What is an American?

In the chapter we read this week for class, Greenberg and Page analyze the United States by its population. They look at the nation from a Macro lens encouraging us to step back and look at how we have changed over our the course of our history.

We often judge a nation by its political leaders, its institutions, its history, and perhaps its athletes and entertainers, but these individuals and entities are only extensions of what matters most. The everyday citizens or “Average Joes” of a country are the core of the nation and the foundation of everything else that we see. Despite the knowledge that populations are made up of very different individuals, it is incredibly common for us to make sweeping generalizations about a populace. Greenberg and Page give us the statistics and facts on the United States’ population that should help us define “What is an average American”, but the sweeping differences between us make it almost impossible.

There is no denying that the United States of America is a melting pot and has turned into an increasingly diverse nation on every level. Seen as the land of opportunity across the world, the US attracts immigrants from every country and every walk of life and has done so for hundreds of years. As our population changes, so does our country. Not all people want change, and at every point in our young country’s history, immigration has been met with resentment. Even recently, men and women have furiously fought to keep others out of this country and to keep America for who they believed to be Americans, but the answer to what an American is varies depending on who you ask. Some may imagine a white Christian family man living in a comfortable midwestern suburb with a normal office job as your “average American”, but this man does not represent all the other people we would consider to be Americans. This narrative forgets the single mothers working two jobs just to put food on the table, or the Hispanic high school student working late so he can be the first member of his family to go to college, or the black businessman working on the 84th floor of a New York City skyscraper dealing with million dollar hedge funds. I think that all of these people could be considered average Americans, despite the numerous and obvious differences between them.

Similarities in gender, skin color, religious views, economic status, shape and size, or where we call home do not help us define an “American” because we are too different as individuals. Greenberg and Page mention ideas like individualism and populism as common American beliefs but even on that we cannot fully agree. We are split politically and ideologically on everything. Even things we think we can agree on are not supported by 100% of the population (As mentioned in this NPR article). This chapter highlights the differences between American people and yet I still believe there is something we all have in common that makes us all Americans. I ask you to really consider the following questions. What do you think an average American is like? What makes us all American? Do you consider yourself to be an average American? There might not be a correct answer to any of these questions. Maybe the only thing that makes us all American is our citizenship, but I like to think there is something deeper than just the title of “an American” that I have in common with every other citizen of this country.

http://www.pewhispanic.org/2015/09/28/chapter-5-u-s-foreign-born-population-trends/

http://ww1.bryont.net/racial-ethnic-makeup-united-states/

6 Responses to "What is an American?"

Alexandra Friedman says:

September 25, 2017 at 7:53 pm

I really liked how your article was able to combine how diverse our country is in multiple ways. Often, there is a perception that the only things that separate us are our races and religions. But, like you pointed out, we also just have radically different views from each other. After reading the NPR article you provided, I found it extremely interesting how little Americans could agree on. It made me wonder where these differences in opinion truly stemmed from. I think after reading your post it would be natural to suggest that these differences in opinions stem from our differences in ethnicity and upbringing. But, if this is true, then it is hard to imagine how we will ever break these barriers.

In the NPR article, one suggestion to fix this problem was having people move away from only looking caring about their own goals. Instead of focusing just on ourselves, we would benefit most from enlightened self interest. This would mean recognizing that we would achieve our maximum self interest by taking what other people want into account. I think this is extremely true and important, but it is hard for me to picture this actually occurring on a large scale level and in our country. We have built a country where everyone is always pursuing their own self interest, but the wants of the majority count more than the minority. So, returning to your question, I agree that there is no one person that is an American. But, often the cookie cutter American is the one that benefits from being able to express and enact their views. Because of this, people continue to see them as the classic American and it is hard for minorities to succeed in changing this.
Katherine Fell says:

September 25, 2017 at 8:52 pm

While it is beneficial for institutions to gather information about citizens that includes race, gender, income, and occupation to draw conclusions about the changing demographics of our country, I agree with you in that these categories cannot be used to determine what it means to be an American. I feel as though being an American goes beyond a person’s physical attributes or financial background. To me, the cornerstone of the American citizenship is that there is no such thing as an “average American.” America is constantly described as a melting pot almost to the point where the phrase is a cliche, but the overuse of this phrase does not take away from the truth behind it. The version of the United States that we have come to know today is a mixture of countless different ethnicities from all over the world, making it impossible for me to distinguish whether or not I think I am an “average American” because such a thing does not exist. While I do not think that there are any physical attributes to describe what it means to be an American, I do believe that there is a set of values that bring us together as a nation. This does not mean that we need to think the same thing about certain issues in order to be considered an American. In fact, it is our shared right to disagree on issues and voice our opinions that brings us together as a country. The American population is so diverse and divided nowadays on certain values and issues, but this does not mean that someone who is pro-life is any more of an American than someone who is pro-choice, and vice versa. These people who stand on opposite ends of an incredibly debated and divisive political issue are both equally American because they both have equal rights under the US Constitution. You said in your original post that maybe the only thing that connects all of us is our shared citizenship, and with this logic, I agree. Many people oftentimes overlook the value and freedom that comes with being a US citizen, and how many Americans take these essential rights for granted.
In many cases, though, the people that I see that have an immense understanding and appreciation are the immigrants coming into the country that many “average Americans” are trying to push out. When I was in high school, my French teacher was an immigrant from Poland, and I will never forget the day when she shared with the class about the day that she officially became a US citizen. She was holding back tears as she told us about the ceremony, and how it was one of the happiest days of her life, and how she is so lucky and appreciative to have a life here in the United States. It is the rights and values that she earned on that day that every American citizen shares, and it is having these rights and values is what makes a person an American.
Kevin Todd says:

September 26, 2017 at 6:24 pm

I thought you brought up many interesting points in your argument. I agree with you on the fact that maybe the only thing that considers us an “average American” is our citizenship. I do not think it is possible to put a label on the average American because of the differences between each and every citizen. I feel that I can say I am an average American but only due to my citizenship, there are so many aspects to consider in determining what an average individual. Sure you can find some of the average American’s way of life through specific statistics like median household income but it is impossible to be able to walk down a street and point out what the average American looks like because we as a society do not know what that completely looks like.

