Chapter 1:

UNDERSTANDING
THE CULTURE OF
THE UNITED STATES
Session 1:
Before your read + Part of While you read
BEFORE YOU READ

Preview Vocabulary
 A. Discuss the following questions with a partner.
Notice the Academic Word List (AWL).
• 1. If a country has great ethnic diversity, would you expect to find many people who
speak different languages and have different customs?
• 2. Could planning a visit to another country motivate someone to learn a foreign
language?
• 3. Should immigrants be required to learn the language of their new country before they
become citizens?
• 4. How could you learn about the customs and traditions for a holiday in another country?
• 5. If there are more people in the United States who speak English rather than Spanish,
which is the dominant language in the United States?
• 6. Is the climate of a country a significant factor in the daily lives of the people? Why?
B. Find the words in the quotation to write next to its meaning.

convinced

reveals

culture

job

participants
BEFORE YOU READ

Preview Content
 A. What do you know about the “culture” of a country?
Work with a partner and answer the questions.
1. What is the culture of a country? If someone asked you to describe your
country’s culture, which of these would you mention? And anything else?
2. Do you agree with Edward T. Hall? Do people really not
understand their own culture? What aspects of a country’s culture
are the hardest to understand?
LIFE IN THE UNITED STATES
• A Nation of Immigrants
• Cultural Pluralism in the United States
• Making Generalizations about American Beliefs
Group Discussion
• Introduction
• A Nation of Immigrants
• Cultural Pluralism in the United States
• Making Generalizations about American Beliefs
Introduction
• People are naturally curious about each other, when we meet people from different
countries, we want to know many things, ranging from some basic questions (easy to
answer) to abstract questions (more difficult to answer):
+ What life is like in their country?
+ What kind of houses do they live in?
+ What kind of food do they eat?
+ What do the people believe in?
+ What do they value most?
+ What motivates them?
+ Why do they behave the way they do?
In order to answer these questions about Americans,
there are TWO THINGS to remember:
• (1) The immense size of the United States
• (2) Its great ethnic diversity
The immense size of the United
States
Five-day travel from New York to Los
Angeles
Two-day travel from
New York to Florida
 Ethnic Diversity
• The Native Americans with their own languages, cultures,
traditions or even governments)
• First European settlers from 1500s, including: Spanish, French
• From the 1600s to the birth of the United States in 1776, most
immigrants were from northern Europe, and the majority were
from England. It was these people who shaped the values and
traditions that became the dominant, traditional culture of the
United States.
A Nation of Immigrants
 Peoples in the United States
• Native Americans (own language, culture, tradition, government)
 First European settlers: 16th century – Spain, France
--> 17th century to the birth of the United States in 1776:
Northern Europeans & English people: shaped the traditional values
and dominant culture of the United States.
Late 19th & Early 20th centuries: Greatest number of immigrants, including
NEW immigrants from all over Europe and Asia
In order to limit the number of immigrants, the Immigration Act was put
into effect in 1921 and in 1924 it virtually closed the door. During 40
years, the Act favored immigrants from northern and western Europe with
several exceptions allowing groups of refugees from some countries.
By the end of the 20th century, the US admitted more immigrants from
Latin America, the Caribbean & Asia to help family reunifications
 Peoples in the United States
• In the 21st century, the numbers of new immigrants have risen as in
the early & end of 20th centuries with different pattern:
 White Americans of European descent decrease.
 Early 21st century: new immigrants from Latin America (Hispanic
- Americans) increase. But in 2010, the number of these new
immigrants declines.
 From 2010, the immigrants from Asian countries rise.
 Minority non-white becomes larger vs. white majority grows
smaller
 “Majority minority” – more than half of the population are
members of minority groups.
 Cultural Pluralism in the United States
• Some critical questions about the new immigrants in the United
States:
+ What role new immigrants will play in their new country?
+ To what degree will they choose to take on the traditional American
values and culture?
+ How much will they try to maintain their own language and cultural
traditions?
+ Will they create an entirely new culture based on some
combination of their values and those of the traditional American
culture?
 Cultural Pluralism in the United States

• In some parts of the country, although the children of immigrants may have
grown up bilingual and bicultural, for a number of reasons many did not pass on
their language and culture.
• However, in parts of the country with established communities that share a
common language or culture, bilingualism and biculturalism continue. In
California, for example, a test for a driver’s license is given in more than thirty
different languages.
• Cultural pluralism is more accepted in the United States today than it was in the
first half of the twentieth century, and some schools have bilingual programs and
multicultural curricula.
 Cultural Pluralism in the United States

