Uniformity In American Society

Although Americans like the idea that all Americans stand united with a common identity; in reality, Americans identities’ are based on race and class. Americans also believe in a sense of individualism which is measured in terms of material possessions. Ironically enough, the search for individualism and freedom has led Americans to rely upon the corporate state more than ever. The American struggle for individualism and thus reliance upon the corporate state has made Americans a materialistic and superficial society warped by a consumer fantasy of utopia.

The race and economic standing one is born with in America will decide the life paths that are available to them throughout their life. Ta Nehisi Coates argues that the American dream

This causes uniformity in the lives of most successful people; this uniformity includes a nuclear family and a white collar high paying job. Because of this uniformity in so many aspects of people's lives, Americans feel the need to differentiate themselves in small socially acceptable ways. This need to individualize usually manifests into Americans’ need to obtain the most material possessions. Their possessions must not only be great in abundance but also in monetary value and gaudiness. In Ginsberg’s poem “Howl” he captures this perfectly by saying “Moloch whose skyscrapers stand in the long streets like endless Jehovahs...Moloch whose soul is electricity and banks” (Ginsberg). Americans’ obsession with money and possessions is caused by a need to obtain control over one’s life in a society in which there is little control available to successful people, mainly in certain crucial aspects of their

The Mall of America has become synonymous with a “consumerist” heavy American mainstream culture and America's reputation on a global stage. One of the items on a foreign visitor's itinerary is to visit a mall. When one the main destinations in America is a mall, with their cavernous corporate empires that dominate consumers attention, it is evident that the American culture is a superficial carefully controlled fantasy propagated by the corporate state whom Americans rely on. Americans are so reliant upon the corporate state because their desire to be individuals and have their own “possessions eventually [leads to] dependence upon possessions. Freedom is slavery”(Burgess). Hence, Americans need for individualism and subsequent competing for wealth leads Americans to rely upon a corporate state that Americans claim to want freedom of choice