American cultural values and orientations

America is a heterogeneous country, and thus culture cannot be treated as a single entity. Although American culture, like others in Western civilization, contains no elaborated value systems based

upon kinship clans (Williams, 1970), two hundred years of cultural development have shaped some characteristic cultural values such as individualism, quality, and freedom (Hsu, 1981a; Johnson & Svara, 2011; Naylor, 1998; Williams, 1970).

The seven American values cover all six of the categories in Hofstede (2011)’s division of cultural values, which are based on power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism or collectivism, masculinity or femininity, long-term versus short-term orientations, and indulgence versus restraint. Hofstede refers to power distance as the extent to which less powerful members of society accept the fact that power is distributed unequally (Hofstede, 2011; Hofstede, 2001). Among the selected values, equality is the representative value index in this category. By uncertainty avoidance, Hofstede means the extent to which the society attempts to overcome anxiety by eliminating uncertainty (Hofstede, 2011; Hofstede, 2001). Adventurousness belongs to this category. Individualism and collectivism refers to the degree to which individuals comprise social groups (Hofstede, 2011; Hofstede, 2001). Individual orientation belongs to these types of values. By masculinity and femininity, he means that due to biological differences the sexes have had emotional and social roles assigned to them (Hofstede, 2011; Hofstede, 2001). Competitiveness belongs to this category. Long- term versus short-term orientation, based on the society’s time horizon, attaches more importance to the future or the present and the past (Hofstede, 2011; Hofstede, 2001). Leisure and modernity fall into these types of values. Indulgence versus restraint refers to the degree to which individuals of a society try to control their desires and impulses (Hofstede, 2011; Hofstede, 2001). Sexual liberation belongs to this category. The following will explain the specific values chosen as indicators of American cultural values.

Individual orientation

Individual orientation refers to the value that emphasizes the individual’s interests in a society. It can be found in the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights, which form an integral part of the Constitution (Hall, 2011). Americans believe that the protection of the individual will guards democracy from intrusion by the government. Historian Bernard Bailyn states that in the American political tradition there is a strong scepticism towards the government (Bailyn, 1992). The emphasis on individual achievement in America originated from the Calvinist belief that each individual is equal in the God’s eyes and can achieve whatever they desire by work hard (Weaver, 1999). Many Americans see the individualism as a major cultural reason for the greatness of the United States (Hofstede, 2001). Among individualists, social behaviour is guided by one’s personal attitudes, motivations, and other internal processes (Neuliep, 2014). Individualistic cultures treasure and

reward an individual’s uniqueness. The United States, for example, is full of contests and ceremonies that recognize individual accomplishment (Neuliep, 2014).

Leisure

Leisure refers to the value that emphasizes chasing material comfort in life. The rich resources of America, along with its developed economy, have brought a widespread wealth of material goods. There has been a wholesale development and diffusion of the marvels of modern comfort (Arensberg & Niehoff, 1975). The high value placed on such comforts has caused industries to be geared to produce ever-greater quantities and improved versions of existing products. Americans seem to feel that they have a ‘right’ to such amenities.

Achievement and success are measured by the quantity of material goods one possesses, both because they are abundant and because they indicate how much money an individual earns (Cohen, 1971). With improved economic and living standards, materialism, consumerism and hedonism emerged in American cultures (Morley, 2013). People enjoy leisure through consumption and material comfort.

Modernity

Modernity is regarded as future-oriented, emphasizing the notion of being new, up-to-date, and ahead of the times (Pollay & Gallagher, 1990). In general, Americans are less concerned about history and traditions than people from older societies (Althen, 2005). In the political realm, modern society is characterized by wide participation on the part of citizens. It is culturally dynamic, and oriented to change and innovation instead of being bound by old customs and conventions (Eisenstadt, 1968).

Modernity is also marked by industrialization, urbanization and secularization (Carvounas, 2002). America was characterized by prosperity, technological advances, and consumerism, and experienced major shifts in values toward modernity in the 1920s (Dumenil, 1995). The urban population has outnumbered the rural population ever since. As more people moved to large cities, like New York and Chicago, a way of life emerged that was significantly different from the rural society. This modernity within urban culture became the hallmark of American culture (Sullivan, 2013).