• On the one hand, many Americans try to maintain their ethnic heritage and their
cultural traditions.
• On the other hand, there is an increase in the number of interracial marriages.
• More and more children are born of mixed race or ethnicity, resulting in the fact that
the color of most Americans will be beige, or light brown.
• Most Americans are very sensitive to the language used to describe racial and ethnic
groups, and they try to be politically correct (or “P.C.”). For example, some black
Americans prefer the term African-American instead of black to identify with their
African heritage. Meanwhile, some peoples prefer to be identifies by their country of
origin (Cuban-American, Mexican-American, etc.)
 Cultural Pluralism in the United States

• In spite of all this diversity, there is still a tie that binds

Americans together – that is a sense of national identity – of
being an American. Since there is no term such as United
Statesians in the English language, people in this country call
themselves Americans without the intention to exclude
people from Canada or Latin American countries as residents
of the American continents.
Making Generalizations about American
Beliefs
• What can we say about Americans?
• What holds them together and makes them feel American?
• Is it possible to make generalizations about what they believe?
Making Generalizations about American
Beliefs
• It is possible to make generalizations about what they believe,
but we must be cautious about generalizations.
• Not all Americans hold these beliefs, nor do all Americans believe
these things to the same degree.
• The ways in which some Americans practice their beliefs may also
differ, resulting in a great variety of lifestyles.
• These cultural values have defined the United States and caused
people from all over the world to embrace the way of life here
and eventually to identify themselves as “Americans”.
 WHILE YOU READ
Understand Main Ideas
Read the passage and answer the following questions.

• 1. What are two important factors that affect life in the United States?
• 2. What is the heading for the section that discusses the history of immigration in
the United States?
• 3. What is cultural pluralism?
• 4. What is the main idea of the section headed Making generalizations about
American beliefs?
Understand Details
• Write T (True) or F (False) according to the information in the chapter .

T
T

T
Skill Building: Scanning
Scan the reading to answer the questions.

p.5 – CA, NY, NJ

p.11 – 1831

p.6, chart – 14.8%

Scan the reading to answer the questions.

p.8, chart – 308, 745, 538

p.4 - 1908

p.9 – great, great, great grandfather from Ireland

Build Vocabulary: Use Context Clues
 quota

minority

neutral observer

identity

distinct
 identity

distinct

minority
f

g
j

c
• 1. aspect: /one part of an idea that has many parts
• 2. category: group of things that all have the same qualities
• 3. concept: an idea
• 4. debate: a discussion of different opinions
• 5. establish: to start something that will continue
• 6. estimate: to judge by calculating and guessing
• 7. hypothesis: an explanation that is not yet proven
• 8. incidentally: by the way
• 9. institution: a large organization
• 10. survive: to continue despite difficulties
• 11. unique: one of a kind
• 12. vary: to be different
Build Vocabulary: Understand Prefixes
il not
bi two

multi many
im in

out
em
inter between
Build Vocabulary: word partners
g

f
a

d
e
neutral observer

significant factor

working hypotheses
 legal immigrants

industrialized countries

cultural pluralism

dominant culture
Session 2: Expand your knowledge
Chapter 2
TRADITIONAL AMERICAN VALUES & BELIEFS
 constitution

