21st Century American Individualism

Name: GÜRBÜZ SÖZ Student ID: 130302012 Section: B3
Question: Americans devotion to individualism is crucial for their survival. Which 3 values do you think are most important for the 21st century American and why?

American Values
The most important thing to understand about Americans is probably their devotion to value of individualism. Their mixed culture creates their values and assumptions. A culture can show us the large part of their values and assumptions. Americans devotion to individualism is crucial for their survival. Furthermore, almost all Americans are happy with their personal lives, so that, this values are most important for 21st century American. Time, ınformality, and equality are as important as individualism, because just an individualism is not enough for understanding the 21st century American.

It is like a shot arrow from a bow that never returns back. One of the prerequisites of being a 21st century American would be realizing the value of time. According to Althen (2003), Americans say “Time is money” because time for them is so vital to survive and succeed through life. Americans conceive time as the most precious tool that can be used wisely or poorly and so they are always after it. Most foreigners don’t understand Americans attitude towards time thinking that Americans are not able to live the precious moments of life because they try to save their time and use it for necessary things whenever possible. Athens (2003) marked, “In their efforts to use their time wisely, Americans are sometimes seen by foreign visitors as automatons, unhuman creatures who are tied to their clocks, their schedules, and their daily planners that they cannot participate in or enjoy the human interactions that are the truly important things in life.”(p.10) Athens further said that Americans try to use time in the most resourceful way and for that some American businesses hire “efficiency experts” to know their performance and enhance it.

Other than that, they are very casual people who wear casual and speak accordingly. This notion of informality of Americans roots from their culture that treats and maintains every individual as equal in society. This behavior of Americans might strike people as weird or disrespectful but it is quite normal for a 21st century American. Althen (2003) stated “People of almost any station in life can be seen in public wearing jeans, sandals or other informal attire.”(p.9) Althen added “This informal behavior can outrage foreign visitors who hold high stations in countries where it is not assumed that “all men are created equal….”(p.9) Their conversations are quite casual and upfront which makes them appear as regular people no matter what their status in society