White American culture is the common culture, the common ways and set of understandings, of white Americans. For the most part it is the same thing as Anglo-American culture, which takes in English-speaking Canada.
White people in America are all different. They have different experiences and backgrounds, they think and act for themselves. They are not living stereotypes or slaves to their culture.
But that said, most whites still share a common culture. It is what you see on television, what is taught in school. It is why white suburbs are so much alike from city to city.
That common culture is way way more white than black, more Anglo than Latin, more Protestant than Catholic, Muslim or Jewish.
I know most white Americans are made uneasy by calling anything “white”. It sounds so skinhead. It goes against their colour-blind racism. But the fact is white Americans share a common culture that is different than black American culture. Racism lies at the heart of that culture. It is important to see that. Trying to pretty it up helps no one. So it is not just American culture, but white American culture.
It is also different than white British or white Australian culture. So it is not just white but white American.
Here are some of the features of White American culture. Again, keep in mind that not every white person follows all of this. And again, many of these things will be found in other cultures, especially British and Black American culture, its closest cousins:
- language: American Standard English. Stiff, long-winded, impersonal.
- religion: a private affair, but mainly Protestant and Bible-based.
- weights and measure: English, some metric.
- law: common law from England based on precedent; trial by jury; no man should be above the law.
- government: democracy, presidents.
- freedom: makes society stronger and richer, not weaker.
- the future: what you make it.
- music: rock, country, gangsta rap, swing.
- dress: blue jeans, dressing down.
- cows: for meat, milk, leather.
- pigs: eaten.
- dogs: loved, not allowed to run loose, almost seen as one of the family.
- diet: cows, pigs, chicken, turkey, wheat, maize, potato, sugar, cow’s milk, beer, chicken eggs.
- breasts: not commonly bared in magazines or in public.
- beards: rare.
- books: rarely read after age 25.
- poverty: a moral failing.
- wealth: worshipped.
- intelligence: looked down upon: geeks and nerds.
- race: colour-blind racism: lip service is given to colour-blind equality, but in practice whites are seen as better than blacks and their lives matter more.
- homosexuals: accepted to the degree that same-sex marriage is now a matter of debate.
- female beauty: white-skinned, thin, long yellow hair, big breasts, empty blue eyes.
- drink: beer common among men but not allowed for children.
- coffee or tea?: coffee since the 1920s.
- sports: an important part of life; baseball, American football, basketball, ice hockey, golf, tennis.
- family: parents with young children; divorce common; personal desires over family.
- parents: try to be friends with their children; avoid physical punishment.
- managers: try to be friends with their employees.
See also:
- Do whites have a culture?
- Jennifer Smith – the completely average American
- About different features:
- England
- A Guide to Anglos
Tue 18 Nov 2008 at 01:46:11
Having a culture doesn’t mean that you are hampered by it, on the contrary every culture has the power to evolve and transform by itself,for example, the french are different than the french from 1000 years ago, still you can tell that there are french traits in their architecture, their language, their ideology, their way of thinking, if the french hadn’t evolved there wouldn’t be a declaration of the rights of the man, they still would be ruled by a monarchy. Individualism isn’t opposed by Culture nor the other way around, neither is creativity
Actually having a culture you call your own makes you look back at the history of your culture and not making the same mistakes or correct what was wrong in the first place. (why many french scoff at the word monarchy?)
Bye the way I love Jimmy Hendrix too, without him Rock music wouldn’t be the same
Tue 18 Nov 2008 at 04:45:27
Interesting assessment.
But still…I don’t believe that there is a white American culture. Not an uniform one, at least. To be white in America is to be “raceless”. There is no distinct culture affilations. Any perceived ones just come across as stereotyped ideas based on numerous observations or perconcieved notions.
Tue 18 Nov 2008 at 13:18:40
To be white in America is to think of yourself as having no race and yet all the while enjoying the benefits of being white.
Tue 18 Nov 2008 at 15:33:06
If one is willing to stretch the definitional boundaries of a word or term, almost anything is possible. I’m reminded of the absurd trope often heard in the 1970’s to the effect that black Americans could not be “racist” because they lacked the economic power to inflict large scale harm on another race. Right.
Agabond conflates the notion of a (somewhat inaccurate) list of purported shared behaviors with “culture.” Culture requires more. Otherwise, we could say that all humans share a culture; after all, we all walk upright on two feet, we speak to one another with verbal languages, we create and use tools, and we generally figure out ways to coif our hair.
The notion of culture requires a structure within which a combination of language/dialect, manner of dress, manner of behavior, diet, etc. acquire symbolic meaning that creates a sort of extended kinship which is mutually recognized among those who share it.
