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{{Short description|none}}{{pp|small=y}}{{Multiple issues|{{Original research|date=October 2022}}{{More citations needed|date=October 2022}}{{Primary sources|date=September 2023}}}}{{image frame|content={{multiple image |border = infobox | total_width = 300 | perrow = 2/3/3/3/2|image1=Hollywood Sign (Zuschnitt).jpg|image2=1 times square night 2013.jpg|image3=Suburbia by David Shankbone.jpg|image4=Vintage Coca-Cola Vending Machine-03.jpg|image5=US_66.svg|image6=The_Broncho_Buster_MET_DP361132.jpg|image7=Chicago River ferry.jpg|image8=Liberty_Bell_2017a.jpg|image9=Impossible_Burger_-_Gott's_Roadside-_2018_-_Stierch.jpg|image10=Taylor Swift at the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards (3).png|image11=Aldrin Apollo 11 original.jpg|image12=Tasseled Out, Corn Crop, NW Iowa 7-25-13f (11033879664).jpg|image13=Exterior of the Independence Hall, Aug 2019.jpg}}|width=300|align=right|caption=From top, left to right: Hollywood sign, Times Square, suburbs in Colorado Springs, Coca-Cola, U.S. Route 66, The Bronco Buster, Chicago River, Liberty Bell, Hamburger, Taylor Swift, Apollo 11, cornfield in Iowa, and Independence Hall|mode=}}{{US culture}}The culture of the United States of America, also referred to as American culture, encompasses various social behaviors, institutions, and norms in the United States, including forms of speech, literature, music, visual arts, performing arts, food, sports, religion, law, technology as well as other customs, beliefs, and forms of knowledge. American culture has been shaped by the history of the United States, its geography, and various internal and external forces and migrations.WEB, U.S. Culture,weblink 2024-03-13, International Students and Scholars Office, en, Its Western foundations are primarily English-influenced, with prominent German, Italian, Spanish, Asian, African, Polish, Jewish, Indigenous, French, and Scandinavian regional influences. Since the United States was established in 1776, its culture has been influenced by successive waves of immigrants, and the resulting "melting pot" of cultures has been a distinguishing feature of its society. Americans pioneered or made great strides in musical genres such as heavy metal, rhythm and blues, jazz, gospel, country, hip hop, and rock 'n' roll. The "big four sports" are American football, baseball, basketball, and ice hockey. In terms of religion, the vast majority of Americans are Protestant, Catholic, or irreligious. American cuisine includes popular tastes such as hot dogs, milkshakes, and barbecue, as well as many other class and regional preferences. The national language is English. Distinct cultural regions include New England, Mid-Atlantic, the South, Midwest, Southwest, Mountain West, and Pacific Northwest.NEWS, Woodard, Colin, 2018-07-30, The Maps That Show That City vs. Country Is Not Our Political Fault Line, en-US, The New York Times,weblink 2023-12-06, 0362-4331, Politically, the country takes its values from the American Revolution and American Enlightenment, with an emphasis on liberty, individualism, and limited government, as well as the Bill of Rights and Reconstruction Amendments. Under the First Amendment, the United States has the strongest protections of free speech of any country.BOOK, Coleman, Gabriella, Coding Freedom, Princeton University Press, 2013, 978-0-691-14461-0, 10, 201, Gabriella Coleman, WEB, September 19, 2012, Held Dear In U.S., Free Speech Perplexing Abroad,weblink March 4, 2023, National Public Radio, WEB, Liptak, Adam, June 11, 2008, Hate speech or free speech? What much of West bans is protected in U.S.,weblink limited, February 21, 2023, The New York Times, WEB, Durkee, Alison, April 25, 2018, What if we didn't... have the First Amendment?,weblink February 6, 2023, Mic, en, American popular opinion is also the most supportive of free expression and the right to use the Internet.WEB, Wike, Richard, Americans more tolerant of offensive speech than others in the world,weblink February 6, 2023, Pew Research Center, en-US, WEB, Gray, Alex, November 8, 2016, Freedom of speech: which country has the most?,weblink February 6, 2023, World Economic Forum, en, The large majority of the United States has a legal system that is based upon English common law.JOURNAL, Hall, Ford W., 1950, The Common Law: An Account of Its Reception in the United States, Vanderbilt Law Review, 4, 791, According to the Inglehart–Welzel cultural map, it leans greatly towards "self-expression values", while also uniquely blending aspects of "secular-rational" (with a strong emphasis on human rights, the individual, and anti-authoritarianism) and "traditional" (with high fertility rates, religiosity, and patriotism) values together.WEB, Ronald, Inglehart, Chris, Welzel, The WVS Cultural Map of the World,weblink dead,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20131019112321weblink">weblink October 19, 2013, 6 October 2014, WVS, JOURNAL, Norris, Pippa, Pippa Norris, February 2023, Cancel Culture: Myth or Reality?,weblink Political Studies, en, 71, 1, 145–174, 10.1177/00323217211037023, 0032-3217, 238647612, As predicted, in post-industrial societies, characterized by predominately liberal social cultures, like the US, Sweden, and UK..., WEB, Staff, December 6, 2023, WVS Database: Findings,weblink 2023-12-06, World Values Survey, These maps indicate that the United States is not a prototype of cultural modernization for other societies to follow, as some modernization writers assumed. In fact, the United States is a deviant case, having a much more traditional value system than any other postindustrial society except Ireland. On the traditional/secular dimension, the United States ranks far below other rich societies, with levels of religiosity and national pride comparable with those found in some developing societies. The United States does rank among the most advanced societies on the survival/self-expression dimension..., Its culture can vary by factors such as region, race and ethnicity, age, religion, socio-economic status, or population density, among others. Different aspects of American culture can be thought of as low culture or high culture, or belonging to any of a variety of subcultures. The United States exerts major cultural influence on a global scale and is considered a cultural superpower.NEWS,weblink Country Profile: United States of America, BBC18may, BBC News, London, April 22, 2008, May 18, 2008, MAGAZINE, Fergie, Dexter, March 24, 2022, How American Culture Ate the World,weblink The New Republic, 0028-6583, July 3, 2022,

History

Origins, development, and spread

File:Albert_Bierstadt_-_The_Rocky_Mountains,_Lander's_Peak.jpg|thumb|right|250px|The Rocky Mountains, Lander's Peak (1863) by Albert Bierstadt, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, New YorkNew York City, New YorkThe European roots of the United States originate with the English and Spanish settlers of colonial North America during British and Spanish rule. The varieties of English people, as opposed to the other peoples on the British Isles, were the overwhelming majority ethnic group in the 17th century (the population of the colonies in 1700 was 250,000) and were 47.9% of percent of the total population of 3.9 million. They constituted 60% of the whites at the first census in 1790 (%: 3.5 Welsh, 8.5 Scotch Irish, 4.3 Scots, 4.7 Irish, 7.2 German, 2.7 Dutch, 1.7 French, and 2 Swedish).The American Revolution, Colin Bonwick, 1991, p. 254 {{Citation needed|date=February 2024}}The English ethnic group contributed to the major cultural and social mindset and attitudes that evolved into the American character. Of the total population in each colony, they numbered from 30% in Pennsylvania to 85% in Massachusetts.Becoming America, Jon Butler, 2000, pp. 9–11 Large non-English immigrant populations from the 1720s to 1775, such as the Germans (100,000 or more), Scotch Irish (250,000), added enriched and modified the English cultural substrate.The Encyclopedia of Colonial and Revolutionary America, Ed. John Mack Faragher, 1990, pp. 200–202 The religious outlook was some versions of Protestantism (1.6% of the population comprised English, German, and Irish Catholics).{{Citation needed|date=February 2024}}Jeffersonian democracy was a foundational American cultural innovation, which is still a core part of the country's identity."Mr. Jefferson and the giant moose: natural history in early America", Lee Alan Dugatkin. University of Chicago Press, 2009. {{ISBN|0-226-16914-6}}, {{ISBN|978-0-226-16914-9}}. University of Chicago Press, 2009. Chapter x. Thomas Jefferson's Notes on the State of Virginia was perhaps the first influential domestic cultural critique by an American and was written in reaction to the views of some influential Europeans that America's native flora and fauna (including humans) were degenerate.File:Betsy_Ross_sewing.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Betsy Ross was an American upholsterer who was credited by her relatives in 1870 with making the first American flagAmerican flagMajor cultural influences have been brought by historical immigration, especially from Germany in much of the country,BOOK, Kirschbaum, Erik, The eradication of German culture in the United States, 1917–1918, 1986, H.-D. Heinz, 978-3-88099-617-5, 155,weblink Ireland and Italy in the Northeast, Japan in Hawaii. Latin American culture is especially pronounced in former Spanish areas but has also been introduced by immigration, as have Asian American cultures (especially in the Northeast and West Coast regions). Caribbean culture has been increasingly introduced by immigration and is pronounced in many urban areas. Since the abolition of slavery, the Caribbean has been the source of the earliest and largest Black immigrant group, a significant source of growth of the Black population in the U.S. and has made major cultural impacts in education, music, sports and entertainment.WEB, Fraizer, Martin, Continuity and change in Caribbean immigration, July 8, 2005,weblink People's World, 6 May 2014, Native culture remains strong in areas with large undisturbed or relocated populations, including traditional government and communal organization of property now legally managed by Indian reservations (large reservations are mostly in the West, especially Arizona and South Dakota). The fate of native culture after contact with Europeans is quite varied. For example, Taíno culture in U.S. Caribbean territories is nearly extinct and like most Native American languages, the Taíno language is no longer spoken. By contrast, the Hawaiian language and culture of the Native Hawaiians has survived in Hawaii and mixed with that of immigrants from the mainland U.S. (starting before the 1898 annexation) and to some degree Japanese immigrants. It occasionally influences mainstream American culture with notable exports like surfing and Hawaiian shirts. Most languages native to what is now U.S. territory have gone extinct,WEB, Preserving Native Languages: No Time to Waste,weblink 2023-03-15, www.acf.hhs.gov, en, and the economic and mainstream cultural dominance of the English language threatens the surviving ones in most places. Some of the most common native languages include Samoan, Hawaiian, Navajo, Cherokee, Sioux, and a spectrum of Inuit languages. (See Indigenous languages of the Americas for a fuller listing, plus Chamorro, and Carolinian in the Pacific territories.)WEB,weblink Most Commonly Spoken Native American/First Nations Languages, Native-languages.org, October 17, 2017, {{better source needed|date=May 2020}} Ethnic Samoans are a majority in American Samoa; Chamorro are still the largest ethnic group in Guam (though a minority), and along with Refaluwasch are smaller minorities in the Northern Mariana Islands.{{Citation needed|date=February 2024}}(File:Welcome to the land of freedom.png|thumb|250px|right|European immigrants arriving in New York)American culture includes both conservative and liberal elements, scientific and religious competitiveness, political structures, risk taking and free expression, materialist and moral elements. Despite certain consistent ideological principles (e.g. individualism, egalitarianism, and faith in freedom and republicanism), American culture has a variety of expressions due to its geographical scale and demographics.McDonald, James (2010) Interplay:Communication, Memory, and Media in the United States. Goettingen: Cuvillier, p. 120. {{ISBN|3-86955-322-7}}.As a melting pot of cultures and ethnicities, the U.S. has been shaped by the world's largest immigrant population. The country is home to a wide variety of ethnic groups, traditions, and values,BOOK, Adams, J.Q., Dealing with diversity : the anthology, Strother-Adams, Pearlie, 2001, Kendall/Hunt Pub, 978-0-7872-8145-8, Chicago, BOOK, Thompson, William E., Society in focus : an introduction to sociology, Hickey, Joseph V., 2004, Pearson/Allyn and Bacon, 978-0-205-41365-2, 5th, Boston, and exerts major cultural influence on a global scale, with the phenomenon being termed Americanization.BOOK,weblink The Americanization of the World, Horace Markley, Stead, W. T., 1901, 393, JOURNAL, Berghahn, Volker R., 2010-02-01, The debate on 'Americanization' among economic and cultural historians,weblink Cold War History, 10, 1, 107–130, 10.1080/14682740903388566, 144459911, 1468-2745,

Regional variations

File:Census Regions and Division of the United States.svg|thumb|left|Regions of the United States as defined by the United States Census BureauUnited States Census BureauSemi-distinct cultural regions of the United States include New England, the Mid-Atlantic, the South, the Midwest, the Southwest, and the West—an area that can be further subdivided into the Pacific States and the Mountain States.{{Citation needed|date=February 2024}}According to cultural geographer Colin Woodward there are as many as eleven cultural areas of the United States, which spring from their settlement history. In the east from North to South: there are Puritan areas ("Yankeedom") of New England which spread across the northern Great Lakes to the northern reaches of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers; the New Netherlands area in the densely populated New York Metropolitan Area; the Midland area which spread from Pennsylvania to the lower Great Lakes and the trans-Mississippi upper midwest; Greater Appalachia which angles from West Virginia through the lower midwest and upper-south to trans-Mississippi Arkansas, and southern Oklahoma; the Deep South from the Carolinas to Florida and west to Texas. In the west, there is the southwestern "El Norte" areas originally colonized by Spain, the "Left Coast" colonized quickly on the 19th century by a mix of Yankees and upper Appalachians, and the large but sparsely populated interior West.BOOK, Woodard, Colin, American Nations: a history of the eleven rival regional cultures of North America, 2012, Penguin books, 978-0-670-02296-0, A Penguin book History, New York, WEB, A Balkanized Federation,weblink 2023-12-27, Nationhood Lab, en-US, The west coast of the continental United States, consisting of California, Oregon, and Washington state, is also sometimes referred to as the Left Coast, indicating its left-leaning political orientation and tendency towards social liberalism.{{Citation needed|date=February 2024}}The South is sometimes informally called the "Bible Belt" due to socially conservative evangelical Protestantism, which is a significant part of the region's culture. Christian church attendance across all denominations is generally higher there than the national average. This region is usually contrasted with the mainline Protestantism and Catholicism of the Northeast, the religiously diverse Midwest and Great Lakes, the Mormon Corridor in Utah and southern Idaho, and the relatively secular West. The percentage of non-religious people is the highest in the northeastern and New England state of Vermont at 34%, compared to 6% in the Bible Belt state of Alabama.WEB, American Religious Identification Survey, gc.cuny.edu,weblink dead,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20110709082644weblink">weblink July 9, 2011, Strong cultural differences have a long history in the U.S., with the southern slave society in the antebellum period serving as a prime example. Social and economic tensions between the Northern and Southern states were so severe that they eventually caused the South to declare itself an independent nation, the Confederate States of America; thus initiating the American Civil War.BOOK, Hine, Darlene, William C., Hine, Stanley, Harrold, 2006, The African American Odyssey, Pearson, Boston, MA,

