EPTFor sure the US has (big) diffrences, but for the most part they are probably much smaller than between European countries, just because the development of the european countries took place way before international travel was "normal" and so cultures got more varied (lack of outside influence).
Do U.S. states have their own culture or identity? - Page 3
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Velr
Switzerland10870 Posts
For sure the US has (big) diffrences, but for the most part they are probably much smaller than between European countries, just because the development of the european countries took place way before international travel was "normal" and so cultures got more varied (lack of outside influence). | ||
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achan1058
1091 Posts
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stenole
Norway869 Posts
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Mataza
Germany5364 Posts
Many cities have their own "cultural identity" because of their own long history. Looking at it differently has you notice, for example, that in contintal europe there are many cultural similarities. If you go even broader, you could say that the eastern hemisphere and the western hemisphere are the only fundamentally different cultures. Just taking the internet, you see only a few major divides by language barrier, like english speaking, russian speaking, chinese speaking(insert other languages). Talking from my own knowledge, there are cultural differences between the federal lands of germany. The most notably are east german and west german, thanks to a 50 year division. Then there is bavaria which are the people with lederhosen, then berlin, which as the capital is naturally a big city with many new people moving there, also the Ruhrgebiet, which is very industrial culture, northern germany has easy going trader and seafarer descendants etc. etc. If you ask me, the defining point is pop culture today. We watch the same TV shows and movies and watch the same game as quite literally the entire west. America, australia, europe are one big western culture getting ever closer connected via internet. So actually, what difference does it make that "no really, american states are incredibly diverese". Everything is, if you look hard enough. | ||
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Shottaz
United Kingdom414 Posts
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Tobberoth
Sweden6375 Posts
Are the differences between states in the US as profound as the differences between many European countries? Highly unlikely, but that doesn't change the fact that there's probably vast difference between states, even neighboring ones. There's difference in food habits, education, dialects, values... | ||
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Tobberoth
Sweden6375 Posts
On May 03 2013 18:47 stenole wrote: That we speak different languages in Europe not only stops us from exchanging cultural impulses but it also complicates the process of moving to the other country, so migration is less than it would have otherwise been. The individual education systems further pushes a wedge between us because our countries will primarily teach literature and history from a national perspective. If I move from Norway to Sweden, I will retain my Norwegian identity no matter how much I assimilate to their alien society. Can the same thing be said for someone who moves from Pennsylvania to Maryland? Indeed, and that's still a pretty weak difference since Sweden and Norway are quite similar culturally. Compare that to a Scandinavian moving to Italy, or a Ukranian moving to England. | ||
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[UoN]Sentinel
United States11320 Posts
In the western states the differences are apparent. There's a huge difference between the kind of people you see in California, those you see in Arizona, and those in New Mexico. And the differences definitely change at the borders. Demographics change almost instantly - the number of Native Americans drops severely from New Mexico to Arizona, and the number of Asians is huge even in eastern California but not Arizona. In the smaller states it's more blurred but still kinda apparent. You don't see people in New York City, for example, with a Boston accent. Or you do but if you talk to them they'll probably tell you they're from around Boston. | ||
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[UoN]Sentinel
United States11320 Posts
On May 03 2013 19:05 Tobberoth wrote: Indeed, and that's still a pretty weak difference since Sweden and Norway are quite similar culturally. Compare that to a Scandinavian moving to Italy, or a Ukranian moving to England. Scandinavian moving to Norway would definitely be a New Yorker moving to Los Angeles for instance. The differences are pretty huge and even though everyone speaks the same language, you'll be recognized as an outsider. At first there's obviously the differences of walking, phrasing, and speaking wrong (and getting spotted as an outsider for it), but even after that everything is localized to some extent. Just like you said Sweden and Norway are similar culturally but there's still differences, there are the same type of differences IMHO between eastern and western United States. The one thing that will screw you over in the states is geography. There are cities you can move to like Salt Lake City where if you've been living your whole life at sea level, good luck with your breathing since everything in a 500km radius is a mountain. | ||
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Wuster
1974 Posts
On May 03 2013 18:47 stenole wrote: That we speak different languages in Europe not only stops us from exchanging cultural impulses but it also complicates the process of moving to the other country, so migration is less than it would have otherwise been. The individual education systems further pushes a wedge between us because our countries will primarily teach literature and history from a national perspective. If I move from Norway to Sweden, I will retain my Norwegian identity no matter how much I assimilate to their alien society. Can the same thing be said for someone who moves from Pennsylvania to Maryland? Yes, 100%. If you attend college in the states; you'll quickly realize that student self-identify as locals and foreign. I attended college in-state and I remember how we'd never forget who was from out-of-state. That was very much their identity. I had a cousin who did the opposite; went to college out-of-state; he hung out with other out-of-state people and teased the locals for having such weird customs. These identities very much stick with you. And it isn't just college, I have a co-worker who's been living in my state for 10 years and until he told me that I always assumed he had recently moved from New York. It was that obvious that he wasn't from around here. Edit: You'd probably be surprised by how different the education standards in different states are; and I don't even mean the states where everyone's an idiot either. A friend of mine grew up in Texas and his grammar is so much better than everyone else we know, because when he was in school that was what they emphasis; but where the rest of us went to school, the emphasis was on science. While it's undeniable that America runs on English (even if America officially has no national language) making cultural exchanges much more fluid; different parts of the country do have very different influence. The American Southwest has a heavy Spanish Influence; Louisiana a French influence; heavy Scandanavian settlements in the Mid-West (early American immigration policy was to stick them in the coldest part of the country). | ||
