Culture Paper

Interviewee’s List

Marcelino Gonzalez Interviewed:

Name: Linda Yuma

Age: 50

Origin Panama

Time in U.S 4 Years

Student/Non-student: Non-student

Name: Laura Ramos

Age: 27

Origin U.S.

Time in U.S 28 Years

Student/Non-student: Non-student

Jesus Danny Flores Interviewed:

Name: Ruben Flores

Age: 25

Origin Mexico

Time in U.S 6 months

Student/Non-student: non-student

Name: Maddy Hurley

Age: 22

Origin USA

Time in U.S 22

Student/Non-student: non-student

Shan Prasad interviewed

Name: Proneet Verma

Age: 29

Origin India

Time in U.S 3 years

Student/Non-student: Non student

Name: Bram Williams

Age: 23

Origin USA

Time in U.S 23 years

Student/Non-student: Non student

Guillermo Castaneda Interviewed

Name: Kavita Bassi

Age: 22

Origin Kenya

Time in U.S 4 Years

Student/Non-student: Non-student

Name: Kevin McCormik

Age: 33

Origin U.S.

Time in U.S 33 Years

Student/Non-student: Non-student

Introduction:

The United States is well known for being a place of freedom where anyone can come here to start over and make a name for themselves. After all, the phrase “I’m just living the American dream” has been used for decades to describe the people’s experiences here in America. Americans are notable for their hard working efforts to make a good living as they are extremely focused on their careers. This goes hand in hand with being status driven as it is important to individuals to be well off and being able to take care of their families. Furthermore, American individuals pride themselves as being an American as they believe they are part of the best country in the world that allows them to live the way no other country can match. All in all, when it comes to American culture and beliefs, there are many values that comprise the culture of the United States today. A few examples include: freedom/pride, money/career orientation, hard work, and status orientation.

Pride/Freedom:

Pride and freedom are two of America’s strongest values. America’s history has evolved so much from when it first started as a country. The freedoms and rights of this country have gradually increased to include a larger variety of people. This started from the abolition of slavery to womens rights, to more recently including more rights for the LGBT community. This evolution of our countrys’ history has instilled a sense of patriotism and pride. For Kavita, In her four years living in the United States, she has noticed how different American cultures and beliefs are compared to those in Kenya. Kavita described America as a land of freedom, opportunity and equality. When compared to Kenya, Kavita finds that women, especially, have more freedom, opportunity, and equality here in the United States. Women are able to work a career of their choice, engage in different activities with friends and associates, attend school and receive a higher degree of education. However, in Kenya women are seen as the individuals who tend to the household and take care of children. The United States is a place where individuals have the freedom to work, vote, and express their opinions, just to mention a few. Kevin has lived in the United States for thirty-three years and agrees that freedom is one of the biggest core values that defines American culture. The value of freedom contributes greatly to American culture in the essence that America is the “land of the free.” Having freedom allows for individuals to be their own person and have their own beliefs which are then put together in America’s melting pot culture and creates diversity. From a very young age Bram Williams was compelled to join the U.S. army. When I asked him why he described that from the beginning of elementary school, he was taught to say the pledge of allegiance, sing the star-spangled banner, and a variety of other things. In middle school, he found his motivation from learning about the history of Americans. Bram said “It was from these schools that I learned patriotism and decided I wanted to be a part of this country’s strong history.”

Money:

