What is your heritage?  Is it Irish-American, African-American, Native-American, or just U.S. American?  How do you identify yourself?  Whoever you are, however you define yourself, you will carry "cultural baggage" with you.  What, you may ask, is cultural baggage?  Simply stated, it is the assumption you have about yourself, your family, friends and the world based upon your own experience.  Cultural baggage can weigh you down at times, but, it can also be used as a resource to help you through uncomfortable situations.  To understand your own cultural baggage will help you in the quest to understand someone else's.

Why is it Important to Recognize Your "Americanism"?

As an "American", most likely you view yourself as basically good, or as having good intentions.  As you meet people of the world, you are excited and eager for the experience to energize you.  What a shock to meet with confrontation because of who you are.  How difficult it is to be confronted with seemingly hard and unexpected questions.  When faced with confrontations, it may feel you are being attacked personally and criticized as an American.  It is important to understand the generalizations people in other countries make about what Americans are like.

As you spend more and more time in your host country, you will begin to recognize cultural patterns that are very different from your own.  These cultural patterns include differences in assumptions, values, cultural norms, perception, style, motivations, forms of achievement, methods of confrontation, personalization, and the list goes on and on.  These differences are just the tip of the iceberg and will be addressed more in-depth in the next section.  However, it is important to recognize your own "American" patterns, and what they mean to you, in order to understand how people in other countries and cultures may perceive you.

American Cultural Patterns

Dr. Robert Kohls, Director of International Programs at San Francisco State University, is a renowned contributor to research on cultural patterns.  He has developed the following list of 13 commonly held values which help explain to first time visitors to the U.S. why Americans act the way they do.  Please note that none of these traits are labeled as good or bad, they simply are.  Do you think they paint an accurate picture of the "typical" American?  As an American, do you recognize any of these traits in yourself?

1. Personal Control Over the Environment

Most Americans do not believe in the power of fate and the look at people who do as being backward, primitive, or naive.  In the American context, to be "fatalistic" is to be superstitious, lazy or simply unwilling to take initiative.  Everyone should have control over whatever in the environment might potentially affect her or him.  The problems of one's life are not seen as having resulted from bad luck as much as coming form one's own laziness and unwillingness to take responsibility in pursuing a better life.

2. Change Seen as Natural and Positive

In the American mind, change is seen as indisputably good, leading to development, improvement and progress.  Many older, non-traditional cultures consider change disruptive and destructive; they value stability, continuity, tradition, and a rich, ancient heritage.  None of these values are considered very important in the United States.

3. Time and its Control

Time is of utmost importance to Americans.  Consider how we eat fast food, while driving in our car and talking on the cell phone, simply to shave a few minutes off our next appointment.  Time is something to be on, saved, used, spent, wasted, lost, planned, given, gained, even killed.  Americans are more concerned with getting things accomplished on time than they are with developing interpersonal relationships.  Their lives seem controlled by their watches.  This philosophy has enabled Americans to be extremely productive, a highly valued trait in this country.

4. Equality/Fairness

Equality is so cherished in the United States that it is seen as having an almost religious basis.  This concept is enshrined in our founding documents with the words all people are "created equal" and that all people should have an equal opportunity to succeed.  This concept of equality is strange to seven-eighths of the people of the world, who view status and authority as desirable, even if they happen to be at the bottom of the social order.

5. Individualism/Independence

6. Self Help/Initiative

Americans take credit for what they accomplish as individuals.  They get no credit for having been born into a rich family but pride themselves on having climbed the ladder of success, to whatever level, all by themselves.  The equivalent of these words cannot be found in most other languages.  It's an indicator of how highly Americans regard the "self made" man or woman.

7. Competition

Most Americans believe that competition brings out the best in any individual in any system.  Value is reflected in the economic system of "free enterprise" and it is applied in the U.S. in all areas-medicine, the arts, education, sports, etc.

8. Future Orientation

Americans value the future and the improvements the future will surely bring.  They devalue the past and are, to a large extent, unconscious of the present.  Even a happy present goes largely unnoticed because Americans are hopeful that the future will bring even greater happiness. 

9. Action/Work Orientation

"Don’t' just stand there," admonishes a typical bit of American advice, "do something!"  This expression, though normally used in a crisis situation, in a sense, describes most Americans’ waking life, where almost any action is seen as superior to inaction.  Americans routinely over schedule their days and limit their recreation time so that they can work harder once their "recreation" is over.  This attitude towards life has created a class of people known as "workaholics"-people addicted to, and often wholly identified with, their profession.  The first questions that people often ask each other upon meeting are: "What do you do?"  "Where do you work?"  or "Who (what company) are you with?"  The United States may be one of the few countries in the world where people speak about the "dignity of physical labor," meaning hard physical work. 

10. Informality

Americans are even more informal and casual than their closet relatives-the Western Europeans.  For example, American bosses often urge their employees to call them by their first names and feel uncomfortable with "Mr.", "Mrs.", or "Ms."  Dress is another area where American informality is most noticeable, perhaps even shocking for many foreigners.  For example, one can go to a symphony performance in any large American city and find people dressed in blue jeans.  Informality is also apparent in Americans' greetings.  The more formal "How are you?" has largely been replaced with an informal "Hi!"  This greeting is likely used equally with one's superior or one's best friend.

