From: yamauchi@cs.rochester.edu (Brian Yamauchi)
Subject: A Diversity of Cultures in the U.S. (was Re: Multiculturalism)
Organization: University of Rochester
Date: 18 Aug 92 19:11:07

In article <1992Aug15.155828.28221@panix.com> gcf@panix.com (Gordon Fitch) writes:
>Is there more than one viable culture in the United States?
>If there is more than one, how would you identify them?  How
>do they differ from one another?  How do they connect?

Cultures are large, fuzzy things -- it's difficult to draw
well-defined boundaries around them when they are constantly blending
into one another...

On the other hand, I have lived in variety of different places in the
U.S., and I can say that the cultural atmosphere varies widely
depending on where one lives in this country.  I grew up in a small
college town in southwest Ohio.  Since then, I've lived in Pittsburgh,
St. Louis, Rochester (NY), Malibu, Pasadena, and Cape Canaveral -- and
I've just moved to Cleveland.

Each region has it's own atmosphere -- culturally, ethnically, and
politically.  In the Midwest, the population is largely white and
mostly friendly, and many of the people you meet have lived there for
generations.  In Florida, the native population consists largely of
white Southerners who are often hostile to non-whites -- but there are
also a large number of transplants (of all races) from other parts of
the country, as well as Hispanic immigrants.  In the industrial
northeast, the ethnic mix is primarily biracial (white/black), the
economies are often depressed, the poor are predominantly black and
the middle-class/rich are predominantly white.  In Southern
California, the majority of the population comes from somewhere else
(both U.S. transplants and foreign immigrants), and there is no racial
majority.  Instead, there is a diverse mix of whites, blacks,
Asian-Americans, and Hispanic-Americans, and while the poor are often
predominantly black or Hispanic, the middle-class/rich include many
members of all racial groups.

These different regions are as varied politically as they are
ethnically.  The town where I grew up (Oxford, Ohio) was largely
conservative and Republican, in a very Norman Rockwell/middle-America
way.  Rochester was largely Democrat and left-of-center.  Florida was
sufficiently right-wing to make Oxford look moderate.  California was
an interesting mix of everything from ultraliberalism to
ultraconservativism, but often in unconventional combinations --
liberal yuppies who vilify Reagan and Bush one minute and complain
about the poor quality of cellular phone service the next,
conservative cynics who make fun of Bush and Quayle's family values
and flag-waving, but vote Republican anyway for economic reasons.

In Rochester, I was a "conservative" for supporting free enterprise
and gun rights.  In Florida, I was a "liberal" for supporting abortion
rights, and for opposing censorship and the draft.  And in California,
my libertarian views weren't considered unusual at all.  (You have to
love a state that could elect both Ronald Reagan and Jerry Brown...
:-)

In summary, yes, there are a variety of "cultures" in the U.S., but it
would be difficult to separate them into discrete units, or to define
what exactly makes a "culture" somehow distinct and independent from
other cultures.

In a way, it's amazing that a country this large and diverse can stay
together with only one major attempt at division in over two
centuries.  The unifying cultural elements in the U.S. seem to be the
media communications net (television/radio/newspapers/etc.) and
national (and multinational) corporations (chain stores/fast food
restaurants/clothing lines).  You can watch MTV and CNN, eat in a
McDonald's, shop at a mall, and buy the latest pop/rock CD and the
Waldenbooks #1 bestseller -- anywhere in the country.  Laugh if you
like, but these (far more than stories about Columbus and the
Pilgrims) are the influences shaping the shared culture of today's
young people and tomorrow's leaders...