From: Elizabeth Dean
Email: eblitz@cats.ucsc.edu
Course: Psychology 100D; Cross Cultural Development
College: UC Santa Cruz
Instructor: Eugene Matusov
ClassWeb: http://www.ematusov.com/psych100D
ChildrenObservations: No
Date: 13 Jun 1997
Time: 00:49:54
Remote Name: as-maclab-19.ucsc.edu
Cultural identification in the United States is a complex subject. The Gaijin group project focused on when and how people identify with the concept of “America”. Through our paper, we did not discuss the general concept of identification and it’s complexity in the US. This paper explores cultural identity and how it is achieved in our society. It attempts to answer the question, “How does an individual identify with the both the nation and it’s ethnic background?” The paper is a brief overview of cultural identification, tying it in with the history of diversity in the US and modern social constructions that affect it today. It may seem simple, but I found that it is more complicated than I alone could research.
Overview of Cultural Identity in the United States: Expanding on the Gaijin Group Project with a General Discussion on Identity
In all countries, cultural identification is an issue. When a society is considered to be a nation, and it contains people of different nationalities, ethnic groups, cultures, and minorities, identification is a constant question and conflict to some groups existing in that society. How do we associate with the larger group of society, and still keep our own personal cultural identification? What effects do cultural differences have on identification with society and those around us? I will briefly discuss these issues and how they pertain to the diverse population of the United States.
To begin, I want to define some of the terms I will be using throughout the paper. These terms can be interpreted in a variety of ways; these are just one person’s definitions and should not be taken as the only interpretations. A “nation” is a politically organized nationality, a community of people composed of one or more nationalities and possessing a more or less defined territory or government.(1) A “nationality” is a national character, a legal relationship involving allegiance on the part of an individual and usually protection on the state, an ethnic group constituting one element of a larger unit.(1) An “ethnic” is a member of an ethnic group, a member of a minority group who retains the customs, language, or social views of his group.(1) A “minority” is the smaller number of two groups constituting a whole, a part of the population differing from others in some characteristics and often subjected to differential treatment.(1) Finally, “culture” is the complex whole of solutions which a human community inherits, adapts, or invents, in order to meet the challenges of its natural and social environment.(2) All of these terms are complex parts of the puzzle that constitutes identification in the United States; they work together to determine how one will identify itself in American society.
The United States has a history of diversity. We live in one of the most diverse countries in the world; welcoming people of all cultures and ethnicities. In the past, we have encouraged immigration and advertised that the “American Dream” was accessible to everyone. From this, our country now contains a very diverse population. Originally, the United States was referred to as the “Melting Pot”; the customs and traditions of people of different races and ethnicities would blend and lose their own distinctions after close context over time.(3) Many feel this is not an accurate way to view the United States. It overlooked the reality that ethnic groups continue to maintain some of their characteristics while being modified.(3) Another interpretation of the United States is the “Salad Bowl”; the blending of ethnic characteristics much like salad, they do not change even when they are mixed together. This explanation has also been criticized because it fails to acknowledge the tendency for cultural patterns to change through cultural encounters.(3) A more realisitic way to explain diversity in the United States seems to be a “Kaleidoscope”; changing patterns reveal themselves from the same set of glass fragments, as cultures keep changing through interaction and yet maintain individual characteristics.(3) There have been no large criticisms of this theory yet. The historical diversity in the United States explains the modern issues with cultural identification. With so many different ethnicities and cultures, how can we identify with society in general and gain a sense of allegiance to the nation?
The concept of culture is connected to identity in the United States. Society as a whole has an effect on a person’s culture. Culture cannot exist in isolation any more than an economy or a social and political life can exist outside of culture.(2) There needs to be a balance between a society’s own identity and roots and external influences; an intermixing of ideas, images, values, modes of social and political organization, objects, techniques, and know-how. If the external influences are too dominant, then a society is in danger of being crushed and losing it’s identity.(2) So, cultural identification is not neccessarily just ethnic identification, but connected with societal identification. Both culture and society need the other to survive.
So, how do we identify with both a cultural group and general society in the United States? Intercultural interactions are a part of cultural and national identification. It would seem that differences between ethnic groups would constitute these interactions. However, cultural (ethnic) differences are not the sole influence in intercultural interactions.(4) We also have a national identity. National identities are not things we are born with, but they are formed and transformed “within and in relation to representation”.(5) Through national identity, we form a national culture. National culture is a discourse; “a way of constructing meanings which influences and organizes both our actions and our conception of ourselves”.(5) National cultures construct identities by producing meanings about the nation with which we can identify ourselves; contained in the stories which are told about it, memories connecting it’s present with it’s past, and images which are constructed of it.(5) Ethnic identity relates to, and is affected by national identity. National identity may be seen as a widely accepted means of identification, while not all ethnic identity’s are. An individual cannot choose ethnic identity, which is a salient component of self-identity. If that identity holds low prestige, a person may struggle to improve prestige; group affiliation is linked to self-concept and protection of group identity (ie. national identity) may be positively correlated to self-esteem.(4) We find a balance between our ethnic identity and national identity that we, as individuals, are comfortable with. Each individual chooses their identity on a personal level and then chooses when and when not to identify nationally.
Some may say that minorities are not given the opportunity to choose their identification in the United States. They are seen in a certain manner from the stereotypes that have accumulated over the years in our country. Race may determine how one identifies with the nation. We are seen by race first and often judged automatically by that external classification, making it difficult for people that are termed “minority” to change how other’s initially see them. Racial categories are a mess of descriptive efforts; assignments are made by linguistics, heritage, cultural affiliation, and biologistic references.(6) Sometimes, it seems that we, as individuals, identify with what our race is supposed to identify with. Since we are so heavily classified, we just give in and accept that we are being categorized. This is especially true for minorities since they need a group to identify with so as to gain strength in our society. We forget that race is not an absolute; an individual’s own sense of racial identity can even shift over the course of a lifetime, as can the labels assigned by the government, or by other elements of society.(6) We should not feel forced to identify in a certain way because of racial categories, especially since the society that we feel we need to identify with is constantly changing those categorizations. Minorities identification with the nation are contingent on both how they feel others (society) see them and their own ethnic backgrounds (beliefs, values, etc.).
Cultural identification in the United States is not something that is simple to discuss. Our diverse history and modern social constructions give many aspects to when and how we choose to identify. It is impossible to explain identification in a simple manner within the context of such a complex nation.
References
1. Web Address. http://csee.lbl.gov/newexplorersweb/pages/identity.html. Author Unknown. Date Unknown.
2. Web Address. http://www.ecdpm.org/euforic/dpmn/942tv_gb.htm. Verhelst, T. DPMN Bulletin. August, 1994.
3. Web Address. http://www.census.gov/ftp/pub/edu/diversity/divtext.html. Author Unknown. Date Unknown.
4. Web Address. http://hoshi.cic.sfu.ca/calj/cjc/BackIssues/18.4/sept.html. Habke, A & Sept, R. Canadian Journal of Communication. Date Unknown.
5. Web Address. http://www.helsinki.fi/valttdk/neusem/helin2/. Author Unknown. Date Unknown.
6. Web Address. Address Unknown. “Race and Poverty: Our Private Obsession, Our Public Sin.” Powell, J. October, 1995.