11. Practicality/Efficiency

Americans have a reputation for being realistic, rational, practical and efficient.  The practical consideration is likely to be given the highest priority in making any important decision.  Americans pride themselves on not being very philosophical.  If Americans did have a philosophy, it would probably be pragmatism.  Will it make money?  What is the "bottom line?"  What can I gain from this activity?  This pragmatic orientation has caused Americans to contribute more inventions to the world than any other country in human history.  The love of "practicality " has also caused Americans to view some professions more favorably than others.  Management and engineering are much more popular in the U.S. than philosophy or political science, and law and medicine are more valued than the arts.  American's scorn "emotional" and "subjective" evaluations in favor of "rational" and "objective" assessments.  Americans try to avoid being "too sentimental" in making their decisions.  They try to judge each situation "on its own merits."

12. Materialism/Acquisitiveness

Foreigners consider Americans more materialistic than Americans would be likely to consider themselves.  Americans would like to think that their material objects are just the "natural benefits" that result from hard work and serious intent, a reward which all people could enjoy were they as industrious and hard working as Americans.  But by any comparative standard, Americans are very materialistic.  Simply consider our most popular board games, MonopolyTM , LifeTM, and PaydayTM.  What is the overall objective of these games?  To make as much money as possible.

13. How to Handle Anti-American Criticism

As expressed earlier on this page, you probably consider yourself to be a good person, or at least someone with good intentions.  However, as you meet and encounter people from around the world, you may discover that not everyone in the world thinks of Americans that way.  In fact, you should be prepared for the possibility of confrontation based on what and whom you are, not personally, but as a part of a collective body of people who live south of Canada and north of Mexico.

The forms of confrontation may vary; sometimes you may be expected to answer questions about American politics, geography, values and other issues as if you were a leading expert on the subject.  At other times, criticism may simply be words yelled at you.  With very few exceptions would you ever expect to be confronted with actual physical harm.  Former exchange students of commonly asked questions, which include, have compiled a list:

• Why do Americans call the Palestinians "terrorists" and the Contras "freedom fighters?"
• Why do Americans think that it is okay to kidnap someone from another country and bring them to America to be tried in court?
• What does is mean to be “proud” to be an American?
• Why are Americans so racist?  How can you justify putting Native Americans on reservations when the whole country belongs to them?
• Why are Americans so materialistic?  Why are they so wasteful of natural resources?
• Why are Americans so ignorant of other countries?
• Why are there so many homeless in the "richest nation on earth?"
• Why are teachers so poorly paid in a country that claims to have one of the best educational systems?
• Why do Americans abandon the elderly and dump them in nursing homes?
• Why are Americans not family-oriented?  Why do Americans get divorced so easily and "sleep around?"
• Why are Americans so loud and pushy?

Strategies for Dealing with Anti-American Criticism

No right or wrong way exists for responding to criticisms made against the United States or yourself as an American.  You will need to develop your own methods of handling confrontations based upon your experience, opinions and reading of the situation.  You may take an active role by responding directly to the criticisms; or you may choose a passive stance and not say anything in response.  As you begin to respond to any criticism, keep the following strategies in mind:

Try to understand the critic's motive(s)

Americans are fond of saying "don't judge a book by its cover."  In a confrontational situation abroad it is no different.  Outward appearances are not always enough to go on when confronted with anti-American sentiment.  Try to talk to your "accuser" and ask questions that may elicit this person's beliefs about the United States and s/he might hold them.  Does this person get ideas from the media?  Movies?  Television?  Is this something that is taught in school?  Has this person experienced harassment from an American?  If you can come to understand the critic's motive(s), or where his or her information is from, perhaps you can find some common ground and a more tolerant way to respond.

Draw upon personal experiences and observations

When someone asks you a question like "Why are Americans so wasteful?” your first response might be to say: "Oh, not me."  Whether or not the question is based on top of fact, one way to respond might be to draw upon your own experiences and observations.  In this case, you can say that while you cannot speak for all two hundred and eighty million Americans, you have your own personal practices, such as recycling, water conservation or bicycling to school or work.

Avoid becoming defensive in the presence of critics

You sometimes can't help becoming defensive--you are, after all, an American.  But try to avoid getting defensive as much as possible.  Keep an open mind, and remember to try to understand your critic's motives.

Become more familiar with common U.S. facts and policies

A common stereotype exists overseas that Americans are uneducated.  How can you dispel that stereotype?

"Why don't you know who the Secretary of State is?"  People in other countries will probably ask you a lot of questions about the United States, on such varied topics as geography, politics, pop culture, etc.  They may ask intelligent questions such as "Who decides if a person is guilty of a crime?" and they may ask silly questions such as, "Does every American wear cowboy boots and ride a horse?"  However, it is not uncommon to find that people overseas know a lot more about U.S. politics and policies than you do.  You should familiarize yourself with basic U.S. facts and policies because you do not want to appear to be uneducated or ignorant of basic facts.  Some areas to familiarize yourself with are:

• U.S. Geography (i.e. Differences between regions)

• U.S. Political System (i.e. How does the House differ from the Senate)
• U.S. Judicial System (i.e. How does the jury system work, in theory)
• U.S. Foreign Policy (i.e. Especially as it applies to your host country)

Return to regular view	Text-only	Updated: 3/3/06