Cultures of regions in the United States

• Culture of New England
• Culture of the Southern United States
• Culture of the Midwest
• Culture of Western United States
• Appalachian Culture

Language

File: US flag reflexion on Vietnam Veterans Memorial 12 2011 000124.JPG|thumb|300px|Vietnam Veterans Memorial WallVietnam Veterans Memorial WallAlthough the United States has no official language at the federal level, 28 states have passed legislation making English the official language, and it is considered to be the de facto national language. According to the 2000 U.S. Census, more than 97% of Americans can speak English well, and for 81%, it is the only language spoken at home. The national dialect is known as American English, which itself consists of numerous regional dialects, but has some shared unifying features that distinguish it from British English and other varieties of English. There are four large dialect regions in the United States—the North, the Midland, the South, and the West—and several dialects more focused within metropolitan areas such as those of New York City, Philadelphia, and Boston. A standard dialect called "General American" (analogous in some respects to the received pronunciation elsewhere in the English-speaking world), lacking the distinctive noticeable features of any particular region, is believed by some to exist as well; it is sometimes regionally associated with the Midwest. American Sign Language, used mainly by the deaf, is also native to the United States.{{Citation needed|date=February 2024}}More than 300 languages nationwide, and up to 800 languages in New York City, besides English, have native speakers in the United States—some are spoken by indigenous peoples (about 150 living languages) and others imported by immigrants. English is not the first language of most immigrants in the US, though many do arrive knowing how to speak it, especially from countries where English is broadly used.Gambino, Christine P., Yesenia D. Acosta, and Elizabeth M. Grieco. 2018 August 3. "English-Speaking Ability of the Foreign-Born Population in the United States: 2012 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210125173821weblink|date=January 25, 2021}}" (revised). U.S. Census Bureau. This not only includes immigrants from countries such as Canada, Jamaica, and the UK, where English is the primary language, but also countries where English is an official language, such as India, Nigeria, and the Philippines.According to the 2000 census, there are nearly 30 million native speakers of Spanish in the United States. Spanish has official status in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, where it is the primary language spoken, and the state of New Mexico; various smaller Spanish enclaves exist around the country as well.WEB,weblink Selected Social Characteristics in the United States: 2007, United States Census Bureau, 2008-10-09,weblink" title="archive.today/20200211182404weblink">weblink February 11, 2020, dead, Bilingual speakers may use both English and Spanish reasonably well and may code-switch according to their dialog partner or context, a phenomenon known as Spanglish.{{Citation needed|date=February 2024}}Indigenous languages of the United States include the Native-American languages (including Navajo, Yupik, Dakota, and Apache), which are spoken on the country's numerous Indian reservations and at cultural events such as pow wows; Hawaiian, which has official status in the state of Hawaii; Chamorro, which has official status in the commonwealths of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands; Carolinian, which has official status in the commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands; and Samoan, which has official status in the commonwealth of American Samoa.{| class="wikitable"United States {{Webarchive>url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210321202516weblink |date=March 21, 2021}}." CIA World Factbook. 2020 December 17.!Language!Percentage of the total population|English only |78.2%|Spanish |13.4%|Chinese|1.1%|Other|7.3%

Customs and traditions

Cuisine

The cuisine of the United States is extremely diverse, owing to the vastness of the country, the relatively large population ({{frac|1|3}} of a billion people) and the number of native and immigrant influences. Mainstream American culinary arts are similar to those in other Western countries. Wheat and corn are the primary cereal grains.{{Citation needed|date=February 2024}} Traditional American cuisine uses ingredients such as turkey, potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn (maize), squash, and maple syrup, as well as indigenous foods employed by American Indians and early European settlers, African slaves, and their descendants.{{Citation needed|date=February 2024}}Iconic American dishes such as apple pie, donuts, fried chicken, pizza, hamburgers, and hot dogs derive from the recipes of various immigrants and domestic innovations.WEB, The CHOW Editorial Team, June 19, 2008, The Hamburger Through Time,weblink April 16, 2012, CBS INTERACTIVE INC., April 30, 2012,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20120430165224weblink">weblink dead, Glazed America: Anthropologist Examines Doughnut as Symbol of Consumer Culture {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090122195050weblink|date=January 22, 2009}} Newswise, Retrieved on July 22, 2008. French fries, Mexican dishes such as burritos and tacos, and pasta dishes freely adapted from Italian sources are consumed.WEB, Klapthor, James N., August 23, 2003, What, When, and Where Americans Eat in 2003,weblink dead,weblink" title="archive.today/20080418181548weblink">weblink April 18, 2008, 2007-06-19, Institute of Food Technologists, File:The First Thanksgiving cph.3g04961.jpg|thumb|left|The First Thanksgiving 1621, oil-on-canvas by Jean Leon Gerome FerrisJean Leon Gerome FerrisThe types of food served at home vary greatly and depend upon the region of the country and the family's own cultural heritage. Recent immigrants tend to eat food similar to that of their country of origin, and Americanized versions of these cultural foods, such as Chinese American cuisine or Italian American cuisine often eventually appear. Vietnamese cuisine, Korean cuisine, and Thai cuisine in authentic forms are often readily available in large cities. German cuisine has a profound impact on American cuisine, especially Midwestern cuisine; potatoes, noodles, roasts, stews, cakes, and other pastries are the most iconic ingredients in both cuisines.BOOK, Adams, J.Q., Pearlie, Strother-Adams, 2001, Dealing with Diversity, Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company, Chicago, IL, 978-0-7872-8145-8, Dishes such as the hamburger, pot roast, baked ham, and hot dogs are examples of American dishes derived from German cuisine.WEB, History of the hot dog,weblinkweblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20061018070129weblink">weblink October 18, 2006, 2006-11-13, WEB, History of the Hamburger,weblink dead,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20061121121752weblink">weblink November 21, 2006, 2006-11-13, File:Motherhood and apple pie.jpg|thumb|right|Apple pieApple pieDifferent regions of the United States have their own cuisine and styles of cooking. The states of Louisiana and Mississippi, for example, are known for their Cajun and Creole cooking. Cajun and Creole cooking are influenced by French, Acadian, and Haitian cooking, although the dishes themselves are original and unique. Examples include Crawfish Étouffée, Red beans and rice, seafood or chicken gumbo, jambalaya, and boudin. Italian, German, Hungarian, and Chinese influences, traditional Native American, Caribbean, Mexican, and Greek dishes have also diffused into the general American repertoire. It is not uncommon for a middle-class family from Middle America to eat, for example, restaurant pizza, home-made pizza, enchiladas con carne, chicken paprikash, beef stroganoff, and bratwurst with sauerkraut for dinner throughout a single week.{{Citation needed|date=February 2024}}Soul food, mostly the same as food eaten by white southerners, developed by southern African slaves, and their free descendants, is popular around the South and among many African Americans elsewhere. Syncretic cuisines such as Louisiana Creole, Cajun, Pennsylvania Dutch, and Tex-Mex are regionally important.Americans generally prefer coffee to tea, and more than half the adult population drinks at least one cup a day.WEB, May 2003, Coffee Today,weblink 2007-06-19, Coffee Country, PBS, Marketing by U.S. industries is largely responsible for making orange juice and milk (now often fat-reduced) ubiquitous breakfast beverages.Smith, Andrew F. (2004). The Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America. New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 131–32. {{ISBN|0-19-515437-1}}. Levenstein, Harvey (2003). Revolution at the Table: The Transformation of the American Diet. Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London: University of California Press, pp. 154–55. {{ISBN|0-520-23439-1}}. WEB, Pirovano, Tom, 2007, Health & Wellness Trends—The Speculation Is Over,weblinkweblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20070807134511weblink">weblink August 7, 2007, 2007-06-12, AC Nielsen, During the 1980s and 1990s, the caloric intake of Americans rose by 24%; and frequent dining at fast food outlets is associated with what health officials call the American "obesity epidemic." Highly sweetened soft drinks are popular; sugared beverages account for 9% of the average American's daily caloric intake.JOURNAL, Isganaitis, Elvira, Lustig, Robert H., 2005, Fast Food, Central Nervous System Insulin Resistance, and Obesity,weblink Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology, American Heart Association, 25, 12, 2451–2462, 10.1161/01.ATV.0000186208.06964.91, 16166564, 2007-06-09, free, WEB, Let's Eat Out: Americans Weigh Taste, Convenience, and Nutrition,weblink dead,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20150420143105weblink">weblink April 20, 2015, 2007-06-09, U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, The American fast food industry, the world's first and largest, is also often viewed as being a symbol of U.S. marketing dominance. Companies such as McDonald's,Karen DeBres, "A Cultural Geography of McDonald's UK," Journal of Cultural Geography, 2005 Burger King, Pizza Hut, Kentucky Fried Chicken, and Domino's Pizza among others, have numerous outlets around the world,NEWS, Why McDonald's in France Doesn't Feel Like Fast Food,weblink Breadsley, Eleanor, NPR, January 24, 2012, January 15, 2015, and pioneered the drive-through format in the 1940s.WEB, When Was the First Drive-Thru Restaurant Created?,weblink Wisegeek.org, January 15, 2015, File:Thanksgiving Dinner Alc2.jpg|Traditional Thanksgiving dinner with turkey, dressing, sweet potatoes, and cranberry sauceFile:Quail 07 bg 041506.jpg|A cream-based New England chowder, traditionally made with clams and potatoesFile:Fried Chicken (Unsplash).jpg|Fried chicken, a southern dish consisting of chicken pieces that have been coated with seasoned flour or batter and deep friedFile:Jambalaya.jpg|Creole Jambalaya with shrimp, ham, tomato, and Andouille sausageFile:Flickr wordridden 3397801155--Chicken fried steak.jpg|Chicken-fried steak (or Country Fried Steak)File:Hoagie Hero Sub Sandwich.jpg|A submarine sandwich, which includes a variety of Italian luncheon meatsFile:Dennysbreakfast.jpg|American style breakfast with pancakes, maple syrup, sausage links, bacon strips, and fried eggsFile:Flint coney island.jpg|A hot dog sausage topped with beef chili, white onions and mustardFile:BBQ Pulled Pork.jpg|A barbecue pulled-pork sandwich with a side of coleslawFile:Apple cobbler.jpg|An apple cobbler dessert

Sports

In the 1800s, colleges were encouraged to focus on intramural sports, particularly track and field, and, in the late 1800s, American football. Physical education was incorporated into primary school curriculums in the 20th century.WEB, Brief History of Physical Education,weblink May 31, 2015, Excite.com, March 16, 2019,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20190316101041weblink">weblink dead, File:Typical baseball game.JPG|thumb|upright=0.9|A typical Baseball diamondBaseball diamondBaseball is the oldest of the major American team sports. Professional baseball dates from 1869 and had no close rivals in popularity until the 1960s. Though baseball is no longer the most popular sport,WEB, Poll: Adults who follow at least one sport,weblink dead,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20111029030847weblink">weblink October 29, 2011, November 5, 2011, Harris Interactive, it is still referred to as "the national pastime." Also unlike the professional levels of the other popular spectator sports in the U.S., Major League Baseball teams play almost every day. The Major League Baseball regular season consists of each of the 30 teams playing 162 games from late March to early October. The season ends with the postseason and World Series in October. Unlike most other major sports in the country, professional baseball draws most of its players from a "minor league" system, rather than from university athletics.File:2007 Texas Longhorns football team entry.jpg|thumb|upright=0.9|The opening of College football season is a major part of American pastime. Massive marching bands, cheerleaders, and colorguard are common at American footballAmerican footballAmerican football, known in the United States as simply "football", now attracts more television viewers than any other sport and is considered to be the most popular sport in the United States.WEB, Krane, David K., October 30, 2002, Professional Football Widens Its Lead Over Baseball as Nation's Favorite Sport,weblink dead,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090104143529weblink">weblink January 4, 2009, September 14, 2007, Harris Interactive, Maccambridge, Michael (2004). America's Game: The Epic Story of How Pro Football Captured a Nation. New York: Random House. {{ISBN|0-375-50454-0}}. The 32-team National Football League (NFL) is the most popular professional American football league.The National Football League differs from the other three major pro sports leagues in that each of its 32 teams plays one game a week over 18 weeks, for a total of 17 games with one bye week for each team. The NFL season lasts from September to December, ending with the playoffs and Super Bowl in January and February.Its championship game, the Super Bowl, has often been the highest rated television show, and it has an audience of over 100 million viewers annually.{{citation needed|date=November 2011}}College football also attracts audiences of millions. Some communities, particularly in rural areas, place great emphasis on their local high school football team. American football games usually include cheerleaders and marching bands, which aim to raise school spirit and entertain the crowd at halftime.Basketball is another major sport, represented professionally by the National Basketball Association. It was invented in Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1891, by Canadian-born physical education teacher James Naismith. College basketball is also popular, due in large part to the NCAA men's Division I basketball tournament in March, colloquially known as "March Madness".Ice hockey is the fourth-leading professional team sport. Always a mainstay of Great Lakes and New England-area culture, the sport gained tenuous footholds in regions like the American South since the early 1990s, as the National Hockey League pursued a policy of expansion.WEB, May 19, 2011, Raw Numbers: The NHL's Impact on the South,weblink 2012-06-05, The United States of Hockey, Lacrosse is a team sport of American and Canadian Native American origin and is most popular on the East Coast. NLL and MLL are the national box and outdoor lacrosse leagues. Many of the top Division I college lacrosse teams draw upwards of 7–10,000 for a game, especially in the Mid-Atlantic and New England areas.Soccer is very popular as a participation sport, particularly among youth, and the US national teams are competitive internationally. A twenty-six-team (with four more confirmed to be added within the next few years) professional league, Major League Soccer, plays from March to October, but its television audience and overall popularity lag behind other American professional sports.NEWS, Soccer will never be America's sport, USA Today,weblink Other popular sports are tennis, softball, rodeo, swimming, water polo, fencing, shooting sports, hunting, volleyball, skiing, snowboarding, skateboarding, ultimate, disc golf, cycling, MMA, roller derby, wrestling, weightlifting, and rugby.Relative to other parts of the world, the United States is unusually competitive in women's sports, a fact usually attributed to the Title IX anti-discrimination law, which requires most American colleges to give equal funding to men's and women's sports.NEWS, August 12, 2012, Amid 40th anniversary of Title IX, women set a new standard in London, CNN,weblink Despite that, however, women's sports are not nearly as popular among spectators as men's sports.The United States enjoys a great deal of success both in the Summer Olympics and Winter Olympics, constantly finishing among the top medal winners.