White America is far too vast and polyglot to be said to have a culture. There are certainly some strongly infused cultures within white America. For example, a white American from California attempting to move into the state of Maine would encounter there a strong cultural self-identification amongst Mainers that includes, among other things, a stubborn refusal to admit outsiders. One can find a similar exclusionary pressure in Hawaii vs. Haolis, or in Pacific Northwest states.
Jews, especially in the greater East Coast New York megalopolis area, harbor a culture that is so strongly and deeply infused that it is often (falsely, in my opinion) referred to as a race.
Areas of the south, with their regional dialects and belief systems, evidence a similar cultural bond. A Yankee like me crossing the Alabama border on a rural highway would have good reason to fear getting waylayed and beaten up by some ‘Bama Jethroes just because I’m an outsider there. Even Agabond, witnessing my beating, would be hard pressed to maintain his fallacious assertion that my assailants and I share the same “culture.”
Among motorcyclists, you will notice that they generally wave to one another when passing in opposite directions on the roadway. There is a bit of a shared cultural identification among motorcyclists. Bikers at restaurants or parking lots will approach one another in a spirit of kinship forged from facing a shared menu of dangers on the roadway. Interestingly, there is even a sub-cultural divide here — Harley riders who refuse to wave to riders on Japanese bikes, especially replica-racers (so-called “crotch rockets”): “I don’t wave to rice,” they will snarl.
On college campuses all around the nation one can observe small groups of people, mostly skinny white guys, dressed in neo-hippy garb, kicking a hacky-sack. A similarly dressed stranger can “hack in” to such a group and instantly find a group of friends, as well as a party that evening that will likely include the use of X and a DJ playing hypnotic rave style music or a jam band in the vein of Phish.
These are just a few of many cultures that exist within America, some defined by geography, some by religion, some by shared lifestyle choices. A similar mutually shared culture exists among many black Americans. One often sees black strangers greet one another with the honorific “Brother” or “Sister,” an indicator of this culture. It is this sense of “culture” that whites refer to when stating that they themselves do not have a culture and rue its absence.
Tue 18 Nov 2008 at 17:46:15
Are Jewish People White?
Tue 18 Nov 2008 at 18:16:27
Wow – lets see how I stack up
language: American Standard English, however I was raised in a household with no TV and we read the complete shakesphere works each nigt, each taking a part and reading it allowed. Often, despite my californian accent, people think I am Irish – even people from ireland, because they say my speech has a melodic feel to it.
religion: Protestant and Bible-based.
weights and measure: English, some metric.
law: – I am only member in family who was not a police officer at some point
government: democracy, presidents.
freedom: Favorite quote from Ben Franklin – those willing to sacrifice Freedome for security, deserve neither (to paraphrase)
the future: what you make it.
music: rock, country, gangsta rap, swing.
dress: blue jeans, dressing down. – dress up for church, and for occasions that call for it
cows: for meat, milk, leather. – and deer, I hunt extensively
pigs: eaten. – yep
dogs: loved, not allowed to run loose, however they are animals, not people
diet: cows, pigs, chicken, turkey, wheat, maize, potato, sugar, cow’s milk, beer, chicken eggs, deer, moose, beer (all yummy)
breasts: not commonly bared in magazines or in public – hmmm, Mine are great, but yay, don’t show em
beards: I hope not! But my husband wears one
books: I read extensively, prefer it to TV
poverty: a moral failing – sometimes, sometimes its just life
wealth: over rated
intelligence: Looked Up and incouraged (all forms, not just book smarts)
race: Everyone is judged by their actions, not skin color
homosexuals: accepted to the degree that same-sex marriage is now a matter of debate.
female beauty: Beauty to me is more about the person and how they hold themselves
drink: Jose Cuervo, Jimmy Walker, Jack Daniels and Jim Beam are some of my favorite men
coffee or tea?: coffee please, or more accurately, 6 shots of esspresso over ice several times a day
sports: ehh – I like to be active but wont watch it…prefer to do
family: Family is important, divorice not an option, children come before personal desires
parents: My job is to race contributing members of society…I am not my kids friend…I am their parent – and my three sons need a kick start upside the head at least once a day.
managers: I understand tht the company is in business to make money – not give me a job
Tue 18 Nov 2008 at 18:17:33
damn – typo city above, thats what happens when I multi-task
Tue 18 Nov 2008 at 18:45:01
To Blanc2 above- about motorcyclists…
“Harley riders who refuse to wave to riders on Japanese bikes, especially replica-racers (so-called “crotch rockets”): “I don’t wave to rice,” they will snarl.” THis is a BIG generalization.