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shell
Portugal2722 Posts
But from what i've seen, read and learned about the USA, that are many differences beetween states. Even Portugal that has a very strong national identity but is very small and only has 10 million people have their own regional identity culture that belongs to a bigger portuguese culture.. That can be slight diffencies in the speach or vocabulary, different foods or way or tought.. etc.. A person from Alabama is not the same has a New yorker and a Texan is not a Miami or California resident! And don't forget USA has many immigrants that also influence and change the local culture | ||
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Nothingtosay
United States875 Posts
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helvete
Sweden276 Posts
On May 03 2013 19:53 Nothingtosay wrote: People who have never lived in the US or at least visited multiple states will probably be astoundingly ignorant of the differences in our nation. I've been to the US a couple of times, in different states, and I'd say Hollywood prepared me pretty well for the cultural differences. It is very noticeable, but not extreme. If you're talking about ignorance, try being a swede (I don't identify as a European) talking to someone from the States. Any state. 80% of you think of Europe as some sort of homogenous country, and that's being generous. Ask yourself, how often have you heard someone say "European accent" or something equally absurd? I'm probably equally ignorant about other parts of the world though.. | ||
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DropBear
Australia4399 Posts
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kafkaesque
Germany2006 Posts
On May 03 2013 20:13 helvete wrote: I've been to the US a couple of times, in different states, and I'd say Hollywood prepared me pretty well for the cultural differences. It is very noticeable, but not extreme. If you're talking about ignorance, try being a swede (I don't identify as a European) talking to someone from the States. Any state. 80% of you think of Europe as some sort of homogenous country, and that's being generous. Ask yourself, how often have you heard someone say "European accent" or something equally absurd? I'm probably equally ignorant about other parts of the world though.. Man, I don't think it's too surprising that most USA-citizens have no idea what goes on in the world. If local politics / culture in Germany were as interesting as American politics / culture, I wouldn't even bother trying to understand global politics / culture. Just compare presidential elections to the snoozefest that is German politics. It's much more captivating to be part of a culture that rules the modern world than it is to hear about financial dilemmas in Greece for the better part of a year. It's certainly annoying when semi-moron* Americans get on your case because you're ignorant about the USA while they have no clue about the rest of the world, but seriously, it's hard to blame them. Europeans have the more intriguing history, Americans have the more intriguing present. *not to imply that attribute applies to more than just a small fraction of USA citizens... | ||
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shell
Portugal2722 Posts
On May 03 2013 20:13 helvete wrote: I've been to the US a couple of times, in different states, and I'd say Hollywood prepared me pretty well for the cultural differences. It is very noticeable, but not extreme. If you're talking about ignorance, try being a swede (I don't identify as a European) talking to someone from the States. Any state. 80% of you think of Europe as some sort of homogenous country, and that's being generous. Ask yourself, how often have you heard someone say "European accent" or something equally absurd? I'm probably equally ignorant about other parts of the world though.. I consider a Swede to be a european.. you don't feel like you are? I say Sweden is a important part of europe and i feel like atleast in Portugal, Sweden is respect and admired like a great european country. BTW There are way more differences in culture and identity among european countrys that beetween any american state. Lets just say all of europe has thousands of years of it's own history and most of us speak other languages and have different USA doesn't even have 250 years and has a former colony are made of "immigrants".. not the same thing! USA history is a mingle of other countrys cultural heritage, fuzed into they own history! | ||
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hypercube
Hungary2735 Posts
a common culture? Or Miami and the Florida panhandle? | ||
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achan1058
1091 Posts
On May 03 2013 20:19 DropBear wrote: I can't tell the difference between Americans and Canadians, let alone americans from other americans! It's actually pretty simple. We make fun of Americans, and they make fun of us. Jokes aside, I don't actually notice a big difference from San Francisco to Vancouver. Texas on the other hand...... | ||
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shell
Portugal2722 Posts
[QUOTE]On May 03 2013 20:13 helvete wrote: [QUOTE]On May 03 2013 19:53 Nothingtosay wrote: People who have never lived in the US or at least visited multiple states will probably be astoundingly ignorant of the differences in our nation.[/QUOTE] I've been to the US a couple of times, in different states, and I'd say Hollywood prepared me pretty well for the cultural differences. It is very noticeable, but not extreme. If you're talking about ignorance, try being a swede (I don't identify as a European) talking to someone from the States. Any state. 80% of you think of Europe as some sort of homogenous country, and that's being generous. Ask yourself, how often have you heard someone say "European accent" or something equally absurd? I'm probably equally ignorant about other parts of the world though.. [/QUOTE] I consider a Swede to be a european.. you don't feel like you are? I say Sweden is a important part of europe and i feel like atleast in Portugal, Sweden is respect and admired like a great european country. BTW There are way more differences in culture and identity among european countrys that beetween any american state. Lets just say all of europe has thousands of years of it's own history and most of us speak our own languages and have different cultural perks USA doesn't even have 250 years and has a former colony are made of "immigrants".. not the same thing! USA history is a mingle of other countrys cultural heritage, fuzed into they own history! | ||
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sc4k
United Kingdom5454 Posts
On May 03 2013 20:28 kafkaesque wrote: Europeans have the more intriguing history, Americans have the more intriguing present. It's arguable that Europe has a more intriguing future though. At least, from a technical standpoint, it's in a state of flux and therefore is more intriguing. What could happen going forward is interesting. If we became a big country, Europe would have a large economy and population than America, and perhaps command as much if not more attention on the world stage. Which would be interesting. Seeing as I consider America the 'good guy' Superpower, we would be there to stand with them on things like human rights issues, but also be able to put pressure on America when they abandon their principles which they are wont to do with impunity. | ||
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