Sports and community culture

Homecoming is an annual tradition in the United States. People, towns, high schools and colleges come together, usually in late September or early October, to welcome back former residents and alumni. It is built around a central event, such as a banquet, a parade, and most often, a game of American football, or, on occasion, basketball, wrestling or ice hockey. When celebrated by schools, the activities vary. However, they usually consist of a football game, played on the school's home football field, activities for students and alumni, a parade featuring the school's marching band and sports teams, and the coronation of a Homecoming Queen.American high schools commonly field football, basketball, baseball, softball, volleyball, soccer, golf, swimming, track and field, and cross-country teams as well.{{Clear}}

Public holidays

{{Unreferenced section|date=February 2024}}File:New Year Ball Drop Event for 2012 at Times Square.jpg|thumb|New York City's Times Square is the most famous location for New Year's celebrations in the US with the iconic ball drop.]]File:Fourth of July fireworks behind the Washington Monument, 1986.jpg|thumb|upright|Fireworks light up the sky over the Washington Monument during Independence Day.]]File:John F. Kennedy, turkey pardon.jpg|thumb|upright|John F. Kennedy unofficially spares a turkey on November 19, 1963. The practice of "pardoning" turkeys in this manner became a permanent tradition in 1989.]]The United States observes holidays derived from events in American history, Christian traditions, and national patriarchs.Thanksgiving is the principal traditionally-American holiday, evolving from the English Pilgrim's custom of giving thanks for one's welfare. Thanksgiving is generally celebrated as a family reunion with a large afternoon feast. Independence Day (or the Fourth of July) celebrates the anniversary of the country's Declaration of Independence from Great Britain, and is generally observed by parades throughout the day and the shooting of fireworks at night.Christmas Day, celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ, is widely celebrated and a federal holiday, though a fair amount of its current cultural importance is due to secular reasons. European colonization has led to some other Christian holidays such as Easter and St. Patrick's Day to be observed, though with varying degrees of religious fidelity.Halloween is thought to have evolved from the ancient Celtic/Gaelic festival of Samhain, which was introduced in the American colonies by Irish settlers. It has become a holiday that is celebrated by children and teens who traditionally dress up in costumes and go door to door trick-or-treating for candy. It also brings about an emphasis on eerie and frightening urban legends and movies. Mardi Gras, which evolved from the Catholic tradition of Carnival, is observed in the state of Louisiana.{| class="wikitable"Federal Holidays Calendars {{Webarchive>url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100212115823weblink|date=February 12, 2010}} from the federal Office of Personnel Management. style="background:#efefef;"! Date!!Official name!!Remarks

	New Year's Day	Celebrates beginning of the Gregorian calendar year. Festivities include counting down to midnight (12:00 am) on a preceding night, New Year's Eve. The traditional end of the holiday season.

	Martin Luther King Jr. Day>|Honors Martin Luther King Jr., Civil Rights leader, who was actually born on January 15, 1929; combined with other holidays in several states.

	Washington's Birthday>	Uniform Monday Holiday Act>The Uniform Holidays Act, 1968, shifted the date of the commemoration of Washington's Birthday from February 22 to the third Monday in February. Though its formal name was never changed, many call it "Presidents' Day (United States)	" and consider it a day honoring all American presidents.5 USC § 6103 – HOLIDAYS | LII / LEGAL INFORMATION INSTITUTE	ACCESS-DATE=2012-06-03, Law.cornell.edu,

	Memorial Day>|Honors the nation's war dead from the Civil War onwards; marks the unofficial beginning of the summer season. (Previously May 30, shifted by the Uniform Holidays Act.)

|June 19|Juneteenth

	URL=HTTPS://WWW.NHPR.ORG/NH-NEWS/2021-06-24/ASK-CIVICS-101-WHY-IS-THE-HOLIDAY-CALLED-JUNETEENTH-AND-WHAT-IS-THE-SIGNIFICANCE	WEBSITE=NEW HAMPSHIRE PUBLIC RADIO, en,

	Independence Day (US)>Independence Day	Celebrates Declaration of Independence, also called the Fourth of July.

	Labor Day>	Labour movement>labor movement; marks the unofficial end of the summer season.

	Columbus Day>	Christopher Columbus, traditional discoverer of the Americas. In some areas it is also a celebration of Italian culture and heritage. It is celebrated as Columbus Day>American Indian Heritage Day and Fraternal Day in Alabama;SECTION 1-3-8 >URL=HTTP://WWW.LEGISLATURE.STATE.AL.US/CODEOFALABAMA/1975/1-3-8.HTM	ARCHIVE-URL=HTTPS://WEB.ARCHIVE.ORG/WEB/20130727132205/HTTP://WWW.LEGISLATURE.STATE.AL.US/CODEOFALABAMA/1975/1-3-8.HTM	ACCESS-DATE=OCTOBER 17, 2017	Native American Day in South Dakota.HOLIDAYS OBSERVED	ARCHIVE-URL=HTTPS://WEB.ARCHIVE.ORG/WEB/20070814094705/HTTP://WWW.STATE.SD.US/PUC/MISC/HOLIDAYS.HTM	PUBLISHER=SOUTH DAKOTA PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION, In Hawaii, it is celebrated as Discoverer's Day, though is not an official state holiday.OCTOBER 8, 2007 >TITLE=STATE AGENCIES REMAIN OPEN FOR DISCOVERERS DAY	ACCESS-DATE=2012-06-03, The Honolulu Advertiser,

	Veterans Day>	United States armed forces. A traditional observation is a moment of silence at 11:00 am remembering those killed in WWI. (Commemorates the Armistice with Germany (Compiègne)>1918 armistice, which began at "the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month.")

	Thanksgiving (United States)>Thanksgiving Day	Traditionally celebrates the giving of thanks for the autumn harvest. Traditionally includes the consumption of a turkey dinner, and starts the holiday season.

	Christmas>|Celebrates the Nativity of Jesus.

Names

The United States has few laws governing given names. Traditionally, the right to name your child or yourself as you choose has been upheld by court rulings and is rooted in the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment. This freedom, along with the cultural diversity within the United States has given rise to a wide variety of names and naming trends.Creativity has also long been a part of American naming traditions and names have been used to express personality, cultural identity, and values.JOURNAL, Larson, Carlton F.W., November 2011, Naming Baby: The Constitutional Dimensions of Naming Rights,weblink George Washington Law Review, 80, 1, BOOK, Wattenberg, Laura,weblink The Baby Name Wizard, Revised 3rd Edition: A Magical Method for Finding the Perfect Name for Your Baby, May 7, 2013, Harmony, 978-0770436476, registration, Naming trends vary by race, geographic area, and socioeconomic status. African Americans, for instance, have developed a very distinct naming culture. Both religious names and those inspired by popular culture are common.BOOK, Rosenkrantz, Linda, Beyond Jennifer & Jason, Madison & Montana: What to Name Your Baby Now, August 29, 2006, St. Martin's Press, A few restrictions do exist, varying by state, mostly for the sake of practicality (e.g., limiting the number of characters due to limitations in record-keeping software).

Fashion and dress

File:Reagan_with_horse.jpg|thumb|150px|Ronald Reagan wearing stonewash denim associated with Western clothingWestern clothingFashion in the United States is eclectic and predominantly informal. While the diverse cultural roots of Americans are reflected in their clothing, particularly those of recent immigrants, cowboy hats and boots, and leather motorcycle jackets are emblematic of specifically-American styles.{{Citation needed|date=February 2024}}Blue jeans were popularized as work clothes in the 1850s by merchant Levi Strauss, a German-Jewish immigrant in San Francisco, and adopted by many American teenagers a century later. They are worn in every state by people of all ages and social classes. Along with mass-marketed informal wear in general, blue jeans are arguably one of US culture's primary contributions to global fashion.Davis Fred (1992). Fashion, Culture, and IdentityThough the informal dress is more common, certain professionals, such as bankers and lawyers, traditionally dress formally for work, and some occasions, such as weddings, funerals, dances, and some parties, typically call for formal wear.{{Citation needed|date=February 2024}}Some cities and regions have specialties in certain areas. For example, Miami for swimwear, Boston and the general New England area for formal menswear, Los Angeles for casual attire and womenswear, and cities like Seattle and Portland for eco-conscious fashion. Chicago is known for its sportswear, and is the premier fashion destination in the middle American market. Dallas, Houston, Austin, Nashville, and Atlanta are big markets for the fast fashion and cosmetics industries, alongside having their own distinct fashion sense that mainly incorporates cowboy boots and workwear, greater usage of makeup, lighter colors and pastels, "college prep" style, sandals, bigger hairstyles, and thinner, airier fabrics due to the heat and humidity of the region.

The nuclear family and family structure

Family arrangements in the United States reflect the nature of contemporary American society. The classic nuclear family is a man and a woman, united in marriage, with one or more biological children.WEB, The nuclear family is still indispensable,weblink 2023-03-12, American Enterprise Institute – AEI, en-US, Today, a person may grow up in a single-parent family, go on to marry and live in a childfree couple arrangement, then get divorced, live as a single for a couple of years, remarry, have children and live in a nuclear family arrangement.BOOK, Williams, Brian, Marriages, Families & Intimate Relationships, Stacey C., Sawyer, Carl M., Wahlstrom, Pearson, 2005, 978-0-205-36674-3, Boston, MA, {| class="wikitable"! rowspan="3" |Year! colspan="4" |Families (69.7%)! colspan="3" |Non-families (31.2%)! colspan="2" |Married couples (52.5%)! rowspan="2" |Single parents! rowspan="2" |Other blood relatives! colspan="2" |Singles (25.5%)! rowspan="2" |Other non-family!Nuclear family!Without children!Male!Female

						|5.7%

						|1.7%

Youth dependence

Exceptions to the custom of leaving home when one reaches legal adulthood at age eighteen can occur especially among Italian and Hispanic Americans, and in expensive urban real estate markets such as New York City,New York apartments pricing and New York NY apartment reviews {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101221112120weblink|date=December 21, 2010}} Apartment Ratings California,San Francisco apartments pricing and San Francisco CA apartment reviews {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110707151814weblink|date=July 7, 2011}} Apartment Ratings and Honolulu,WEB, Honolulu apartments pricing and Honolulu HI apartment reviews,weblink 2012-06-03, Apartmentratings.com, where monthly rents commonly exceed $1,000 a month.

Marriage and divorce

{{See also|Cohabitation in the United States}}File:Marilyn Monroe and Jerry Giesler 3.jpg|thumb|upright|Marilyn Monroe signing divorce papers with celebrity attorney Jerry GieslerJerry GieslerMarriage laws are established by individual states. The typical wedding involves a couple proclaiming their commitment to one another in front of their close relatives and friends, often presided over by a religious figure such as a minister, priest, or rabbi, depending upon the faith of the couple. In traditional Christian ceremonies, the bride's father will "give away" (handoff) the bride to the groom. Secular weddings are also common, often presided over by a judge, Justice of the Peace, or other municipal officials. Same-sex marriage is legal in all states since June 26, 2015.{{Citation needed|date=February 2024}}Divorce is the province of state governments, so divorce law varies from state to state. Prior to the 1970s, divorcing spouses had to allege that the other spouse was guilty of a crime or sin like abandonment or adultery; when spouses simply could not get along, lawyers were forced to manufacture "uncontested" divorces. The no-fault divorce revolution began in 1969 in California; New York and South Dakota were the last states to begin allowing no-fault divorce. No-fault divorce on the grounds of "irreconcilable differences" is now available in all states. However, many states have recently required separation periods prior to a formal divorce decree.State law provides for child support where children are involved, and sometimes for alimony. "Married adults now divorce two-and-a-half times as often as adults did 20 years ago and four times as often as they did 50 years ago... between 40% and 60% of new marriages will eventually end in divorce. The probability within... the first five years is 20%, and the probability of its ending within the first 10 years is 33%... Perhaps 25% of children (ages 16 and under) live with a stepparent."Brian K. Williams, Stacy C. Sawyer, Carl M. Wahlstrom, Marriages, Families & Intimate Relationships, 2005 The median length for a marriage in the U.S. today is 11 years with 90% of all divorces being settled out of court.{{Citation needed|date=February 2024}}

Housing

{{See also|Suburbanization|The American Dream|White flight}}File:831Richland.jpg|thumb|The American FoursquareAmerican FoursquareHistorically, Americans mainly lived in a rural environment, with a few important cities of moderate size. The Industrial Revolution brought a period of urbanization accelerated by the GI Bill that incentivized soldiers returning from WWII to purchase a house in the suburbs.American cities with housing prices near the national median have also been losing the middle income neighborhoods, those with median income between 80% and 120% of the metropolitan area's median household income. Here, the more affluent members of the middle-class, who are also often referred to as being professional or upper-middle-class, have left in search of larger homes in more exclusive suburbs. This trend is largely attributed to the middle-class squeeze, which has caused a starker distinction between the statistical middle class and the more privileged members of the middle class.NEWS, Harden, Blaine, June 22, 2006, Washington Post, America is losing its middle-income neighborhoods, The Washington Post,weblink 2006-07-25, In more expensive areas such as California, however, another trend has been taking place where an influx of more affluent middle-class households has displaced those in the actual middle of society and converted former American middle-middle-class neighborhoods into upper-middle-class neighborhoods.NEWS, Harden, Blaine, June 22, 2006, Washington Post, America is losing its middle income neighborhoods., The Washington Post,weblink 2006-07-25,

Volunteerism

Alexis de Tocqueville first noted, in 1835, the American attitude towards helping others in need. A 2011 Charities Aid Foundation study found that Americans were the first most willing to help a stranger and donate time and money in the world at 60%. Many low-level crimes are punished by assigning hours of "community service", a requirement that the offender perform volunteer work;NEWS, Crary, David, September 9, 2010, Study finds Americans in generous mood, 1A, Burlington Free Press, Burlington, Vermont,weblink some high schools also require community service to graduate. Since US citizens are required to attend jury duty, they can be jurors in legal proceedings.

