8. Unique characteristics of anglo-american culture

Political parties – Black Panthers – San Francisco – 1st American city to have gay mayor, welcoming and respecting to minorities

• Immigration:

  • People usually think that America remains the Promised Land, where prosperity and opportunities abound (= oplývat): something about American Dream survives intact (= nedotknutelný).

  • Legal immigrants vs. illegal aliens – careful about which description to use

• Multi-cultural/Multi-racial society:

  • White Americans are outnumbered by other racial and ethnic groups = browning of America

• Melting pot or salad bowl:

  • Melting pot = The USA is traditionally called a melting pot because with time, generations of immigrants have mixed/bland together: they have abandoned their cultures to become totally assimilated into American society.

  • + people understand other cultures – equality, avoids clashes or violence

  • - people can loose some culture

  • Salad bowl/pizza pie/mosaic = cultures lives next together don’t bland, integration of the many different cultures of United States residents combine like a salad, as opposed to the more traditional notion of a cultural melting pot. New York City can be considered as being a "salad bowl".

  • + They stick together, cuisine

  • - bad interactions, violence, cultures living next to each other

• State law and federal law (constitution and amendments):

  • Federal law applies to all citizens living within the national territory

    • Made by the national government in Washington DC

  • Many of laws to the ordinary citizen (divorce, speed limits, alcohol consumption, gambling and education) are made by the individual states

    • for example, death penalty is applicable in 32 states – Texas, Oklahoma, Florida, Arizona, etc.

• Gun violence: Violent crime

  • Origin in 2nd amendment – 1791 right to bear hands, have a right to protect your family and property

  • War of independence – consent of the governed” people need to afgree/aproove what government does, if they decide government is not doing well they can

  • Militia = wanted to protect their land, developed in minutemen (toss guns in a minute/swords) – then trained professional army

  • Serious issue in American society

  • Stem from the fact that guns can still be easily purchased over the counter

  • National rifle association = gun rights advocacy group

  • School shootings -

  • the Columbine High School massacre 1999 two students attempted bombing at high school, the biggest massacre on American high school in history

  • Las Vegas shooting

• Religion in America:

  • Freedom of religion = one of the basic principles underlying the American Constitution

  • Lack of single united church ← first settlers in America had fled their own countries in Europe in order to escape religious persecution (Quakers, Calvinists, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Jews, Catholics).

  • Prayer’s been banned since 1960’s in state supported schools – atheists claimed that being forced to recite a prayer was anti-constitutional

  • Fundamentalists: conservative movement in American Protestantism, since 1830’s

    • Right wing group