American cultural customs

Talking about American cultural customs

Contingency and constraint

Europeans are rigid and like to stick to details, especially Germans and Britons. On the other hand, Americans are flexible and casual when dealing with people. Almost every English gentleman knows what they should do without losing their gentlemanliness; Americans, although books on etiquette are all over the city, rarely unify their customs and habits. Except in the social occasions of the upper class, most ordinary people in the United States get rid of all kinds of hierarchical rules and regulations that are not conducive to people's access.

This attitude of Americans towards people reflects their ideas. In the eyes of Americans, politeness norms are formulated by people and should not be a rigid model that binds people. So in the United States, there is no court to make social etiquette, and there is no upper class to enforce such etiquette. All kinds of social etiquette are mainly implemented in action according to people's natural habits.

Because Americans are not very restrained in their behavior, they are very casual in many ways. They talk casually, dress casually, eat casually and treat people casually. People who don't know them think that Americans are addicted to rudeness and decency. In fact, this is a casual habit of Americans. Reflected in the use of English language, Americans' attitude of "serving us" often makes some conservative literati feel sad; And those nonstandard expressions that are widely circulated among the people make many grammarians feel helpless. As for the words that implicitly express the concept of social hierarchy in language, Americans often disdain and ignore them.

It may also be because Americans don't pay much attention to discipline and have a weak sense of discipline, which often gives administrative officials and those who enforce discipline a headache. There is a saying that the British think it is fun to obey the rules, while the Americans think it is disrespectful or even insulting to insist that he obey certain rules. In American party schools, students are lax in discipline; In American families, parents are not strict with their children; In the American army, soldiers are famous for their freedom.

Surprisingly, American education is still successful. Most American children grow up to be good parents and citizens, and the American army occasionally wins some battles. This seemingly contradictory phenomenon may be explained as follows: Americans love freedom and don't want to be forcibly controlled. However, when they really exercise their freedom, they are still bound by legal concepts and are "free and chic" within their own jurisdiction.

In fact, although Americans seem indifferent and don't respect the law, in fact, Americans are extremely advocating the rule of law. No country in the world studies law as hard as the United States, and no country's lawyers play such an important role in politics and daily life as the United States. Americans are free to criticize the President and Congress with rude words, but they are in awe of the Supreme Court. This is perhaps the best example of Americans keeping a balance between informality and restraint.

Individualism and spirit of cooperation

When it comes to individualism, people can easily associate it with the bourgeois ethical values of greed and mercenary, especially the typical capitalist patriotism like the United States. In fact, individualism in English has two meanings in America. The first layer is its positive significance, which refers to the persistent spirit of individual self-independence, self-struggle and self-control of their own destiny. Individualism in this sense is often associated with the image of an American: he is a brave and strong pioneer who migrated to the wilderness, kept company with barbarians, opened up new roads with his wisdom and strength, paved the way for success, and everything he did was full of entrepreneurial spirit and unique vitality. The second layer is its negative meaning, which means that in order to pursue their own interests, regardless of the interests of others and the public, individuals are crazy and insatiable. Individualism in this sense is often associated with the image of an American: he is a selfish speculator who, in order to satisfy his various desires, grabs useful things from society and nature by any means, and is indifferent to social welfare and natural environment. It can be said that these two levels of individualism mean that the connotation of this word is an inseparable whole, just like a coin has two sides.

From a good point of view, individualism is conducive to promoting entrepreneurship, which gives people opportunities, freedom and encourages diversification, thus promoting and promoting the development of American industry, agriculture, science and technology, education, entertainment and sports. From a bad point of view, the uncontrolled expansion of individualism has caused great damage to nature, and also put a thick layer of cold cream on social interpersonal relationships. Many people are either down and out, disheartened, or distorted and cynical under the cold individualism competition and extrusion. Therefore, judging from the positive and negative factors of individualism, the key to the problem is how to suppress evil and promote good, which is also a "difficult knot" that has not been properly solved in American culture.

However, what is worth my taste is that Americans are willing to cooperate despite their strong individualism. It can be said that apart from Britain, no western country is as willing to unite voluntarily for a certain purpose as Americans; No country has so many effective private alliances as the United States.

In continental Europe, it is often time-consuming and difficult to establish a church, a college, a hospital and a charity. But in the United States, as long as individuals or groups are interested, such institutions can be easily established. As a result, various organizations have been established-organizations willing to do good and prosper business, organizations that influence politics, organizations that collect historical materials, organizations that plan the future, organizations that study culture, organizations that own guns, and so on. Almost everyone in society has their own organization: boys and girls in school, businessmen and scholars, friends and neighbors, old immigrants and new immigrants, vegetarians and alcoholics, stamp collectors, heart patients and so on. , have their own organizations. This phenomenon shows that people still pay attention to the construction of group organizations while pursuing personality development, so as to ensure social order and stability and achieve a certain degree of balance between individual interests and collective interests.