Drugs and alcohol

{{Further|History of United States drug prohibition}}{{More citations needed section|date=October 2012}}(File:5 Prohibition Disposal(9) (cropped).jpg|thumb|Removal of liquor during Prohibition)American attitudes towards drugs and alcoholic beverages have evolved considerably throughout the country's history. In the 19th century, alcohol was readily available and consumed, and no laws restricted the use of other drugs. Attitudes on drug addiction started to change, resulting in the Harrison Act, which eventually became proscriptive.A movement to ban alcoholic beverages called the Temperance movement, emerged in the late 19th century. Several American Protestant religious groups and women's groups, such as the Women's Christian Temperance Union, supported the movement. In 1919, Prohibitionists succeeded in amending the Constitution to prohibit the sale of alcohol. Although the Prohibition period did result in a 50% decrease in alcohol consumption,WEB, April 28, 2021, US drinking more now than just before Prohibition,weblink Associated Press, banning alcohol outright proved to be unworkable, as the previously legitimate distillery industry was replaced by criminal gangs that trafficked in alcohol. Prohibition was repealed in 1933. States and localities retained the right to remain "dry", and to this day, a handful still do.During the Vietnam War era, attitudes swung well away from prohibition.{{clarify|date=August 2023}} Commentators noted that an 18-year-old could be drafted to war but could not buy a beer.{{citation needed|date=August 2023}}Since 1980, the trend has been toward greater restrictions on alcohol and drug use. The focus this time, however, has been to criminalize behaviors associated with alcohol, rather than attempt to prohibit consumption outright. New York was the first state to enact tough drunk-driving laws in 1980; since then all other states have followed suit. All states have also banned the purchase of alcoholic beverages by individuals under 21.A "Just Say No to Drugs" movement replaced the more liberal ethos of the 1960s. This led to stricter drug laws and greater police latitude in drug cases. Drugs are, however, widely available, and 16% of Americans 12 and older used an illicit drug in 2012.WEB, National Survey of Drug Use and Health,weblink November 24, 2013, Since the 1990s, marijuana use has become increasingly tolerated in America, and a number of states allow the use of marijuana for medical purposes. In most states marijuana is still illegal without a medical prescription. Since the 2012 general election, voters in the District of Columbia and the states of Alaska, California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington approved the legalization of marijuana for recreational use. Marijuana is illegal under federal law.

Death and funerals

{{Off topic|date=January 2013}}File:Tomb of the Unknowns crack.jpg|thumb|The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier located in Arlington National Cemetery in VirginiaVirginiaIt is customary for Americans to hold a wake in a funeral home within a couple of days of the death of a loved one. The body of the deceased may be embalmed and dressed in fine clothing if there will be an open-casket viewing. Traditional Jewish and Muslim practices include a ritual bath and no embalming. Friends, relatives and acquaintances gather, often from distant parts of the country, to "pay their last respects" to the deceased. Flowers are brought to the coffin and sometimes eulogies, elegies, personal anecdotes or group prayers are recited. Otherwise, the attendees sit, stand or kneel in quiet contemplation or prayer. Kissing the corpse on the forehead is typical among Italian AmericansWEB, The Italian Way of Death,weblinkweblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090503064519weblink">weblink May 3, 2009, 2009-10-08, Salon.com, and others. Condolences are also offered to the widow or widower and other close relatives.A funeral may be held immediately afterward or the next day. The funeral ceremony varies according to religion and culture. American Catholics typically hold a funeral mass in a church, which sometimes takes the form of a Requiem mass. Jewish Americans may hold a service in a synagogue or temple. Pallbearers carry the coffin of the deceased to the hearse, which then proceeds in a procession to the place of final repose, usually a cemetery. The unique Jazz funeral of New Orleans features joyous and raucous music and dancing during the procession.Mount Auburn Cemetery (founded in 1831) is known as "America's first garden cemetery."BOOK, Bunting, Bainbridge, Old Cambridge, Robert H., Nylander, Cambridge Historical Commission, 1973, 978-0-262-53014-9, Cambridge, Mass., 69, American cemeteries created since are distinctive for their park-like setting. Rows of graves are covered by lawns and are interspersed with trees and flowers. Headstones, mausoleums, statuary or simple plaques typically mark off the individual graves. Cremation is another common practice in the United States, though it is frowned upon by various religions. The ashes of the deceased are usually placed in an urn, which may be kept in a private house, or they are interred. Sometimes the ashes are released into the atmosphere. The "sprinkling" or "scattering" of the ashes may be part of an informal ceremony, often taking place at a scenic natural feature (a cliff, lake or mountain) that was favored by the deceased.

Arts

Architecture

File:EmpireStateNewYokCity.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|alt=|The current One World Trade Center (seen in the distance under construction) surpassed the Empire State BuildingEmpire State BuildingArchitecture in the United States is regionally diverse and has been shaped by many external forces. U.S. architecture can therefore be said to be eclectic.Dell Upton. 1998. Architecture in the United States. pp. 11 ff. {{ISBN|0-19-284217-X}} Traditionally American architecture has influences from English architectureWEB, Explore by Timeline: Colonial America and the Revolution (1565–1783),weblink 2021-10-18, www.gsa.gov, en-us, to Greco Roman architecture.WEB, Greek and Roman Influences on Washington, D.C. Architecture,weblink 2021-10-18, www.milrose.com, en, The overriding theme of city American Architecture is modernity, as manifest in the skyscrapers of the 20th century, with domestic and residential architecture greatly varying according to local tastes and climate, rural American and suburban architecture tends to be more traditional.

Visual arts

{{Unsourced section|date=February 2024}}File:Nighthawks by Edward Hopper 1942.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Edward Hopper's 1942 Nighthawks, an example of American RealismAmerican RealismIn the late-18th and early-19th centuries, American artists primarily painted landscapes and portraits in a realistic style or that which looked to Europe for answers on technique: for example, John Singleton Copley was born in Boston, but most of his portraiture for which he is famous follow the trends of British painters like Thomas Gainsborough and the transitional period between Rococo and Neoclassicism. The later 18th century was a time when the United States was just an infant as a nation and as far away from the phenomenon where artists would receive training as craftsmen by apprenticeship and later seeking a fortune as a professional, ideally getting a patron: Many artists benefited from the patronage of Grand Tourists eager to procure mementos of their travels. There were no temples of Rome or grand nobility to be found in the Thirteen Colonies. Later developments of the 19th century brought America one of its earliest native homegrown movements, like the Hudson River School and portrait artists with a uniquely American flavor like Winslow Homer.File:Georgia O'Keeffe Red Canna 1919 HMA.jpg|thumb|From Georgia O'Keeffe's series of Red Canna paintings, 1919—an example of abstract modernism ]]A parallel development taking shape in rural America was the American craft movement, which began as a reaction to the Industrial Revolution. As the nation grew wealthier, it had patrons able to buy the works of European painters and attract foreign talent willing to teach methods and techniques from Europe to willing students as well as artists themselves; photography became a very popular medium for both journalism and in time as a medium in its own right with America having plenty of open spaces of natural beauty and growing cities in the East teeming with new arrivals and new buildings. Museums in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C. began to have a booming business in acquisitions, competing for works as diverse as the then more recent work of the Impressionists to pieces from ancient Egypt, all of which captured the public imaginations and further influenced fashion and architecture. Developments in modern art in Europe came to America from exhibitions in New York City such as the Armory Show in 1913. After World War II, New York emerged as a center of the art world. Painting in the United States today covers a vast range of styles. American painting includes works by Jackson Pollock, John Singer Sargent, Georgia O'Keeffe, and Norman Rockwell, among many others.

Literature

Theater and performing arts

{{Unreferenced section|date=December 2020}}File:Lin-Manuel Miranda in Hamilton.jpg|thumb|Lin-Manuel Miranda as Alexander Hamilton in his musical Hamilton]]Theater of the United States is based in the Western tradition. The United States originated stand-up comedy and modern improvisational theatre, which involves taking suggestions from the audience.

Minstrel show

The minstrel show, though now widely recognized as racist and offensive, is also recognized as the first uniquely American theatrical art form. Minstrel shows were developed in the 19th century and they were typically performed by white actors wearing blackface makeup for the purpose of imitating and caricaturing the speech and music of African Americans. Stephen Foster was a famous composer for minstrel shows. Many of his songs such as "Camptown Races", "Oh Susanna", and "My Old Kentucky Home" became popular American folk songs. Tap dancing and stand-up comedy have origins in minstrel shows.minstrel show Retrieved 6 June 2023Banjos, originally hand-made by slaves for entertainment on plantations, began to be mass-produced in the United States in the 1840s as a result of their extensive use on the minstrel stage.WEB, balladofamerica.org, Banjo: A Brief History, Matthew, Sabatella,weblink 1 May 2023, William Boucher, Jr., the earliest known commercial manufacturer, started building banjos around 1845 from his shop in Baltimore, Maryland.,

Drama

American theater did not take on a unique dramatic identity until the emergence of Eugene O'Neill in the early 20th century, now considered by many to be the father of American drama.{{Citation needed|date=May 2023}} O'Neill is a four-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize for drama and the only American playwright to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. After O'Neill, American drama came of age and flourished with the likes of Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams, Lillian Hellman, William Inge, and Clifford Odets during the first half of the 20th century. After this fertile period, American theater broke new ground, artistically, with the absurdist forms of Edward Albee in the 1960s.File:Lincoln Center Overview (48047495362).jpg|thumb|Lincoln Center, on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, hosts the David H. Koch Theater (left), the Metropolitan Opera House (center), and David Geffen Hall (right), surrounding the Revson FountainRevson FountainSocial commentary has also been a preoccupation of American theater, often addressing issues not discussed in the mainstream. Writers such as Lorraine Hansbury, August Wilson, David Mamet and Tony Kushner have all won Pulitzer Prizes for their polemical plays on American society.theatre-art Retrieved 6 June 2023

Musical theater

The United States is also the home and largest exporter of modern musical theater, producing such musical talents as Rodgers and Hammerstein, Lerner and Loewe, Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, Leonard Bernstein, George and Ira Gershwin, Kander and Ebb, and Stephen Sondheim. Broadway is one of the largest theater communities in the world and is the epicenter of American commercial theater.

Music

{{See also|Category:American singers|List of American composers}}{{Multiple image|200px| perrow = 2| image1 = Elvis_Presley_1970.jpg| image2 = Michael Jackson in 1988.jpg| image3 = Whitney Houston (cropped3).JPEG| image4 = Madonna Rebel Heart Tour 2015 - Stockholm (23051472299) (cropped).jpg| align = right| footer = American music artists such as Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, and Madonna have been considered global celebrities.| total_width = 200}}American music styles and influences (such as country, jazz, blues, rock, pop, techno, soul, and hip hop) and music based on them can be heard all over the world. Music in the U.S. is very diverse, and the country has the world's largest music market with a total retail value of $4.9 billion in 2014.WEB,weblink RIAJ Yearbook 2015: IFPI 2013, 2014 Report: 28. Global Sales of Recorded Music (Page 24), Recording Industry Association of Japan, 2016-03-20, The rhythmic and lyrical styles of African-American music have significantly influenced American music at large, distinguishing it from European and African traditions. The Smithsonian Institution states, "African-American influences are so fundamental to American music that there would be no American music without them."WEB, Musical Crossroads: African American Influence on American Music,weblink Smithsonian, 22 September 2016, April 14, 2023, Country music developed in the 1920s, and rhythm and blues in the 1940s. Elements from folk idioms such as the blues and what is known as old-time music were adopted and transformed into popular genres with global audiences. Jazz was developed by innovators such as Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington early in the 20th century.BOOK, Biddle, Julian, What Was Hot!: Five Decades of Pop Culture in America, 2001, Citadel, New York, 978-0-8065-2311-8, ix,weblink Known for singing in a wide variety of genres, Aretha Franklin is considered one of the all-time greatest American singers.WEB, Why Aretha was the greatest singer in US history,weblink BBC, April 14, 2023, Elvis Presley and Chuck Berry were among the pioneers of rock and roll in the mid-1950s. Rock bands such as Metallica, the Eagles, and Aerosmith are among the highest grossing in worldwide sales.WEB, Hartman, Graham, Metallica's 'Black album' is Top-Selling Disc of last 20 years,weblink Loudwire, October 12, 2015, January 5, 2012, NEWS, Vorel, Jim, Eagles tribute band landing at Kirkland,weblink October 12, 2015, Herald & Review, September 27, 2012, NEWS, Aerosmith will rock Salinas with July concert,weblink October 12, 2015, February 2, 2015, In the 1960s, Bob Dylan emerged from the folk revival to become one of America's most celebrated songwriters.MAGAZINE, April 10, 2020, No. 1 Bob Dylan,weblink Rolling Stone, January 29, 2021, Mid-20th-century American pop stars such as Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra,WEB, December 8, 2015, 10 ways that Frank Sinatra changed the world,weblink June 24, 2021, USA Today, and Elvis Presley became global celebrities, as have artists of the late 20th century such as Prince, Michael Jackson, Madonna, Whitney Houston, and Mariah Carey.WEB, February 13, 2012, Whitney Houston's Global Impact,weblink June 24, 2021, CNN, WEB, How Prince and his music challenged the music industry,weblink June 25, 2016, Global News, American professional opera singers have reached the highest level of success in that form, including Renée Fleming, Leontyne Price, Beverly Sills, Nelson Eddy, and many others.American popular music, as part of the wider U.S. pop culture, has a worldwide influence and following.BOOK, Ewen, David, Panorama of American Popular Music,weblink registration, Prentice Hall, 1957, 0-13-648360-7, pg. 3 Of all the contributions made by Americans to world culture—automation and the assembly line, advertising, innumerable devices and gadgets, skyscrapers, supersalesmen, baseball, ketchup, mustard and hot dogs and hamburrgers—one, undeniably native has been taken to heart by the entire world. It is American popular music. {{As of|2022}}, Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus, Ariana Grande, Eminem, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, and many others contemporary artists dominate global streaming rankings.WEB,weblink Spotify Launches Wrapped 2022: Bad Bunny, Taylor Swift Are Most-Streamed Artists of the Year, Spangler, Todd, November 30, 2022, Variety (magazine), Variety,weblink November 30, 2022, live, November 30, 2022, The annual Coachella music festival in California is one of the largest, most famous, and most profitable music festivals in the United States and the world.WEB,weblink Goldenvoice releases Coachella set times, adds to the lineup, Los Angeles Times, Todd, Martens, April 8, 2014, April 9, 2014, April 10, 2014,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20140410071815weblink">weblink live, NEWS,weblink 7 Top Music Festivals Around The World – Tripoetic Blog, January 31, 2017, Tripoetic Blog, February 23, 2017, February 23, 2017,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20170223212916weblink">weblink live,

Cinema

File:Hollywood_Sign_(Zuschnitt).jpg|thumb|200px|The iconic Hollywood SignHollywood SignThe United States movie industry has a worldwide influence and following. Hollywood, a northern district of Los Angeles, California, is the leader in motion picture production and the most recognizable movie industry in the world.BOOK, Annual Report of the Controller of the City of Los Angeles, California,weblink ByOffice controller, Office of Controller Los Angeles, CA (1914), February 22, 2014, 1914, BOOK, Report of the Auditor of the City of Los Angeles California of the Financial Affairs of the Corporation in Its Capacity as a City for the Fiscal Year,weblink By State auditor, Auditor's Office of Los Angeles, CA (1913), February 22, 2014, 1913, PRESS RELEASE,weblink Nigeria surpasses Hollywood as world's second-largest film producer, United Nations, May 5, 2009, February 17, 2013, The major film studios of the United States are the primary source of the most commercially successful and most ticket selling movies in the world.BOOK, Kerrigan, Finola, Film Marketing, 2010, Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford, 9780750686839, 18,weblink 4 February 2022, BOOK, Davis, Glyn, Dickinson, Kay, Patti, Lisa, Villarejo, Amy, Film Studies: A Global Introduction, 2015, Routledge, Abingdon, 9781317623380, 299,weblink 24 August 2020, The dominant style of American cinema is classical Hollywood cinema, which developed from 1913 to 1969 and is still typical of most films made there to this day. While Frenchmen Auguste and Louis Lumière are generally credited with the birth of modern cinema,WEB, The Lumière Brothers, Pioneers of Cinema, 23 August 2018,weblink History Channel, June 9, 2022, American cinema soon came to be a dominant force in the emerging industry. The world's first sync-sound musical film, The Jazz Singer, was released in 1927,MAGAZINE,weblink Why Contemporary Commentators Missed the Point With 'The Jazz Singer', Time (magazine), Time, and was at the forefront of sound-film development in the following decades. Orson Welles's Citizen Kane (1941) is frequently cited in critics' polls as the greatest film of all time.Village Voice: 100 Best Films of the 20th century (2001) {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140331174817weblink |date=March 31, 2014}}. Filmsite.org; WEB,weblink Sight and Sound Top Ten Poll 2002, dead,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20120515211647weblink">weblink May 15, 2012, mdy, . BFI. Retrieved June 9, 2022.