My husband rides a custom harley type bike and a crotch rocket…We have gone on many hog rides where all types of bikes participate.
And I do have to say the grungie skinny long haired artsy pseudo intellectual waiter down the street has annoyed me from the moment I ment him (and his “type” useally do) and city yuppie types and I have little in common. I could walk up to a group of black people on the street and fit in better than with a group yuppie types.
Common interests I think define a group more than skin color.
Tue 18 Nov 2008 at 19:22:59
Are Jewish People White?
Yes, they are. “White” is simply a convenient shorthand for the “American of European descent”.
Tue 18 Nov 2008 at 19:35:09
Common interests I think define a group more than skin color.
True enough, but race is not reducible to the trivial notion of “skin color”. Race is a material basis of culture (statistically speaking).
Tue 18 Nov 2008 at 19:42:49
nonserviam, welcome back!
Tue 18 Nov 2008 at 19:42:57
@ nonserviam: As Karen Brodkin explains very well, American Jews did become white, especially after taking part in the “largest affirmative action plan in U.S. history,” the GI Bill (enjoyed mostly by white men and their families). But not all became white–don’t forget the Sephardic ones.
Tue 18 Nov 2008 at 19:56:46
These are just a few of many cultures that exist within America, some defined by geography, some by religion, some by shared lifestyle choices.
Again, true enough, but not all subcultures are created equal, so to speak. White America is indeed very heterogenous, and is mostly in denial about her cultural commonality and its basis, but that doesn’t mean this shared basis doesn’t (or shouldn’t) exist.
Furthermore, given the present trends, that denial is a luxury Euro-Americans may not be able to afford for much longer. The sooner they recognize themselves as a distinct entity and act in their common interests, the better.
Tue 18 Nov 2008 at 20:01:53
Thank you, abagond.
Tue 18 Nov 2008 at 20:08:43
nonserviam –
“Furthermore, given the present trends, that denial is a luxury Euro-Americans may not be able to afford for much longer. The sooner they recognize themselves as a distinct entity and act in their common interests, the better.”
what do you mean?
Tue 18 Nov 2008 at 20:27:12
Davida:
According to the latest census, whites are destined to become a minority in America by 2042 (eight years earlier than previously estimated). There is nothing “natural” or unavoidable about this trend, it has been brought about by the mass non-white immigration, both legal and illegal.
We are becoming a minority in our own country (disclaimer: I am a first-generation immigrant). Do you think that is a good status to have?
Tue 18 Nov 2008 at 21:07:06
hmm – Illegal immagration is a problem because we lose conrol of who is in and out. Same reason why I lock my calendar in outlook so people in my office cant invite themselves to a meeting I control. Legal immigration – I dont mind. In fact, I think first generation americans are much closer to the values that america is about than spoiled kids who have no idea why their ancestors wanted to come here.
Mixing of races – I dont mind and I do think its natural. Children should be a product of love – not part of an effort to maintain the genetic pool. And my nieces and nephews are evidence of this.
My mothers family has been here since the Bevis sailed to the US in 1638…and before that if you include her great grandmother who was an american indian.
My fathers family came to the US just before WW1, from germany (he says Prussia).
My first 13 years of life were spent in a tiny southern california town where the only non white people where the migrant workers. Literally 95% of our school was white.
I then moved to san francisco where I saw my first black person in real life. In my junior high and highschool in SF, I was the minorty. Not only was I one of the few white people, and i mean we really were the minority, but I was the only white person in my grade that wasnt either part italien or part irish or both.
I have lived in a place that is both ends of your time line and frankly, see no problems with a country filled with people from all over the world.
I have to say that the phrase “our own country” to me is inaccurate. Anyone who values american values – and I mean the original settlers values – freedom of religion, taxation with out representation, right to persue the ownership of property (T Jeffersons orignal phrase later replace by pursuit of happiness). Give me your tired, your poor, your needy…not your white upper class who play softball.
As long as Americans continues to value those things – i dont care what their racial heritage is. American as apple pie, with curry for dinner and rice and beans for lunch.
Tue 18 Nov 2008 at 21:23:04
nonserviam, you said:
We are becoming a minority in our own country (disclaimer: I am a first-generation immigrant). Do you think that is a good status to have?
Many of us have lived as a minority in our country our whole lives. It would be best if no one was in the majority.
Tue 18 Nov 2008 at 21:28:43
Anyone who values american values – and I mean the original settlers values – freedom of religion, taxation with out representation, right to persue the ownership of property (T Jeffersons orignal phrase later replace by pursuit of happiness).
