From: demon@desire.wright.edu (Stupendous Man)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.usa
Subject: Re: A Diversity of Cultures in the U.S. (was Re: Multiculturalism)
Date: 19 Aug 92 07:44:04 GMT
Article-I.D.: desire.1992Aug19.024404.3595
Organization: Demonic Possesions, Inc.

In article <YAMAUCHI.92Aug18191107@heron.cs.rochester.edu>, yamauchi@cs.rochester.edu (Brian Yamauchi) writes:
> 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.  

	That must be Miami (OH), better know to residents as Oxford :).

> Since then, I've lived in Pittsburgh,
> St. Louis, Rochester (NY), Malibu, Pasadena, and Cape Canaveral -- and
> I've just moved to Cleveland.

	Our condolences.

> 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

	(Ok, I live 40 miles away, so I had an advantage :)

> conservative and Republican, in a very Norman Rockwell/middle-America
> way.  

	Oxford is now the home of a large alternative lifestyle movement.  The
local radio (nationally renowned) station is modern-rock and nearby Cincinnati
provides a constant pilgramage.
	Contrasted with the largely yuppie, preppy, liberal arts Miami
University you get a pretty decent college town :).
	I haven't been there much since I got married, but it was always a
great road trip.

> 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...
> :-)

	Or Jim Rhodes and Howard Metzenbaum.

> 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...

	Everyone who grows up here seems to have that sense of common history
also.  99% of us are either descendents of immigrants or slaves brought over
here.  Making a better world than the old one is a common theme.

Brett                                                      
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