Broadcasting

{{Update|date=March 2023}}Television constitutes a significant part of the traditional media of the United States. Household ownership of television sets in the country is 96.7%,WEB,weblink Television Ownership Drops in U.S., Nielsen Reports, Brian, Stelter, May 3, 2011, The New York Times, and the majority of households have more than one set. The peak ownership percentage of households with at least one television set occurred during the 1996–97 season, with 98.4% ownership.WEB,weblinkweblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20101112160717weblink">weblink November 12, 2010, Private Site, As a whole, the television networks of the United States is the largest and most syndicated in the world.WEB,weblink FCC V-Chip Fact Sheet, 7/1/99, Federal Communications Commission, October 17, 2017, As of August 2013, approximately 114,200,000 American households own at least one television set.WEB,weblinkweblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20130825033059weblink">weblink dead, August 25, 2013, List of How Many Homes Each Cable Networks Is In – Cable Network Coverage Estimates As Of August 2013, Seidman, Robert, TV by the Numbers, Zap2it, August 23, 2013, September 7, 2013, In 2014, due to a recent surge in the number and popularity of critically acclaimed television series, many critics have said that American television is currently enjoying a golden age.NEWS, Barely Keeping Up in TV's New Golden Age, The New York Times, March 9, 2014,weblink July 9, 2014, Carr, David, WEB, Welcome to TV's Second Golden Age, CBS News, October 2013,weblink July 9, 2014,

Philosophy

{{Further|American philosophy}}{{More citations needed section|date=May 2023}}File:Scene_at_the_Signing_of_the_Constitution_of_the_United_States.jpg|right|thumb|Painting by Howard Chandler Christy of the scene at the Philadelphia Convention which led to the signing of the United States ConstitutionUnited States ConstitutionEarly American philosophy was heavily shaped by the European Age of Enlightenment, which promoted ideals such as reason and individual liberty.Hoeveler, J. David, Creating the American Mind: Intellect and Politics in the Colonial Colleges, Rowman & Littlefield, {{ISBN|978-0742548398}}, 2007, p. xi Enlightenment ideals influenced the American Revolution and the Constitution of the United States. Major figures in the American Enlightenment included Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Paine.Pragmatism and transcendentalism are uniquely American philosophical traditions founded in the 19th century by William James and Ralph Waldo Emerson respectively. Objectivism is a philosophical system founded by Ayn Rand which influenced libertarianism. John Rawls presented the theory of "justice as fairness" in A Theory of Justice (1971).Willard Van Orman Quine, Saul Kripke, and David Lewis helped advance logic and analytic philosophy in the 20th century. Thomas Kuhn revolutionized the philosophy of science with his book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962), one of the most cited academic works of all time, and he coined the term paradigm shift.Artificial intelligence and the philosophy of mind have been heavily influenced by American philosophers such as Daniel Dennett,"Daniel Dennett" at the Dictionary of the Philosophy of Mind {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130117104346weblink |date=January 17, 2013}} Retrieved September 10, 2009 Noam Chomsky,WEB, Noam Chomsky – Philosophy of mind and human nature,weblink Britannica, en, Hilary Putnam,BOOK, LeDoux, J., The Synaptic Self: How Our Brains Become Who We Are, Viking Penguin, New York, 2002, 88-7078-795-8, Jerry Fodor, and John Searle, who contributed to cognitivism, the hard problem of consciousness, and the mind-body problem. The Libet experiment created by American neuroscientist Benjamin Libet raised philosophical debate regarding the neuroscience of free will. The Chinese room thought experiment presented by John Searle questions the nature of intelligence in machines, and it has been influential in cognitive science and the philosophy of artificial intelligence.

Politics

{{Further|Politics of the United States}}LGBT rights in the United States are comparatively advanced by world standards.BOOK, Derks, Marco, Public Discourses About Homosexuality and Religion in Europe and Beyond, van den Berg, Mariecke, Springer International Publishing, 2020, 978-3-030-56326-4, 338, ...(the United States and [Western] Europe) as "already in crisis" for their permissive attitudes toward nonnormative sexualities..., WEB, Leveille, Dan, December 4, 2009, LGBT Equality Index: The most LGBT-friendly countries in the world,weblink January 26, 2023, Equaldex, 13.) United States, BOOK, Garretson, Jeremiah, The Path to Gay Rights: How Activism and Coming Out Changed Public Opinion, New York University Press, 2018, 978-1-4798-5007-5, A Transformed Society: LGBT Rights in the United States, In the late 1980s and early 1990s, a dramatic wave began to form in the waters of public opinion: American attitudes involving homosexuality began to change... The transformation of America's response to homosexuality has been — and continues to be — one of the most rapid and sustained shifts in mass attitudes since the start of public polling.,

Government

Law enforcement and crime

File:Washington_DC,_FBI_-_panoramio.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Headquarters of the Federal Bureau of InvestigationFederal Bureau of InvestigationThere are about 18,000 U.S. police agencies from local to federal level in the United States.JOURNAL, Banks, Duren, Hendrix, Joshua, Hickman, Mathhew, October 4, 2016, National Sources of Law Enforcement Employment Data,weblink U.S. Department of Justice, 1, Law in the United States is mainly enforced by local police departments and sheriff's offices. The state police provides broader services, and federal agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the U.S. Marshals Service have specialized duties, such as protecting civil rights, national security and enforcing U.S. federal courts' rulings and federal laws.WEB, U.S. Federal Law Enforcement Agencies, Who Governs & What They Do, Chiff.com,weblink November 10, 2021,weblink February 10, 2014, State courts conduct most civil and criminal trials,BOOK, Manweller, Mathew, Hogan, Sean O., The Judicial Branch of State Government: People, Process, and Politics, 2006, ABC-Clio, Santa Barbara, California, 978-1-851-09751-7, 37–96,weblink October 5, 2020, Chapter 2, The Roles, Functions, and Powers of State Courts, and federal courts handle designated crimes and appeals from the state criminal courts.WEB,weblink Introduction To The Federal Court System, United States Attorney, November 7, 2014, United States Department of Justice, July 14, 2022, Washington, D.C., {{As of|2023}}, the United States has the sixth-highest documented incarceration rate and second-largest prison population in the world.WEB, Statista, Jan 3, 2023, Incarceration rates in selected countries 2023,weblink live, Statista,weblink Jul 12, 2023, In 2019, the total prison population for those sentenced to more than a year was 1,430,800, corresponding to a ratio of 419 per 100,000 residents and the lowest since 1995.WEB,weblink US Department of Justice, Oct. 22, 2020, Various states have attempted to reduce their prison populations via government policies and grassroots initiatives.WEB,weblink Decarceration Strategies: How 5 States Achieved Substantial Prison Population Reductions, September 5, 2018, July 16, 2022, Schrantz, Dennis, DeBor, Stephen, Mauer, Marc, The Sentencing Project, Washington, D.C., U.S. police are comparatively violent, with deaths in custody and fatal shootings being higher than in other developed countries.WEB, Pettersson, Rob, Picheta, Henrik, 2020-06-08, American police shoot, kill and imprison more people than other developed countries. Here's the data,weblink 2023-05-11, CNN, en, NEWS, Lartey, Jamiles, 2015-06-09, By the numbers: US police kill more in days than other countries do in years, en-GB, The Guardian,weblink 2023-05-11, 0261-3077,

Military culture

File:Nose art on the B-25J Take-off Time.JPG|thumb|left|Pin-up girl nose art on the restored World War II B-25J aircraft Take-off Time]]From the time of its inception, the military played a decisive role in the history of the United States. A sense of national unity and identity was forged out of the victorious First Barbary War, Second Barbary War, and the War of 1812. Even so, the Founders were suspicious of a permanent military force and not until the outbreak of World War II did a large standing army become officially established.WEB, U.S. Army Center of Military History,weblink 2021-08-25, history.army.mil, The National Security Act of 1947, adopted following World War II and during the onset of the Cold War, created the modern U.S. military framework;WEB, The Cold War {{!, JFK Library |url=https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/jfk-in-history/the-cold-war |access-date=2021-08-25 |website=www.jfklibrary.org}} the Act merged previously Cabinet-level Department of War and the Department of the Navy into the National Military Establishment (renamed the Department of Defense in 1949), headed by the Secretary of Defense; and created the Department of the Air Force and National Security Council.weblink. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210921112403weblink|date=September 21, 2021}}. Letter from James Forrestal to Chan Gurney.Military service in the United States is voluntary, although conscription may occur in wartime through the Selective Service System.WEB,weblinkweblink What does Selective Service provide for America?, Selective Service System, February 11, 2012, September 15, 2012, The United States has the third-largest combined armed forces in the world, behind the Chinese People's Liberation Army and Indian Armed Forces.BOOK, The Military Balance 2019,weblink London, International Institute for Strategic Studies, 47, 2019, 978-1-85743-988-5, dead, September 22, 2020,weblink September 23, 2020, The U.S. military operates about 800 bases and facilities abroad,WEB,weblink Why does the US have 800 military bases around the world?, Harris, Johnny, May 18, 2015, Vox, September 23, 2020, dead, September 24, 2020,weblink maintainaining deployments greater than 100 active duty personnel in 25 foreign countries,WEB,weblinkweblink Active Duty Military Personnel Strengths by Regional Area and by Country (309A), Department of Defense, March 31, 2010, October 7, 2010, July 24, 2013, and possesses significant capabilities in both defense and power projection.JOURNAL, Klein, Bradley S., 1988, Hegemony and Strategic Culture: American Power Projection and Alliance Defence Politics,weblink Review of International Studies, 14, 2, 133–148, 10.1017/S026021050011335X, 0260-2105, 20097137, 144635558, WEB, 2021, CNO NAVPLAN January 2021,weblink U.S. Department of Defense, live,weblink Nov 10, 2023,

Gun culture

● NICS firearm check data downloaded via link at NICS FIREARM BACKGROUND CHECKS: MONTH/YEAR WEBSITE=FBI.GOV ARCHIVE-URL=HTTPS://WEB.ARCHIVE.ORG/WEB/20240129020051/HTTPS://WWW.FBI.GOV/FILE-REPOSITORY/NICS_FIREARM_CHECKS_-_MONTH_YEAR.PDF DATE=JANUARY 2024, live, "NICS" is the FBI's National Instant Background Check System.caption2= Visitors at a gun show}}In sharp contrast to most other nations, firearms laws in the United States are permissive, and private gun ownership is common; almost half of American households contain at least one firearm.NEWS, October 26, 2011, Self-Reported Gun Ownership in the U.S. Is Highest Since 1993, Gallup,weblink Lydia, Saad, live,weblink Dec 7, 2023, The Supreme Court has ruled that the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution protects an individual right to possess modern firearms, subject to reasonable regulation,NEWS, June 26, 2008, US District of Columbia et al v Heller, US Supreme Court,weblink dead,weblink Dec 31, 2021, a view shared by the majority of Americans.There are more privately owned firearms in the United States than in any other country, both per capita and in total.NEWS, August 28, 2007, U.S. most armed country with 90 guns per 100 people, Reuters,weblink Laura, MacInnis, live,weblink Nov 16, 2023, Civilians in the United States possess about 42% of the global inventory of privately owned firearms.WEB, Research Notes: Estimating Civilian Owned Firearms, September 2011,weblink dead,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20111218194637weblink">weblink December 18, 2011, March 11, 2017, Small Arms Survey, Rates of gun ownership vary significantly by region and by state; gun ownership is most common in Alaska, the Mountain States, and the South, and least prevalent in Hawaii, the island territories, California, and New England. Across the board, gun ownership tends to be more common in rural than in urban areas.NEWS, Gun Ownership by State, The Washington Post,weblink Laura, Cochran, May 26, 2006, live,weblink May 4, 2023, Hunting, plinking, and target shooting are popular pastimes, although ownership of firearms for purely utilitarian purposes such as personal protection is common as well. "Personal protection" was the most common reason given for gun ownership in a 2013 Gallup poll of gun owners, at 60%.NEWS, October 28, 2013, Personal Safety Top Reason Americans Own Guns Today, Gallup,weblink Art, Swift, live,weblink Nov 15, 2023, Ownership of handguns, while not uncommon, is less common than ownership of long guns. Gun ownership is much more prevalent among men than among women, with men being approximately four times more likely than women to report owning guns.JOURNAL, Hepburn, L., Miller, M., Azrael, D., Hemenway, D., 2007, The U.S. gun stock: results from the 2004 national firearms survey, Injury Prevention, 13, 1, 15–19, 10.1136/ip.2006.013607, free, 2610545, 17296683,