These values are rooted in a particular culture of a particular people that spawned them. While individuals of any ethnic and racial background can and have successfully assimilated, that becomes much more problematic for large masses thereof: “numbers are of the essence. (Furhtermore, assimilation is not irreversible, as irredentism among some second- and thrid-generation immigrants shows.)
Without culturally confident European-American majority, European-American values cannot be sustained. As simple and devastating as that.
Tue 18 Nov 2008 at 21:36:49
Many of us have lived as a minority in our country our whole lives. It would be best if no one was in the majority.
I beg to differ. Such a situation is inherently unstable and results in the Hobbesian free-for-all, until someone comes out on top. And that someone is likely not to share the whites’ delusional pieties.
Ironically, while the white racial guilt over slavery and subsequent mistreatment of blacks is a spiritual source of our national suicide, black Americans may fare even worse than white ones under its consequences. If the current race war on the streets of LA is any indication.
Tue 18 Nov 2008 at 21:43:03
Mixing of races – I dont mind
Neither do I. I would certainly oppose any legislative intrusion in this area. And nature indeed decides whether it happens or not.
Tue 18 Nov 2008 at 22:06:07
After thinking about american values – I think their root is not in EU Caucasin values but judaeo-christian roots. It was the jewish culture that first said that you must treat women a certain way, and slaves a certain way. And the emergance of christianiaty from judism furthered that. The signers of the bill of rights and the decleration of the independence were god fearing men and alot of the basic ideas came from this judaeo-christian root.
If I stopped and read this through I think I could explain what I mean better (the whole my boss is paying me to work right now thing).
Tue 18 Nov 2008 at 22:07:39
Oh – I ment to add – Soviet Russia was not a christian culture, but a “white” culture and they do not share the values Americans do – at least as a culture.
Tue 18 Nov 2008 at 22:20:57
What we think of as American values come from England, but not just any part of England but from the middle-class Puritans of East Anglia in the 1600s, taking root in New England.
People who came to America from other parts of England did not fully share those values. That is what led to the civil war.
Those values are way stronger than nonserviam seems to give them credit for.
Most Americans are no longer English by blood, but the values are still with us. Particularly in New England – despite, please note, the huge numbers of Irish, Italians and French Canadians who came to live there – almost none of them Puritan, English or middle-class but mostly all working-class Catholics.
Not only are American values not just an English thing or a Puritan thing or a middle class thing, they are not even just a white thing or a Christian thing. They have been strengthened greatly during the 1950s and 1960s by both Jews and blacks who saw in those values protection for themselves.
Tue 18 Nov 2008 at 22:39:33
I think I get what your saying. I have never visited New England (acutally have only been out of california a handful of times, las vegas, montana and texas) but when people come to sunday lunch at my parents house…they walk away feeling as if they have experienced a Norman Rockwell painting…one with two biracial couples and 4 mixed race grand kids, 2 blonde and blue grandkids, Our friends from indian and the korean pastor and his family… but none the less a rockwell painting.
Tue 18 Nov 2008 at 23:13:54
Davida:
Judeo-Christian and Graeco-Roman (i.e. Classical) traditions are the twin pillars of what we have come to regard as Western, and specifcally American, values.
Russian culture is not Western in that sense, despite having been influenced by it. Indeed, today’s Russia exhibits many of the pathologies commonly found in the third (i.e. non-white) world: lawlessness, universal corruption, tyrannical and kleptocratic goverment, rampant violent crime etc. However, most Russian immigrants successfully and virtually seamlessly integrate into the framework of white America within a single generation. Which demonstrates, for me, the material reality of the white race.
And so does the fact that most white Americans today are not of the English or even Northern European origin. (Some argue that the Scots-Irish constitute the backbone of traditional America — while I happily concede to them that status, I am not interested in the “who’s the whitest shade of white” game.) Ideally, the “in-group” would incorporate the entire humanity. But in reality, however we might wish it to be otherwise (and I do wish it, believe it or not), some groups are simply not assimilable at their current stage of cultural evolution.
Tue 18 Nov 2008 at 23:20:51
I understand what your saying – and intellecutally agree with you. But at the same time(my husband would say I am naive) but I continually try and hope for the best and try and see the best in everyone. I want the world be be balanced and open and accepting of everyone.
This often results in my being betrayed by the trust I place in people. But I refuse to change who I am because that means I would let the bad parts of humanity change me. My husband on the other hand is jaded and bitter and is pretty sure everyone is going to betray him (except me)…so it all balances out I guess.
