Factors Influencing American Culture

“You can choose your friends but you sho' can't choose your family, an' they're still kin to you no matter whether you acknowledge 'em or not, and it makes you look right silly when you don't.” (Lee ?) People can’t choose the family their born in, or their social class. Social class doesn’t determine who people are; but it’s what they decide to do about it, that makes the difference. Social classes have been around since before the dark ages, but America is one of the luckier countries when it comes to this. American citizens have the opportunity to change their standing in society by getting a better education, a good paying job, and making more money than their parents made. This is called social mobility. Social mobility is where a person can move up in the social classes or move down the ladder. Since there is such a wide variety of people in different cultures, it influences American culture. There are three principal aspects that help determine the factors that influence American culture; which are money, mindsets, and necessity.

The way that Americans define social class is by money. There are three main income groups: high income, middle income, and lower income. Someone who is in the high income group is at the top in the social ladder. These people have more money, which means more status, power, and opportunity. People judge others based on how other look, act, and display themselves. Most everyone wants a good deal of money or to be on the top of the social ladder. This is influencing American culture because people are holding this idea that money brings happiness, which means that most people are valuing riches over other important aspects of life. Furthermore, people are only working towards that higher status and money, which is changing the very foundation and basis of society and its