Society

Science and technology

{{Further|Science and technology in the United States|Science policy of the United States}}File:JWST people.jpg|thumb|upright=1.0|right|Early full-scale model of the James Webb Space Telescope on display at NASA Goddard Space Flight CenterGoddard Space Flight CenterThere is a regard for scientific advancement and technological innovation in American culture, resulting in the creation of many modern innovations. The great American inventors include Robert Fulton (the steamboat); Samuel Morse (the telegraph); Eli Whitney (the cotton gin, interchangeable parts); Cyrus McCormick (the reaper); and Thomas Edison (with more than a thousand inventions credited to his name). Most of the new technological innovations over the 20th and 21st centuries were either first invented in the United States, first widely adopted by Americans, or both. Examples include the lightbulb, the airplane, the transistor, the atomic bomb, nuclear power, the personal computer, the iPod, video games, online shopping, and the development of the Internet.BOOK, Sawyer, Robert Keith, Explaining Creativity: The Science of Human Innovation,weblink 2012, Oxford University Press, 978-0-19-973757-4, 256, The United States also developed the Global Positioning System, which is the world's pre-eminent satellite navigation system.NEWS,weblink Chenda, Ngak, CBS News, Made in the USA: American tech inventions, July 4, 2012, File:Buzz_salutes_the_U.S._Flag-crop.jpg|thumb|left|U.S. astronaut Buzz Aldrin saluting the flag on the Moon during the Apollo 11, 1969. The United States is the only country that has sent crewed missions to the lunar surface.]]The United States has been a leader in technological innovation since the late 19th century and scientific research since the mid-20th century. Methods for producing interchangeable parts and the establishment of a machine tool industry enabled the U.S. to have large-scale manufacturing of sewing machines, bicycles, and other items in the late 19th century. In the early 20th century, factory electrification, the introduction of the assembly line, and other labor-saving techniques created the system of mass production. This propensity for application of scientific ideas continued throughout the 20th century with innovations that held strong international benefits. The 20th century saw the arrival of the Space Age, the Information Age, and a renaissance in the health sciences. This culminated in cultural milestones such as the Apollo Moon landings, the creation of the personal computer, and the sequencing effort called the Human Genome Project. In the 21st century, approximately two-thirds of research and development funding comes from the private sector.WEB, Research and Development (R&D) Expenditures by Source and Objective: 1970 to 2004,weblink U.S. Census Bureau,weblinkweblink February 10, 2012, June 19, 2007, live, The U.S. had 2,944 active satellites in space in December 2021, the highest number of any country.WEB, Satellite Database,weblink July 14, 2022, Union of Concerned Scientists, File:Edison and phonograph edit2.jpg|right|thumb|150px|Thomas EdisonThomas EdisonThroughout its history, American culture has made significant gains through the open immigration of accomplished scientists. Accomplished scientists include Scottish American scientist Alexander Graham Bell, who developed and patented the telephone and other devices; German scientist Charles Steinmetz, who developed new alternating-current electrical systems in 1889; Russian scientist Vladimir Zworykin, who invented the motion camera in 1919; Serb scientist Nikola Tesla who patented a brushless electrical induction motor based on rotating magnetic fields in 1888. The rise of fascism and Nazism in the 1920s and 30s led many European scientists, such as Albert Einstein, Enrico Fermi, and John von Neumann, to immigrate to the United States.BOOK, Fraser, Gordon, The Quantum Exodus: Jewish Fugitives, the Atomic Bomb, and the Holocaust, 2012, Oxford University Press, New York, 978-0-19-959215-9,weblink Thomas Edison's research laboratory developed the phonograph, the first long-lasting light bulb, and the first viable movie camera.WEB, Thomas Edison's Most Famous Inventions,weblink Thomas A Edison Innovation Foundation, January 21, 2015, March 16, 2016,weblink dead, The Wright brothers in 1903 made the first sustained and controlled heavier-than-air powered flight, and the automobile companies of Ransom E. Olds and Henry Ford popularized the assembly line in the early 20th century.WEB, Benedetti, François,weblinkweblink September 12, 2007, 100 Years Ago, the Dream of Icarus Became Reality, Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI), December 17, 2003, August 15, 2007,

Education

File:Fest_of_Books_2009.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Los Angeles Times Festival of Books is the largest book festivalbook festivalEducation in the United States is and has historically been provided mainly by the government. Control and funding come from three levels: federal, state, and local. School attendance is mandatory and nearly universal at the elementary and high school levels (often known outside the United States as the primary and secondary levels).{{Citation needed|date=February 2024}}Students have the option of having their education held in public schools, private schools, or home school. In most public and private schools, education is divided into three levels: elementary school, junior high school (also often called middle school), and high school. In almost all schools at these levels, children are divided by age groups into grades. Post-secondary education, better known as "college" in the United States, is generally governed separately from the elementary and high school systems.{{Citation needed|date=February 2024}}In the year 2000, there were 76.6 million students enrolled in schools from kindergarten through graduate schools. Of these, 72 percent aged 12 to 17 were judged academically "on track" for their age (enrolled in school at or above grade level). Of those enrolled in compulsory education, 5.2 million (10.4 percent) were attending private schools. Among the country's adult population, over 85 percent have completed high school and 27 percent have received a bachelor's degree or higher.WEB, US High school census data,weblink dead,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20140709223701weblink">weblink July 9, 2014, September 18, 2014, File:Harvard Yard Historic District-311.jpg|thumb|Harvard YardHarvard YardThe large majority of the world's top universities, as listed by various ranking organizations, are in the United States, including 19 of the top 25, and the most prestigious – Harvard University.WEB, Fink, Jenni, 2019-10-22, U.S. Schools Take 8 of 10 Top Spots on U.S. News' Best Global Universities,weblink 2023-04-18, Newsweek, en, WEB, Nietzel, Michael T., March 22, 2023, U.S. Universities Dominate Latest QS World Rankings By Academic Field,weblink 2023-04-18, Forbes, en, WEB,weblink Best Countries for Education: North American and European countries are seen as offering the best opportunities for education., U.S. News & World Report, April 19, 2023, WEB,weblink 2022-2023 Best Global Universities Rankings, U.S. News & World Report, April 27, 2023, The country also has by far the most Nobel Prize winners in history, with 403 (having won 406 awards).WEB, All Nobel Prizes,weblink NobelPrize.org,

Religion

{{See also|American civil religion|Ceremonial deism|In God We Trust|Puritans}}{{Pie chart|thumb=right|caption=Self-identified religious affiliation in the United States (2023 The Wall Street Journal-NORC poll)WEB, 2022, March 2023 NORC/AP poll,weblink March 27, 2023, Wall Street Journal, |label1=Protestantism|value1=26|color1=DarkBlue|label2=Catholicism|value2=21|color2=Blue|label3="Just Christian"|value3=20|color3=Lightblue|label4=Mormonism|value4=1|color4=Purple|label5=Unitarianism|value5=1|color5=Red|label6=Judaism|value6=2|color6=Pink|label7=Buddhism|value7=2|color7=Yellow|label8=Something else|value8=2|color8=Orange|label9=Islam|value9=1|color9=Green|label10=Nothing in particular|value10=12|color10=White|label11=Agnostic|value11=8|color11=LightGrey|label12=Atheist|value12=4|color12=Black}}Among developed countries, the U.S. is one of the most religious in terms of its demographics. According to a 2002 study by the Pew Global Attitudes Project, the U.S. was the only developed nation in the survey where a majority of citizens reported that religion played a "very important" role in their lives, an opinion similar to that found in Latin America.WEB, December 19, 2002, U.S. Stands Alone in its Embrace of Religion,weblink January 1, 2007, Pew Global Attitudes Project, Today, governments at the national, state, and local levels are secular institutions, with what is often called the "separation of church and state". The most popular religion in the U.S. is Christianity, comprising the majority of the population (73.7% of adults in 2016).NEWS, Newport, Frank, 23 December 2016, Five Key Findings on Religion in the U.S., en-us, Gallup,weblink 2018-04-05, WEB, Kim Ann Zimmermann, July 14, 2017, American Culture: Traditions and Customs of the United States,weblink 2021-01-19, livescience.com, en, Although participation in organized religion has been diminishing, the public life and popular culture of the United States incorporates many Christian ideals specifically about redemption, salvation, conscience, and morality. Examples are popular culture obsessions with confession and forgiveness, which extends from reality television to twelve-step meetings.WEB, O'Hehir, Andrew, January 20, 2013, Why do we care if Lance apologizes?,weblink January 20, 2013, Salon (website), Salon, {{Pie chart|thumb=left|caption=Self-identified religiosity (2023 The Wall Street Journal-NORC poll)WEB, Staff, 2022, March 2023 NORC/AP poll,weblink March 27, 2023, Wall Street Journal, |label1=Very religious|value1=17|color1=DarkBlue|label2=Moderately religious|value2=31|color2=Lightblue|label3=Slightly religious|value3=23|color3=Grey|label4=Not religious at all|value4=29|color4=White}}Most of the British Thirteen Colonies were generally not tolerant of dissident forms of worship. Civil and religious restrictions were most strictly applied by the Puritans of the Massachusetts Bay Colony which saw various banishments applied to enforce conformity, including the branding iron, the whipping post, the bilboes and the hangman's noose.JOURNAL, Merrill, Louis Taylor, 1945, The Puritan Policeman,weblink American Sociological Review, American Sociological Association, 10, 6, 766–776, 10.2307/2085847, 2085847, The persecuting spirit was shared by Plymouth Colony and the colonies along the Connecticut river.Rogers, Horatio, 2009. Mary Dyer of Rhode Island: The Quaker Martyr That Was Hanged on Boston {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160115151223weblink|date=15 January 2016}} pp. 1–2. BiblioBazaar, LLC Mary Dyer was one of the four executed Quakers known as the Boston martyrs, and her death on the Boston gallows marked the beginning of the end of Puritan theocracy and New England independence from English rule; in 1661 Massachusetts was forbidden from executing anyone for professing Quakerism.BOOK, Bremer, Francis J.,weblink Puritans and Puritanism in Europe and America: a comprehensive encyclopedia, Webster, Tom, 2006, Bloomsbury Academic, 978-1576076781, 3 September 2011, Anti-Catholic sentiment appeared in New England with the first Pilgrim and Puritan settlers.NEWS, June 14, 2016, America's dark and not-very-distant history of hating Catholics, The Guardian,weblink The Pilgrims of New England held radical Protestant disapproval of Christmas.BOOK, Barnett, James Harwood,weblink The American Christmas: A Study in National Culture, Ayer Publishing, 1984, 0405076711, 3, Christmas observance was outlawed in Boston in 1659.NEWS, Schnepper, Rachel N., December 14, 2012, Yuletide's Outlaws, The New York Times,weblink December 15, 2012, From 1659 to 1681, anyone caught celebrating Christmas in the colony would be fined five shillings. ..., The ban by the Puritans was revoked in 1681 by an English appointed governor; however, it was not until the mid-19th century that celebrating Christmas became common in the Boston region.BOOK, Marling, Karal Ann,weblink Merry Christmas!: Celebrating America's Greatest Holiday, Harvard University Press, 2000, 0674003187, 44, The colony of Maryland, founded by the Catholic Lord Baltimore in 1634, came closest to applying freedom of religion.Zimmerman, Mark, Symbol of Enduring Freedom {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161022102459weblink|date=October 22, 2016}}, p. 19, Columbia Magazine, March 2010. Fifteen years later (1649), the Maryland Toleration Act, drafted by Lord Baltimore, provided: "No person or persons...shall from henceforth be any waies troubled, molested or discountenanced for or in respect of his or her religion nor in the free exercise thereof." The Act allowed freedom of worship for all Trinitarian Christians in Maryland, but sentenced to death anyone who denied the divinity of Jesus.Modeling the provisions concerning religion within the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, the framers of the United States Constitution rejected any religious test for office, and the First Amendment specifically denied the central government any power to enact any law respecting either an establishment of religion or prohibiting its free exercise. In the following decades, the animating spirit behind the constitution's Establishment Clause led to the disestablishment of the official religions within the member states. The framers were mainly influenced by secular, Enlightenment ideals, but they also considered the pragmatic concerns of minority religious groups who did not want to be under the power or influence of a state religion that did not represent them.Marsden, George M. 1990. Religion and American Culture. Orlando: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, pp.45–46. Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence said: "The priest has been hostile to liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot."BOOK, Jefferson, Thomas, The writings of Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Memorial Association of the United States, 1904, 119, Gallup polls during the early 2020s found that about 81% of Americans believe in some conception of a God and 45% report praying on a daily basis.WEB, Jones, Jeffrey, 2022-06-17, Belief in God in U.S. Dips to 81%, a New Low,weblink 2023-01-01, Gallup, en, NEWS, Shimron, Yonat, December 17, 2021, More Americans are becoming secular, poll says,weblink subscription, January 1, 2023, The Washington Post, WEB, Jones, Jeffrey, 2022-12-21, In U.S., Childhood Churchgoing Habits Fade in Adulthood,weblink 2023-01-01, Gallup, en, According to their poll in December 2022, "31% report attending a church, synagogue, mosque or temple weekly or nearly weekly today." In the "Bible Belt", which is located primarily within the Southern United States, socially conservative evangelical Protestantism plays a significant role culturally. New England and the Western United States tend to be less religious.WEB, Williams, Daniel, March 1, 2023, 'Christian America' Isn't Dying. It's Dividing.,weblink 2023-03-25, Christianity Today, en, Around 6% of Americans claim a non-Christian faith;WEB, Nadeem, Reem, 2022-09-13, Modeling the Future of Religion in America,weblink 2023-01-01, Pew Research Center, en-US, the largest of which are Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism.WEB, May 12, 2015, America's Changing Religious Landscape,weblink Pew Research Center: Religion & Public Life, The United States either has the first or second-largest Jewish population in the world, and the largest outside of Israel.REPORT, Dashefsky, Arnold, Arnold Dashefsky, Della Pergola, Sergio, Sergio Della Pergola, Sheskin, Ira, 2018, World Jewish Population,weblink Berman Jewish DataBank, 22 June 2019, "Ceremonial deism" is common in American culture.WEB, Donadio, Rachel, 2021-11-22, Why Is France So Afraid of God?,weblink 2023-03-25, The Atlantic, en, WEB, Merriam, Jesse, Lupu, Ira, Elwood, F, Davis, Eleanor, August 28, 2008, On Ceremonial Occasions, May the Government Invoke a Deity?,weblink March 31, 2023, Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project, en-US, Around 30% of Americans describe themselves as having no religion. Membership in a house of worship fell from 70% in 1999 to 47% in 2020, much of the decline related to the number of Americans expressing no religious preference. Membership also fell among those who identified with a specific religious group.NEWS, Jones, Jeffrey M., U.S. Church Membership Falls Below Majority for First Time,weblink April 5, 2021, Gallup, March 29, 2021, en, NEWS, Gabbatt, Adam, 'Allergic reaction to US religious right' fueling decline of religion, experts say,weblink April 5, 2021, The Guardian, April 5, 2021, en, According to Gallup, trust in "the church or organized religion" has declined significantly since the 1970s.WEB, McCarthy, Justin, 2019-07-08, U.S. Confidence in Organized Religion Remains Low,weblink 2023-01-01, Gallup, en, According to the 2022 Cooperative Election Study, younger Americans are significantly less religious. Among Generation Z, a near-majority consider themselves atheist, agnostic, or nothing in particular.WEB, Burge, Ryan, Ryan Burge (political scientist), 2023-04-03, Gen Z and Religion in 2022,weblink 2023-04-04, Religion in Public, en,