Wed 19 Nov 2008 at 03:50:06
books: rarely read after age 25.
poverty: a moral failing.
wealth: worshipped
Abagond you killed me with the three above.
Wed 19 Nov 2008 at 04:15:51
I think the book thing is inaccurate…I started a book sharing group and found lots of people who read as much as I do.
I will say – husband didnt grow up in a family that reads much.
I joke that we come from two different type of families
I come from a wheat bread, butter, whole milk, real cheese, real maple syrup, real peanut butter (has to be stirred) family
and he comes from a white bread, margirine, non fat milk, american cheese, fake syrup with chemicals and jiffy peanut butter family.
In our house we have wheat for me, white for hubby and kids, real butter, 2% milk, real cheese and fake cheese, both syrups, and alas fake pb, but real jam.
Perhaps you can define the different types of cultures by the type of food choices they make.
We ate the same thing growing up, but slightly different…My lasagna is made with ricota cheese, and my sis in laws – with cottage cheese.
Wed 19 Nov 2008 at 13:26:23
The numbers on American book reading are pretty shocking. They go something like this:
Half the books you see in a bookstore will never be sold. And of those that are, most will not be read beyond page 15. Some Americans are big book readers, but most do not read books after they get out of school. Even among those with a university degree, 40% do not read another book after they get their degree.
Wed 19 Nov 2008 at 13:37:11
Just because white Americans can be divided into subcultures, that does not mean they do not share a common culture. And they do not have to see that overarching common culture for it to be there.
In Roman times I am sure the Romans in Spain were different from those in Illyria or Gaul or Italy. Those who lived on the frontier were probably more German in their ways than those in Rome. The rich were probably more Greek in their ways than the poor. They did not all worship the same gods. And so on. And yet, despite all that, it is still useful to speak of a common, overarching Roman culture, one that has had a profound effect on the West.
In that sense white America does have a common culture and it is useful to speak about it. But if you live inside of white America it might be hard to see it.
Wed 19 Nov 2008 at 13:49:00
Macon D: Thanks for the book recommendation (Karen Brodkin – how the Jews became white and what that says about race in America).
Wed 19 Nov 2008 at 14:06:53
One measure of the extent to which a people share a culture is whether, and how, two strangers will greet one another should they happen to meet by chance in a place foreign to both of them. Two black Americans, bumping into one another in Rome, are likely to at least make eye contact and acknowledge one another, and might very likely speak, using the honorific “Brother” or “Sister.” Two white Americans, bumping into one another in the same circumstance, are very likely not going to acknowledge one another at all. There is no kinship.
Wed 19 Nov 2008 at 17:42:18
My wife pointed that out too – in Rome! But then I said that even back in America whites are not all that friendly to each other in public. It is not because whites are unfriendly people, it is just a part of their culture!
Wed 19 Nov 2008 at 17:43:29
Davida: that is interesting, applying the list to yourself to see how you are the same or different.
Wed 19 Nov 2008 at 19:06:35
I hate that part of my culture.
I always make a point of looking a person in the eye and smiling at them as I walk dow the street. I make small comments about having a nice day, thats a lovely shirt etc if I am standing in line with people. I saw a women running the other day and I told her to keep up the good work. I think people think I am nuts. They react very uncomfortable around me. White and Asian people that is. Black or latin folks smile back and say hi and chat. If tis a black or latin man they think I am flirting and hit on me…which I worry that I am putting the wrong message out there…but its just not in me to be unfriendly. I even smile and greet the homeless folks on the street, chat with them if they talk to me. I refuse to act like they are not standing there…invisible people…no ones invisible.
A homeless man asked em for a dollar and i said I didnt hae any cash(which was true)..he then said I was pretty and then stopped, got a worried look and said he didnt mean an harm by that. I told him “mohala for the ego boost man” every girl needs one once and awhile and I hoped he could stay warm today. He was walking down the street to a shelter down the block.
Thu 20 Nov 2008 at 01:10:13
I am still shocked by the book thing
I have stacks and stacks of books that I read and re read. I have a friend who writes for geek.com and she gets sent books by publishers to review and gives me anything she doesnt want to review. So I have huge piles of books waiting for me to hide in the bathroom and read.
Thu 20 Nov 2008 at 03:29:55
That must be great!
Thu 11 Dec 2008 at 17:34:33
i just attended a project management course and came away with an even larger list of books I must get. I need to win the lottery or something so I can have time to actuallyr ead everything I want to read
Sat 13 Dec 2008 at 01:33:13
I know that feeling