status

individual

achieve

resources
 benefit
reliant

ethical
foundation

welfare
pursuit

Self-evident

inalienable

endowed
Group discussion
1/ Introduction Paragraphs 1-6
2/ Individualism & Self-reliance Paragraphs 7-12
3/ Equality of Opportunities & Competition Paragraphs 13-20
4/ Material Wealth & Hard Work Paragraphs 21-26
5/ American Values & the State of the American Dream Paragraphs 27-32
Introduction
● From the beginning of the history of the United States, there has been great ethnic diversity.
● Most early Americans recognized this diversity, or pluralism, as a fact of life. The large variety
of ethnic, cultural and religious groups meant that accepting diversity was the only practical
choice, even if some people were not enthusiastic about it, or were even threatened by it.
● However, by time, many Americans came to see strength in their country’s diversity.
● Historically, the United States has been viewed as “the land of opportunity”. Americans have
nurtured a unique set of values which represent three traditional reasons why immigrants
have been drawn to America.
● This system of values consists of three pairs of benefits (rights) and price (cost,
responsibilities):
● + Individualism Freedom & Self-reliance
● + Equality of opportunity & Competition
● + Material wealth & Hard work.
Individual Freedom & Self-Reliance
● The earliest settlers came to the North American continent to establish colonies
that were free from the controls by kings and governments, priests and churches,
noblemen and aristocrats in Europeans societies.
● In 1776, the British colonial settlers declared their independence from England and
established a new nation, the United States of America. They defied the king of
England and declared that the power to govern would lie in the hands of the
people.
● The early settlers thus created a climate of freedom where emphasis was on the
individual with the concept of individual freedom.
Individual Freedom & Self-Reliance
● By freedom, Americans mean the desire and the right of all individuals to control
their own destiny without outside interference.
● There is, however, a cost for this benefit: self-reliance. Individuals must learn to rely
on themselves or risk losing freedom. They must achieve both financial and
emotional independence from their parents as early as possible and “stand on their
two feet”.
● If adult children return home to live with their parents because of economic
conditions or a failed marriage, most members of the family expect this to be a
short-term arrangement. Although receiving financial support from charity, family
or the government is possible, it is usually expected to be for a short time, and it is
generally not admired.
Equality of Opportunity and Competition
● Generations of immigrants have come to the United States with the expectation
that everyone has a chance to succeed here.
● In “the old country” from which they came, their place of life was determined
largely by the social class into which they were born. In America, they would not
have to live among noble families who possessed great power and wealth inherited
and accumulated over hundreds of years.
● Equality of opportunity means that each individual should have an equal chance for
success. Americans see much of life as a race for success. Equality means that
everyone should have an equal chance to enter the race and win. Equality of
opportunity may be thought of as an ethical rule. It helps ensure that the race for
success is a fair one and that a person does not win just because he or she was born
into a wealthy family, or lose because of race or religion.
Equality of Opportunity and Competition
● However, the price to be paid for this equality of opportunity is competition. If
much of life is seen as a race, then a person must run the race to succeed; a person
has the responsibility to compete with others, even though we know not everyone
will be successful.
● The pressures of competition in the life of an American begin in childhood and
continue until retirement from work. There are programs of competitive sports in
public schools and community groups for both men and women.
● The pressure to compete causes Americans to be energetic, but it also places a
constant emotional strain on them. Retirees feel useless and unwanted in this
society. Generally, any group of people who do not compete successfully – for
whatever reason – do not fit into the mainstream of American life as well as those
who do compete and succeed.
Material Wealth and Hard Work
● Immigrants have traditionally come to the United States to have a better life – that
is, to raise their standard of living. Because of its abundant natural resources, the
United States appeared to be a land of plenty where millions could come to seek
their fortunes.
● The majority of them were eventually able to improve upon their former standard
of living. Material Wealth became a value to American people.
● Materialism and materialistic are offensive to most Americans. They do have other
values and ideals, rather than only material possessions.
Material Wealth and Hard Work
● Because American rejected the European system of hereditary aristocracy and titles
of nobility, they need to explain why they use material wealth as a measure of
social status in their society.
● They have paid a price, however, for their material wealth: hard work. Only by hard
work could they converted natural resources into material possessions. Hard work
has been both necessary and rewarding for Americans throughout their history.
● As the United States has shifted from an industry-based economy to service-or
information-based one, there has been a decline in high-paying jobs for factory
workers. Many of them have to rely on some outside assistance from the
government or other sources.
American Values and the State of the American Dream
In recent years, as the economy has declined, many people have wondered if the
American Dream is really dead.
The American Dream has traditionally meant that by working hard, parents can enable
their children to have a better life when they grow up. Every generation could be a little
more prosperous and successful than their parents.
The overwhelming majority of American still believe in the ideal of the American
Dream – that is, if they work hard, they and their children can have a better life. Some
who find they are working longer hours for less money still hope that the American
Dream will exist again, if not for them, then for their children.
● In reality, these ideals are not always put into practice. Equality of opportunity, for example,
some people have a better chance for success than others. Race and gender may still be
factors affecting success. And of course new immigrants continue to face challenges unique
to their situation.
● The fact that American ideals are only partly carried out in real life does not diminish their
importance. Most Americans still believe in them and are strongly affected by them in their
everyday lives.
● These cultural values creates the fabric of the American society. It is this fabric that defines
the American Dream – the belief that if people take responsibility for their lives and work
hard, they will have the individual freedom to pursue their personal goals and a good
opportunity to compete for success. These values are so tightly woven together that if any
one of them is pulled out or even disturbed, the entire fabric is affected and may come apart.
● These values enable a nation of enormous diversity to create and maintain a national
diversity.
Understand Main Ideas. Complete the outline (p.38).

values

self-reliance
Equality of opportunity and Competition

succeed

The price for equality of opportunity is competition.

Material Wealth and Hard Work

living

The price for material wealth is hard work.

 American Values and the State of the American Dream

happen / come true

almost every facet of American life

Understand Details (p.39)
Skills Building (p.40)
Scan the Chapter to find out the answers to
the following questions.
Build Vocabulary (p.42)
d
f
h
a

g
c
i
k

j
l
e
Use Context Clues (p.42). Choose the best explanation for the words in bold.
surveys public opinion

control their own destiny

seek their fortunes

 provide a decent standard of living

face challenges
 reliance

emphasize

concept

achieve
reject