As we wait for students to arrive, please review the readings I assigned last class:
Kohl's Values Americans Live By
Remember that we were learning how humans are shaped by their society. Culture is a strong force in nurturing who we are. We are born into a culture and before we are even conscious, we are shaped by it. Culture is made up of different components, but values are one of the strongest components in shaping the lives of individuals living within the culture.
Culture in general and values specifically are not always so easy to define. Culture is dynamic, constantly evolving. Values are very strong components of culture. They shape so much about what we do and how our daily lives are structured.
Sociological Studies of Values
Below are some studies of values in the U.S. identified by social scientists:
In 1970, sociologist Robin Williams published his examination of American cultural values.
In 1985, L. Robert Kohl published a similar examination of values written for refugees like the Lost Boys so that they could adjust to American culture.
And, in 2015 Sociologists Erik Olin Wright and Joel Rogers published American Society; How It Really Works in which they identify five core social values that most Americans affirm in one way or another: freedom, prosperity, efficiency, fairness, and democracy.
Below is a chart that synthesizes the lists of values from above.
Look at the list of values that Americans hold (above on the left). Identify American values that might complement each other. These are called value clusters.
1. What values from the column on the left complement each other? List the values from the left side that might go together.
Sociologist Karen Cerulo explains the importance of understanding the complexity of American values in her 2008 essay here:
Values can change over time or take on increase prominence depending on the situation. Sometimes, cultures embrace different values simultaneously even though they might contradict each other. Culture can be both ideal and real; that is, culture can contain values that people agree are important (ideal) but they may be different from values that are actually manifest in everyday life (real).
2. Look back to the list of American values above and identify some of the values that might contradict each other.
Thriving in America? Comparing American values to the ethnographic documentary.
Thrive by Dan Buettner is a cross-cultural ethnographic study of cultural values.
3. Identify values that are contradictory to U.S. values from the film God Grew Tired of Us.
4. After Identifying the values in #1 (above) that contradict what the Lost Boys value, can you connect them to some of what Buettner describes in Thrive? What values in Thrive either support the US Values or what the Lost Boys value?
Hopefully, you see that culture can shape our lives in numerous ways - especially what we value about community, workplaces, social life, financial life, homes and our self-identity.
My goal is for you to become sociologically mindful about the ways in which culture shapes you, especially in how it leads you to be happy or not. With sociological mindfulness, we can use research like Buettner's to consciously guide our choices to help us live happier lives.
My goal is for you to become sociologically mindful about the ways in which culture shapes you, especially in how it leads you to be happy or not. With sociological mindfulness, we can use research like Buettner's to consciously guide our choices to help us live happier lives.
For more on Thrive:
- Here is the Thrive happiness test- it will measure your satisfaction and make recommendations.
- Here is a review of the book from NPR.
- You can read a preview of the book from Goodreads here.
- Here is link to an interview with the author on NPR.
- Here is the publisher's Thrive website.
Critically Examining American culture:
State of the Nation: Cross-cultural data about life in the USA
The NY Times (2025) Wealthy and Unhappy reports on research to study "the true state of the nation."(Summarized here) The article explains that the US has both steadily grown its GDP and maintained its place as the 1st or 2nd highest GDP in the world:
But this economic dominance has not translated to other positive outcomes:
5. What are your thoughts about the data displayed above from the State of the Nation Report?
Pew Research Center: Cross-cultural views about American Society
6. What are your thoughts about the way other countries view the US compared to how Americans view their own country?
Other Links:
This link to Study USA explains American values for foreign exchange students coming to the USA:
This link to Study USA explains American values for foreign exchange students coming to the USA:
https://www.studyusa.com/en/a/1223/six-aspects-of-u-s-culture-international-students-need-to-know
American Themed Parties around the world:
This skit from SNL called Washington's Dream is a funny take on American cultural differences in weights and measurements.
This link (disabled in 2025) to the US State Dept. provides ways of thinking about American culture: https://www.state.gov/courses/answeringdifficultquestions/html/app.htm?p=module2_p2.htm (disabled 2025).
Mindfulness and Values
Let's think with sociological mindfulness for a second about values. They shape you in so many different ways. And they also shape the entire culture in certain ways. These values lead to behaviors that we all participate in unconsciously. These behaviors can have an enormous impact on a culture when you view them as cultural behaviors. Watch this TED talk by Chris Jordan to see how the behaviors impact our culture:
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