The article that you brought to our attention was titled “A Nation Divided: Can We Agree On Anything?” I think it was pretty bold for the writer to categorize the US as a divided nation. The US is not and has not been divided despite our differences in opinions. Like previously stated we are all different and therefore have different views and ideas towards certain aspects of life but that does not mean we are a divided nation. I think it is important that we all have differences and have different views. It would not be good to have a society so easy to conform. It’s important to have a society that disagree on different aspects of life because eventually the one that is best fitted for our country will prevail through powerful debates between our citizens.
Grace Miller says:

September 27, 2017 at 2:38 pm

I agree with you that is very difficult to describe the average American citizen. I think it’s almost impossible as our country is so diverse in so many ways, whether it be gender, race, religion, socioeconomic status, etc. However, defining what makes us all American is a seemingly much easier task for me to tackle. In the literal sense, an American is anyone living in this country in my opinion, legally or otherwise. If answering the question in a more broad sense, I think one of the greatest common factors among Americans is their love for country.
In “What Makes an American?” by Raoul de Roussy de Sales (https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1939/03/what-makes-an-american/309021/) the differences in American nationalism and other country’s nationalism is explored. For example, it’s stated that if you asked a Frenchman what made him French he would know exactly how to answer, yet an American answers with something along the lines on “living in the American Way,” and speaks of the massive growth that comes from just living in this country. The American Dream is a great motivator, that at least creates the guise that anyone that enters this country has the opportunity to become who they want to be, in this “land of opportunity.”
I do believe I am an average American in the sense that I care greatly about this country, and do wish to serve my country in whatever way I can best. I think the phrase average American is almost an oxymoron, as our country prides itself on it’s non-averageness, however, there is definitely a sense of nationalistic pride when someone states that they are an American.
Jackson Puckey says:

September 27, 2017 at 7:17 pm

There is a line in the political drama The West Wing about how, while the phrase “average American” may seem like a derogatory term to many of the show’s Washington elite characters, most Americans are proud to see themselves as the “average American” and strive towards what they believe that to be. While the demographics of the average American may be changing in many ways (race, income, religion, ideology, etc.), it seems that this ideal transcends demographics. In this way, I agree with your point that being American is in no way defined by one’s creed, color, or ideology.
As we discussed in class, American political culture is defined by several key values. Two of these (which you mentioned) are individualism and populism. While these ideals have their dangerous extremes, they are at the very least present in the minds of every “average American.” In this way, what defines someone as an American is not their demographic information, but rather their belief in these key values of the American political culture.
The average American cannot be defined by anything beyond these values. As is clear by the data you presented in the original post, the face of America is consistently changing. With minority populations rising, the demographic definition of the average American is no longer a viable one. While I, as a white male from the South, may fit the average European’s stereotype of the average American, this is not why I consider myself an average American. It is based on the core political culture and ideals enumerated in the chapter and ingrained in the psyche of anyone who grew up in this country.
Yanbin Zhang says:

September 27, 2017 at 8:18 pm

Compared with most of the modern countries in the world now, America may have the most diverse community in the sense of nations, races, cultures and economic backgrounds. Therefore, the foundation for national identity of American is different from that of other states since it has been revised with every wave of immigration in the history.
Nation state is the most frequent form of states recently in which its national identity of people is normally based on their shared origin of nation, the long history of living in their territory, the similar religious preference and the common language. Those fundamental factors altogether make a group of people distinct with any other groups of people. Moreover, In the case of the countries with several different nations, usually one of them is dominant over others. After long time competition with other nations, the minority of nations have already accept their position in the country and the dominant nation would come up with more policies in favor of those in minority. But among those different ethnic groups of people, there must be some common ground of their lifestyle, language, or cultures. So they would eventually share a common national identity over their ethnic identity. But the conditions in the U.S, it is quite different.
It requires a long period of time for a group of people to have the sense of belonging to a specific land. Only native American people is historically originated in the America and other group of people arrived on the land with different historic wave. So it creates the situation that one group of people which arrived earlier and already felt belonging here would very likely to reject or discriminate other people which come later. And those different groups are sometimes too distinct with each other to find a common ground. So it provides a huge impact on the existed national identity. At the very beginning, the American people defined themselves as “ White Anglo-Saxon Protestant” because most of people were from England at that time. But this identity was weaken by the wave of European immigrants and shifted to a Western cultural identity. And it was again changed by the immigration from Asia, Latin American. Eventually the it shifts from a single ethnic identity to a multicultural national identity. But this identity is not completely dominant over the identity of different nations especially when it comes to the issues about the every nation’s interests.
So the American identity is much vague than other countries. It more relies on the shared belief to the country’s stable political structure, strong economy, free and equal opportunities of people. Apparently, such belief is very possible to be influenced by external factors such as the change of a new government, the economic situation. So it might be a long-lasting question to have a stable and clear definition of the “Average Americans”.

Comments are closed.