A few other values that go hand in hand are the love of money and career orientation. This is prominently seen in the United States as money seems to be the driving force behind everything in terms of living a quality lifestyle. When compared to Kenya, money is much more valuable here in the United States. Kavita demonstrated that money comprises a big portion of America’s image. In order to live a successful life here in the United States, individuals need to have a stable career which can support their lifestyles and bring money to the table. When compared to Kenya, for example, money does not make up much of Kenyan cultures or values. Kevin suggested that money does define American culture because people are driven by money and materialistic items. America has always been a country that is advanced and economically striving. According to Kevin, the idea of the American Dream is built off the value of money. Money is a major component of a majority peoples’ lifestyles here in the United States. Money has great value and without money, practically everything is impossible. Proneet Verma, who is an investment banker that moved from India to the U.S.A described that money was very important to Americans. He said that the stock exchange and Manhattan was supporting evidence of the importance of money to Americans. Americans seek to maximize their profit, and often the primary goal of the businesses in America is focused only on money. Similarly, Bram Williams stated that as a representative for a credit card company that his supervisor wanted him to do everything, he could to keep his clients from switching companies. Furthermore, career orientation is a major component of American culture as well. There are thousands and thousands of career opportunities in America in all fields of work. This is something that makes America so unique because individuals are able to apply their education and trades to build a career for themselves, which further improves their quality of life. After all, America is known as the land of opportunity. In Kenya, however, careers are often chosen for younger people based on what the elderly people in their families do. In other words, careers are more so inherited. Kevin suggested that people in the United States have varying career orientations ranging from healthcare to business to education to law and so forth. This is the reason why many immigrants migrate to the United States because they long for something more and greater than the current living situation in their country. Linda mentioned that she left her first husband because he didn’t want to leave Panama and go to the U.S. Imagine that the opportunities presented in the U.S. are far greater than your home country that you leave a spouse to achieve those dreams that many Americans take for granted on a daily basis.

Hard Work:

In addition to careers, hard work also comprises much of American culture. Here in the United States, hard work is part of everyday life in order to survive. But with hard work also comes rewards such as vacations, materialistic items, property, and cars. Ideally hard work allows Americans to have a large variety of opportunities. Kevin mentioned how individuals are driven by hard work here in the United States because they look forward to their rewards. In contrast, Kavita explained how hard work is seen in Kenya, however, the people of Kenya have more laxity when it comes to hard work. There is more time for self-care, family, etc. This is one difference Kavita saw between Kenya and America. She has seen that people in America are more driven by hard work in order to be rewarded.The army taught Bram the values of hard work. He described that even though the military is a different life from being a civilian, the U.S. education system strives to teach us the value of hard work, and show us that we can achieve anything if we work hard. Bram recalled that boot camp instilled the value of hard work into him. He was taught discipline and respect. It also taught him to push himself to be the strongest person he could be. The boot camp taught him valuable lessons for civilian life when he moved to Arizona. Proneet Verma came to the U.S.A. 3 years ago at the age of 25. He had just finished college and moved to New York to work for an investment bank. When I asked him, what was something that surprised him about the U.S.A. He described that our culture was very busy. He said that in Manhattan, people would walk by each other without even noticing each other because everyone was focused on getting to the next place. Proneet Verma, described that India was similar because of the emphasis on education. From a very young age, Proneet was motivated by his parents to work hard and mentioned the stereotype that his parents want him to be an engineer or doctor. Proneet Verma said that both cultures were hard working. Proneet based this on the stories that he had heard about people who have risen in his company. People had built themselves from nothing in the United States. They studied hard and were able to work their way up the chain of command into powerful positions. India was different in the sense that people weren’t supposed to be as assertive about receiving promotions. Promotions were given based on experience and time in the companies.

Status Orientation:

Status orientation also makes up a big portion of American culture. When meeting someone for the first time, the status of the individual is being assessed by Americans. An individual’s status determines how successful and well off they will be. For example, someone who presents themselves well as a higher social income class has higher status and is therefore able to live a more comfortable and luxurious lifestyle than someone in a lower social income class. In Kenya, status orientation does not really comprise their culture because even people who are not from a higher social class are still able to live a decent life, whereas Kevin explains it is much the opposite here in the United States. Proneet Verma recalled a story about meeting a veteran and how the veteran almost immediately introduced himself as a veteran. I asked why he thought the veteran had done that and Mr. Verma explained that he thinks it all fits under the importance of social status to Americans. He believed that even though we did not discriminate, we always tried to give off the image of having power through the cars we drive, the clothing we wear, and the watches we wear. I asked him what he believed the biggest difference was between the U.S.A. and India, and he described that in the United States, hard work and a bit of luck will give you an infinite amount of opportunities as opposed to India. India was very similar in the sense that when he had conversations with people as he walked by them, they were interested to know his caste or title. Bram Williams described that he was always well respected when at an airport in uniform. People would thank him for his service and offer him a free coffee and sit down to talk to him about his service. Bram is a modest person and said that he did not like the special attention but it was obvious that the status of being a service member was noticed by others.