Competition

Competition refers to the value that underlines the assumption that people have an equal opportunity for success and the only way to achieve it is to compete with others. Americans view competition as a method to bring out the best from any individual. They assert that competition challenges or forces each person to produce the very best that is humanly possible (Sondhi, 2007). Consequently, competition is fostered in the American home and classroom, even at the youngest age levels.

Americans value competition, and not only on an individual level; they have also devised an economic system to go with it—free enterprise. They feel strongly that a highly competitive economy will bring out the best in its people, and ultimately, the society that fosters competition will progress most rapidly (Sondhi, 2007). Evidence exists that Americans prefer to use free enterprise as an approach to manage fields as diverse as medicine, arts, education, and sports.

Adventurousness

Adventurousness refers to the value that risk and change is unavoidable in life, and people should use them to achieve. Adventurousness, or risk-taking, is an important American value. During the 1700s and 1800s, there was little physical mobility in Europe. Immigrants to the US were willing to leave their homeland and travel half way around the globe while knowing that 20 percent of them would die on journey (Weaver, 1999). They risked their lives to go to the ‘New World’ chasing religious and political freedoms. Most importantly, there was opportunity to gain a large amount of wealth if one was willing to take the risk to go to the ‘New World’. The willingness of the individual to take risks is a basic aspect of American culture even today (Weaver, 1999). This adventurousness is crystallized in the ‘American Dream’, which assumes that economic advancement and success can be achieved through creativity and innovation, and risks are a necessary component.

In the American mindset, change is an indisputably good situation. Change is strongly linked to development, improvement, progress, and growth (Kohls, 2007). Many older, more traditional cultures view change as a disruptive, destructive force that should be avoided as much as possible. Instead of change, such societies value stability, continuity, tradition, and a rich and ancient heritage —none of which is valued very much in the United States (Kohls, 2007).

Equality

Equality refers to the value that emphasizes every individual is equal in a society. It is stated in the Declaration of Independence that all men are created equal, and this value has helped perpetuate the

idea that America is the land of opportunity (Wallace, 2003). The image of the proud ‘common men’ crystallized when the President Andrew Jackson was elected by the male suffrage in 1828. Similar progress was made by the national women’s suffrage in 1920. After the American Civil War (1861- 1865), slavery was terminated and African Americans slowly achieved rights that were equal to white Americans’. Americans believe that they are free to rise as high as they can, no matter what one’s social position may be in the US. In theory, they believe that everyone should have an equal opportunity for success (Wallace, 2003).

Egalitarian values have meant that Americans maintain an informal attitude when they communicate with others. Regarding kinship relationships, between two immediate generations, adult children are expected to be independent both economically and socially. Male-female relationships in the United States are not governed by strong kinship obligations to either the fraternal or the maternal side. In many respects there is literal equality between wife and husband (Pan et al., 1994). American people call each other by their first names, behave casually, and wear informal attire. The important guest’s seat is normally located at the head of the table around the world; however, the American guest sometimes prefer to sits at the end of the table to socialize with the crowd. It contrasts well with the Chinese style of seating that follows a strict hierarchical order (Hall & Hall, 1990; Samovar et al., 2009).

Sexual liberation

Sexual liberation refers to the value that sex is as casual as other human behaviours. The origin of this American value could trace back to the 1920s, which was a decade with a distinctive cultural edge, during which ideas about morality shifted as much as the economy (Sullivan, 2013). Young women in the 1920s began taking claim to their own bodies and engaging in a sexual liberation within their generation. Many of the ideas that fuelled this change in sexual mores were already emerging in intellectual circles in New York before World War I, through engagement with the works of Sigmund Freud, Havelock Ellis, and Ellen Key. These thinkers acknowledged that sex was essential to the human experience. They proposed that women were sexual beings who have impulses and desires just like men, and considered the restraint of these impulses as self-destructive (Sullivan, 2013). By the 1920s, these ideas had come into the mainstream culture.

The sexual landscape in America transformed over time, but it was still more liberated than other countries (Okazaki, 2002; Vance, 1991). Mainstream society set the tone for proper sexual expression. When change really began to shape American sexual culture in the 1960s, the change

was sparked by the small radical groups of society. Sex became something that expressed how a person was feeling and moving into the public sphere (Emoore, 2013).