiated brands and categories, as luxury brands like Porsche and Hummer are a symbol of high social status and wealth.