Social class and work

{{See also|Economy of the United States|Social programs in the United States|Affluence in the United States}}File:JMR-Memphis1.jpg|thumb|upright|Lady Justice, Shelby County Courthouse, Memphis, TennesseeMemphis, TennesseeThough most Americans in the 21st century identify themselves as middle class, American society, and its culture are considerably fragmented.WEB, Middle class according to The Drum Major Institute for public policy,weblink 2006-07-25, PBS, BOOK, Fussel, Paul,weblink Class: A Guide through the American Status System, Touchstone, 1983, 978-0-671-79225-1, New York, NY, Social class, generally described as a combination of educational attainment, income and occupational prestige, is one of the greatest cultural influences in America. Nearly all cultural aspects of mundane interactions and consumer behavior in the U.S. are guided by a person's location within the country's social structure.Distinct lifestyles, consumption patterns and values are associated with different classes. Early sociologist-economist Thorstein Veblen, for example, said that those at the top of the societal hierarchy engage in conspicuous leisure and conspicuous consumption. Upper class Americans commonly have elite Ivy League educations and are traditionally members of exclusive clubs and fraternities with connections to high society, distinguished by their enormous incomes derived from their wealth in assets. The upper-class lifestyle and values often overlap with that of the upper middle class, but with more emphasis on security and privacy in home life and for philanthropy (i.e. the "Donor Class") and the arts. Due to their large wealth (inherited or accrued over a lifetime of investments) and lavish, leisurely lifestyles, the upper class are more prone to idleness. The upper middle class, or the "working rich",NEWS, 31 January 2019, 'Working rich' prevail among today's top earners,weblink 2 May 2019, commonly identify education and being cultured as prime values, similar to the upper class. Persons in this particular social class tend to speak in a more direct manner that projects authority, knowledge and thus credibility. They often tend to engage in the consumption of so-called mass luxuries, such as designer label clothing. A strong preference for natural materials, organic foods, and a strong health consciousness tend to be prominent features of the upper middle class. American middle-class individuals in general value expanding one's horizon, partially because they are more educated and can afford greater leisure and travel. Working-class individuals take great pride in doing what they consider to be "real work" and keep very close-knit kin networks that serve as a safeguard against frequent economic instability.BOOK, Fussel, Paul,weblink Class, A Guide Through the American status system, Touchstone, 1983, 978-0-671-79225-1, New York, NY, BOOK, Ehrenreich, Barbara,weblink Fear of Falling: The Inner Life of the Middle Class, HarperCollins, 1989, 978-0-06-097333-9, New York, NY, Working-class Americans and many of those in the middle class may also face occupation alienation. In contrast to upper-middle-class professionals who are mostly hired to conceptualize, supervise, and share their thoughts, many Americans have little autonomy or creative latitude in the workplace.BOOK, Eichar, Douglas,weblink Occupation and Class Consciousness in America, Greenwood Press, 1989, 978-0-313-26111-4, Westport, Connecticut, As a result, white collar professionals tend to be significantly more satisfied with their work.BOOK, Thompson, William, Society in Focus, Joseph, Hickey, Pearson, 2005, 978-0-205-41365-2, Boston, MA, BOOK, Eichar, Douglas,weblink Occupation and Class Consciousness in America, Greenwood Press, 1989, 978-0-313-26111-4, Westport, Connecticut, In 2006, Elizabeth Warren presented her article entitled "The Middle Class on the Precipice", stating that individuals in the center of the income strata, who may still identify as middle class, have faced increasing economic insecurity,MAGAZINE, Warren, Elizabeth, Elizabeth Warren, January 2006, The Middle Class on the Precipice – Rising financial risks for American families,weblink Harvard Magazine, August 19, 2018, supporting the idea of a working-class majority.BOOK, Ehrenreich, Barbara,weblink Fear of Falling, The Inner Life of the Middle Class, Harper Collins, 1989, 978-0-06-097333-9, New York, NY, Additionally, working-class Americans who work in the public sector, excluding politicians, are respected and generally respected in the culture, notably postal workers.WEB, Anthrax,weblink 2023-03-15, National Postal Museum, en, WEB, Coile, Ray Delgado and Zachary, 2001-10-23, Anthrax killed postal workers / They worked at D.C. sorting office,weblink 2023-03-15, SFGATE, en-US, File:Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills, LA, CA, jjron 21.03.2012.jpg|thumb|left|Since the 1960s, Rodeo Drive has become one of the most expensive shopping streets in the world.]]Political behavior is affected by class; more affluent individuals are more likely to vote, and education and income affect whether individuals tend to vote for the Democratic or Republican party. Income also had a significant impact on health as those with higher incomes had better access to health care facilities, higher life expectancy, lower infant mortality rate and increased health consciousness.JOURNAL, Collison, D., Dey, C., Hannah, G., Stevenson, L., June 2007, Income inequality and child mortality in wealthy nations, Discussion-What is already known on this topic, Journal of Public Health, 29, 2, 114–7, 10.1093/pubmed/fdm009, 17356123, [There] was evidence to suggest a statistically significant association between infant mortality and income inequality...this effect may have been because of the disproportionate influence of the USA which has 'exceptionally high income inequality and poor child health', free, BOOK, Ehrenfreund, Max,weblink How income affects life expectancy, September 25, 2015, World Economic Forum, More affluent Americans have quit smoking en masse over the past few decades, but the poor have not...Richer beneficiaries live longer & cash more generous checks from Social Security. Poorer beneficiaries rely more on programs such as Medicaid & disability insurance, in part because they aren't as healthy., August 19, 2018, BOOK, Kincaid, Ellie,weblink Residents of one Virginia county live 18 years longer than people just 350 miles away — here's why, April 14, 2015, Business Insider, People with higher incomes live in areas with healthier resources available, like good grocery stores, safe housing, opportunities to exercise, clean air, and better schools., August 19, 2018, This is particularly noticeable with black voters who are often socially conservative, yet overwhelmingly vote Democratic.WEB, November 7, 2008, Blacks Are More Socially Conservative Than Barack Obama – Bonnie Erbe,weblink 2012-06-03, Usnews.com, JOURNAL, Davis, George, January 6, 2010, Spiritually Liberal, Socially Conservative,weblink Psychology Today, In the United States, occupation is one of the prime factors of social class and is closely linked to an individual's identity. The average workweek in the U.S. for those employed full-time was 42.9 hours long with 30% of the population working more than 40 hours a week.WEB, U.S. Bureau of Labor, hours worked, 2005,weblink 2006-12-15, {{Dead link|date=June 2019|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}} The Average American worker earned $16.64 an hour in the first two quarters of 2006.WEB, U.S. Department of Labor, employment in 2006,weblink 2006-12-15, Overall Americans worked more than their counterparts in other developed post-industrial nations. While the average worker in Denmark enjoyed 30 days of vacation annually, the average American had 16 annual vacation days.WEB, International vacation comparison,weblink dead,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20061209194603weblink">weblink December 9, 2006, 2006-12-15, In 2000, the average American worked 1,978 hours per year, 500 hours more than the average German, yet 100 hours less than the average Czech. Overall, the U.S. labor force is one of the most productive in the world, largely due to its workers working more than those in any other post-industrial country, except for South Korea.NEWS, August 31, 2001, CNN, work in American, UN report finds Americans most productive, 2002,weblink 2006-12-15, Americans generally hold working and being productive in high regard. Individualism,JOURNAL, Grabb, Edward, Baer, Douglas, Curtis, James, 1999, The Origins of American Individualism: Reconsidering the Historical Evidence, Canadian Journal of Sociology, University of Alberta, 24, 511–533, 10.2307/3341789, 0318-6431, 3341789, 4, having a strong work ethic,JOURNAL, Porter, Gayle, November 2010, Work Ethic and Ethical Work: Distortions in the American Dream, Journal of Business Ethics, Springer Science+Business Media, Springer, 96, 535–550, 10.1007/s10551-010-0481-6, 29789736, 143991044, 4, competitiveness,JOURNAL, Stephens, R.H., September 1952, The Role Of Competition In American Life, The Australian Quarterly, Australian Institute of Policy and Science, 24, 9–14, 41317686, 3, and altruismWEB,weblink World Giving Index 2022, Charities Aid Foundation, April 27, 2023, WEB, Country-level estimates of altruism,weblink 2023-03-14, Our World in Data, WEB, Marsh, Abigail, February 5, 2018, Could A More Individualistic World Also Be A More Altruistic One?,weblink March 14, 2023, National Public Radio, are among the most cited American values. According to a 2016 study by the Charities Aid Foundation, Americans donated 1.44% of total GDP to charity, the highest in the world by a large margin.WEB, January 2016, GROSS DOMESTIC PHILANTHROPY: An international analysis of GDP, tax and giving,weblink July 18, 2022, Charities Aid Foundation,

Race, ancestry, and immigration

File:Emigrants (i.e. immigrants) landing at Ellis Island -.webm|thumb|left|Film by Edison Studios showing immigrants at Ellis Island in New York Harbor, that was a major entry point for European (Immigration to the United States|immigration into the U.S.]]BOOK, Marie, Price, Lisa, Benton-Short, Migrants to the Metropolis: The Rise of Immigrant Gateway Cities,weblink 2008, Syracuse University Press, 978-0-8156-3186-6, 51, )The United States has a diverse population; 37 ancestry groups have more than one million members.WEB, Ancestry 2000,weblink June 2004, U.S. Census Bureau, live,weblinkweblink December 4, 2004, December 2, 2016, White Americans with ancestry from Europe, the Middle East or North Africa, form the largest racial and ethnic group at 57.8% of the U.S. population.WEB,weblink The Chance That Two People Chosen at Random Are of Different Race or Ethnicity Groups Has Increased Since 2010, WEB, Table 52. Population by Selected Ancestry Group and Region: 2009,weblink 2009, U.S. Census Bureau,weblink December 25, 2012, February 11, 2017, Hispanic and Latino Americans form the second-largest group and are 18.7% of the U.S. population. African Americans constitute the nation's third-largest ancestry group and are 12.1% of the total U.S. population. Asian Americans are the country's fourth-largest group, composing 5.9% of the U.S. population, while the country's 3.7 million Native Americans account for about 1%. In 2020, the median age of the U.S. population was 38.5 years.WEB, The World Factbook: United States,weblink November 10, 2018, Central Intelligence Agency, According to the United Nations, the U.S. has the highest number of immigrant population in the world, with 50,661,149 people.WEB,weblink INTERNATIONAL MIGRANT STOCK 2019 DOCUMENTATION, WEB,weblink UN_MigrantStockTotal_2019, In 2018, there were almost 90 million immigrants and U.S.-born children of immigrants in the U.S., accounting for 28% of the overall U.S. population.NEWS, March 14, 2019, Frequently Requested Statistics on Immigrants and Immigration in the United States, Migration Policy Institute,weblink In 2017, out of the U.S. foreign-born population, some 45% (20.7 million) were naturalized citizens, 27% (12.3 million) were lawful permanent residents, 6% (2.2 million) were temporary lawful residents, and 23% (10.5 million) were unauthorized immigrants.WEB, June 17, 2019, Key findings about U.S. immigrants,weblink Pew Research Center, The U.S. led the world in refugee resettlement for decades, admitting more refugees than the rest of the world combined.WEB, Key facts about refugees to the U.S.,weblink Jens Manuel Krogstad, October 7, 2019, Pew Research Center, Race in the U.S. is based on physical characteristics, such as skin color, and has played an essential part in shaping American society even before the nation's conception. Until the civil rights movement of the 1960s, racial minorities in the U.S. faced institutional discrimination and both social and economic marginalization.BOOK, Hine, Darlene, The African American Odyssey, William C., Hine, Stanley, Harrold, Pearson, 2006, Boston, MA, The U.S. Census Bureau currently recognizes five racial groupings: White, African, Native, Asian, and Pacific Islander. According to the U.S. government, Hispanic Americans do not constitute a race, but rather an ethnic group. During the 2000 U.S. census, Whites made up 75.1% of the population; those who are Hispanic or Latino constituted the nation's prevalent minority with 12.5% of the population. African Americans made up 12.3% of the total population, 3.6% were Asian American, and 0.7% were Native American.WEB, U.S. Census Bureau, Race and Hispanic or Latino during the 2000 Census,weblink dead,weblink" title="archive.today/20200212044133weblink">weblink February 12, 2020, 2006-12-15, (File:US Race Household Income.png|thumb|upright=1.6|Median household income along ethnic lines in the United States)With its ratification on December 6, 1865, the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution abolished slavery in the U.S. The Northern states had outlawed slavery in their territory in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, though their industrial economies relied on raw materials produced by slaves in the South. Following the Reconstruction period in the 1870s, racist legislation emerged in the Southern states named the Jim Crow laws that provided for legal segregation. Lynching was practiced throughout the U.S., including in the Northern states, until the 1930s, while continuing well into the civil rights movement in the South.Chinese Americans were earlier marginalized as well during a significant proportion of U.S. history. Between 1882 and 1943, the U.S. instituted the Chinese Exclusion Act barring all Chinese immigrants from entering the U.S. During the Second World War against the Empire of Japan, roughly 120,000 Japanese Americans, 62% of whom were U.S. citizens,WEB, dead, Semiannual Report of the War Relocation Authority, for the period January 1 to June 30, 1946, not dated. Papers of Dillon S. Myer.,weblinkweblink June 16, 2018, Harry S. Truman Presidential Library & Museum, September 18, 2006, were imprisoned in Japanese internment camps by the U.S. government following the attack on Pearl Harbor, an American military base, by Japanese forces in December 1941.Due to exclusion from or marginalization by earlier mainstream society, there emerged a unique subculture among the racial minorities in the U.S. During the 1920s, Harlem, New York City became home to the Harlem Renaissance. Music styles such as jazz, blues, rap, rock and roll, and numerous folk songs such as Blue Tail Fly (Jimmy Crack Corn) originated within the realms of African American culture and were later adopted by the mainstream. Chinatowns can be found in many cities across the country and Asian cuisine has become a common staple in mainstream America. The Hispanic community has also had a dramatic impact on American culture. Today, Catholics are the largest religious denomination in the U.S. and outnumber Protestants in the Southwest and California.NEWS, What is your religion...if any?, David, Evans, USA Today,weblink 2006-12-14, dead,weblink Jan 13, 2007, Mariachi music and Mexican cuisine are commonly found throughout the Southwest, and some Latin dishes, such as burritos and tacos, are found practically everywhere in the nation.Asian Americans have median household income and educational attainment exceeding that of other races. African Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans have considerably lower income and education than do White Americans or Asian Americans.WEB, U.S. Census Bureau, August 30, 2005, Income Stable, Poverty Rate Increases, Percentage of Americans Without Health Insurance Unchanged,weblinkweblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20061211105333weblink">weblink December 11, 2006, 2006-12-15, WEB, U.S. Census Bureau, Educational Attainment in the United States: 2003, June 2004, Nicole, Stoops,weblink 2006-12-15, dead,weblink Dec 21, 2006,

Race relations

File:Census-2000-Data-Top-US-Ancestries-by-County.svg|right|thumb|The (wiktionary:plurality|plurality) ethnic background in each county in the U.S. in 2000:German English Norwegian Dutch Finnish Irish French ItalianMexican Native Spanish American African American Puerto Rican ]]White Americans (non-Hispanic/Latino and Hispanic/Latino) are the racial majority and have a 72% share of the U.S. population, according to the 2010 U.S. census.WEB, B02001. RACE – Universe: TOTAL POPULATION,weblink February 28, 2010, 2008 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates, United States Census Bureau, Hispanic and Latino Americans comprise 15% of the population, making up the largest ethnic minority.WEB, U.S. Census website,weblink 2010-02-28, 2008 Population Estimates, U.S. Census Bureau, Black Americans are the largest racial minority, comprising nearly 13% of the population. The White, non-Hispanic or Latino population comprises 63% of the nation's total.Throughout most of the country's history before and after its independence, the majority race in the United States has been Caucasian—aided by historic restrictions on citizenship and immigration—and the largest racial minority has been African Americans, most of whom are descended from slaves smuggled to the Americas by the European colonial powers. This relationship has historically been the most important one since the founding of the United States. Slavery existed in the United States at the time of the country's formation in the 1770s. The Missouri Compromise declared a policy of prohibiting slavery in the remaining Louisiana lands north of the 36°30′ parallel. De facto, it sectionalized the country into two factions: free states, which forbid the institution of slavery; and slave states, which protected the institution. The Missouri Compromise was controversial, seen as lawfully dividing the country along sectarian lines. Although the federal government outlawed American participation in the Atlantic slave trade in 1807, after 1820, cultivation of the highly profitable cotton crop exploded in the Deep South, and along with it, the use of slave labor.BOOK, Cogliano, Francis D., Thomas Jefferson: Reputation and Legacy,weblink 2008, University of Virginia Press, 978-0-8139-2733-6, 219, Walton, 2009, p. 43Gordon, 2004, pp. 27,29 The Second Great Awakening, especially in the period 1800–1840, converted millions to evangelical Protestantism. In the North, it energized multiple social reform movements, including abolitionism;BOOK, Clark, Mary Ann, Then We'll Sing a New Song: African Influences on America's Religious Landscape,weblink May 2012, Rowman & Littlefield, 978-1-4422-0881-0, 47, in the South, Methodists and Baptists proselytized among slave populations.Heinemann, Ronald L., et al., Old Dominion, New Commonwealth: a history of Virginia 1607–2007, 2007 {{ISBN|978-0-8139-2609-4}}, p. 197Slavery was partially abolished by the Emancipation Proclamation issued by the president Abraham Lincoln in 1862 for slaves in the Southeastern United States during the Civil War. With the United States' victory and preservation, slavery was abolished nationally by the Thirteenth Amendment. Jim Crow laws prevented full use of African American citizenship until the civil rights movement in the 1960s, and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed official or legal segregation at any level and forbid placing limitations on minorities' access to public places.File:South_Central_Los_Angeles_1.jpg|thumb|150px|A street in South Central Los Angeles, the site of the 1992 riots ]]In 1882, in response to Chinese immigration due to the Gold Rush and the labor needed for the transcontinental railroad, the government signed into law the Chinese Exclusion Act which banned immigration by Chinese people into the U.S. In the late 19th century, the growth of the Hispanic population in the U.S., fueled largely by Mexican immigration, generated debate over policies such as English as the official language and reform to immigration policies. The Immigration Act of 1924 established the National Origins Formula as the basis of U.S. immigration policy, largely to restrict immigration from Asia, Southern Europe, and Eastern Europe. According to the Office of the Historian of the U.S. Department of State, the purpose of the 1924 Act was "to preserve the ideal of U.S. homogeneity".NEWS, Milestones: 1921–1936: The Immigration Act of 1924 (The Johnson-Reed Act), Office of the Historian, United States Department of State,weblink July 18, 2020, In 1924, Indian-born Bhagat Singh Thind was twice denied citizenship as he was not deemed white.NEWS, February 20, 1923, Court Rules Hindu Not a 'White Person'; Bars High Caste Native of India From Naturalization as an American Citizen, The New York Times,weblink June 5, 2022, Marking a radical break from U.S. immigration policies of the past, the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 opened entry to the U.S. to non-Germanic groups.NEWS, Jennifer, Ludden, 1965 immigration law changed face of America, NPR.org, NPR,weblink June 5, 2022, This Act significantly altered the demographic mix in the U.S. as a result, creating a modern, diverse America.A huge majority of Americans of all races disapprove of racism. Nevertheless, some Americans continue to hold negative racial/ethnic stereotypes about various racial and ethnic groups. Professor Imani Perry, of Princeton University, has argued that contemporary racism in the United States "is frequently unintentional or unacknowledged on the part of the actor",Imani Perry, More Beautiful More Terrible: The Embrace and Transcendence of Racial Inequality in the United States, New York University Press: 2011, p7 believing that racism mostly stems unconsciously from below the level of cognition.Perry, 21

Transport

Automobiles and commuting

{{further|Passenger vehicles in the United States|Driving in the United States|1950s American automobile culture}}File:1965 Ford Mustang Fastback (15595256971).jpg|thumb|left|"Pony car": 1965 Ford MustangFord MustangPersonal transportation is dominated by automobiles, which operate on a network of {{convert|4|e6mi|abbr=off|sp=us}} of public roads, making it the longest network in the world.WEB, Roadways - The World Factbook,weblink live,weblink 2021-07-12, 2021-07-15, www.cia.gov, WEB, Public Road and Street Mileage in the United States by Type of Surface,weblink United States Department of Transportation, January 13, 2015, January 2, 2015,weblink dead, In 2001, 90% of Americans drove to work by car.Highlights of the 2001 National Household Travel Survey {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061002070118weblink|date=October 2, 2006}}, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, U.S. Department of Transportation, accessed May 21, 2006 As of 2022, the United States is the second-largest manufacturer of motor vehiclesWEB, 2022 production statistics,weblink 2023-04-14, International Organization of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers, and is home to Tesla, the world's most valuable car company.WEB, Klebnikov, Sergei, Tesla Is Now The World's Most Valuable Car Company With A $208 Billion Valuation,weblink limited, Jul 1, 2020, 2023-04-14, Forbes, en, live,weblink Jan 28, 2023, General Motors held the title of the world's best-selling automaker from 1931 to 2008.NEWS, Bunkley, Nick, 2009-01-21, Toyota Ahead of G.M. in 2008 Sales, en-US, The New York Times,weblink registration, 2023-04-14, 0362-4331, Currently, the U.S. has the world's second-largest automobile market by salesNEWS,weblink China overtakes US in car sales, The Guardian, January 8, 2010, July 10, 2011, London, live,weblink Sep 9, 2013, and the highest vehicle ownership per capita in the world, with 816.4 vehicles per 1,000 Americans (2014).WEB, January 30, 2017, Fact #962: Vehicles per Capita: Other Regions/Countries Compared to the United States,weblink January 23, 2021, Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy, Department of Energy, en, In 2017, there were 255 million non-two wheel motor vehicles, or about 910 vehicles per 1,000 people.WEB,weblink How Many Cars Per Capita in the US, August 2017, Capitol Tires, live,weblink Nov 27, 2023, Beginning in the 1990s, lower energy and land costs favor the production of relatively larger cars, leading to a decline in economy cars. The culture in the 1950s and 1960s often catered to the automobile with motels and drive-in restaurants. Outside of the relatively few urban areas, it is considered a necessity for most Americans to own and drive cars. New York City is the only locality in the United States where more than half of all households do not own a car. In a car-dependent America, there is a common dislike of car dealerships and car salesmen, with only 10 percent of U.S. citizens in a Gallup poll rating them highly honest.WEB, 2023-01-10, Nurses Retain Top Ethics Rating in U.S., but Below 2020 High,weblink 2023-02-24, Gallup, Megan, Brenan, en, Matilda by Roald Dahl gives an example of this stereotype: Matilda's father sells used cars by filling their engines with sawdust or reversing their odometers with a drill.File:New York City street scenes - Easter on 5th Avenue LCCN93506588.jpg|thumb|right|Automobiles on the streets of New York in 1915]]The United States emerged as a pioneer of the automotive industry in the early 20th century. General Motors Corporation (GM), the company that would soon become the world's largest automaker, was founded in 1908 by William Durant.WEB, The Pit Boss, The Pit Stop: The American Automotive Industry Is Packed With History,weblink Rumble On, 5 December 2021, 26 February 2021, The U.S. also became the first country in the world to have a mass market for vehicle production and sales, and mass market production process.ENCYCLOPEDIA, automotive industry, Encyclopædia Britannica, Rae, John Bell,weblink 5 December 2021, WEB, Automobile History,weblink History.com, 5 December 2021, 21 August 2018, In the 1950s and 1960s, subcultures began to arise around the modification and racing of American automobiles and converting them into hot rods. Later, in the late-1960s and early-1970s Detroit manufacturers began making muscle cars and pony cars to cater to wealthier Americans seeking hot rod style & performance. This culture has evolved into a worldwide phenomenon for car enthusiasts of today, and the project car is a common sight in American suburbs.{{Citation needed|date=February 2024}}

Cultural institutions

File:12072012 Smithsonian Building 02a.jpg|thumb|The Smithsonian Institution Building was the first building of the Smithsonian InstitutionSmithsonian Institution

Governmental culture institutions

{{further|National Historic Landmark|National Historic Sites (United States)}}The United States government does not have a ministry of culture, but there are a number of government institutions with cultural responsibilities, including the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities, the Federal Communications Commission, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian Institution, and the National Gallery of Art.Many state and city governments have a department dedicated to cultural affairs.

National Register of Historic Places

{{see also|National Register of Historic Places property types|Historic districts in the United States}}{{Multiple image| image1 = Bidwell Mansion, May 2021.jpg| leftClockwise from top: a Bidwell Mansion>building, a Cape Creek Bridge, an Virginia Washington Monument>object and a site – all are examples of NRHP property types.| image2 = Cape Creek Bridge, Oregon.jpg| image3 = Pikes Peak from Garden of the Gods.JPG| perrow = 2/2| Image 4 = George Washington Statue - Capitol Hill Richmond (VA) 2013 (8759158238).jpg| image4 = George Washington Statue - Capitol Hill Richmond (VA) 2013 (8759158238).jpg| total_width = 350}}The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic value." For most of its history, the National Register has been administered by the National Park Service (NPS), an agency within the U.S. Department of the Interior.

Non-governmental culture institutions

Major private US-based culture institutions include the Poetry Foundation, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, the J. Paul Getty Trust, and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Museums

{{further|List of museums in the United States}}File:Air and Space Planes.jpg|thumb|200px|Aircraft on display at the National Air and Space Museum, including a Ford Trimotor and Douglas DC-3Douglas DC-3In the United States there are many museums, public and private. Major museums in the US include the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the museums of the Smithsonian Institution, the American Museum of Natural History, the Art Institute of Chicago, and The Getty Museum.

Archives

{{Further|List of archives in the United States}}There are various archives in the United States for the preservation of history and culture, such as the National Archives and Records Administration.

See also

• 1950s American automobile culture
• American studies
• American exceptionalism
• American Dream
• Americanization
• Americana
• Society of the United States
• American imperialism
• Etiquette in North America
• Folklore of the United States
• Philanthropy in the United States
• Stereotypes of Americans

References

{{Reflist|refs=}}

Further reading

• BOOK, Alexander, Charles C., Here the Country Lies: Nationalism and the Arts in Twentieth-Century America, 1980, Indiana University Press, Bloomington, 9780253155443,
• Coffin, Tristam P.; Cohen, Hennig, (editors), Folklore in America; tales, songs, superstitions, proverbs, riddles, games, folk drama and folk festivals, Garden City, N.Y. : Doubleday, 1966. Selections from the Journal of American folklore.
• BOOK, A Brief History of American Culture, Crunden, Robert Morse, 1996, M.E. Sharpe, 9781563248658, 363,weblink
• BOOK, Marcus, Greil, The Shape of Things to Come: Prophecy and the American Voice, Macmillan, 2007, Greil Marcus, 978-0-312-42642-2,weblink
• Shell, Ellen Ruppel (2009). Cheap: The High Cost of Discount Culture. New York: Penguin Press. {{ISBN|978-1-59420-215-5}}.
• Swirski, Peter (2010). Ars Americana Ars Politica: Partisan Expression in Contemporary American Literature and Culture. Montreal, London: McGill-Queen's University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-7735-3766-8}}.

External links

{{Commons category}}

• weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20110719102209weblink">Customs & Culture in the U.S.
• weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20130525102842weblink">American Culture Education
• Life in the USA: The Complete Guide for Immigrants and Americans
• Guide to American culture and customs for foreign students (U.S. Army Intelligence)
• weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20110627175126weblink">CommonCensus Map Project – Identifying geographic spheres of influence

{{United States topics}}{{Culture of the United States by state}}{{Authority control}}