Civilisation américaine - Partie I

Civilisation américaine

The US institutions allow to understand the language and the culture. The goal of the course is to understand both our culture and the others through a fight against clichés, lack of knowledge and bias.

It is important to go beyond a lot of things we can hear or see, especially in the French Medias, where the view is very pessimistic in order to please the French ego, and so where there are a lot of clichés. They give a warped vision of the foreign cultures. French journalists also iften show a lack of knowledge. The portrait they give is not reliable.

US are 17 times the size of France and located on a good location, because it is not as close of the North Pole than Canada, and it is not too close of vast desert regions.

Notion of space is determined by our culture. Our reference is the distances that we have in France. A meter is the same everywhere but the distance between 2 major cities in France and in the US is not the same. In France, the next village will be 5 kms away, but it will more often be 50 kms away in the US.

In terms of size, France is seen as big when compared with other European countries. But when compared to the US, France is 4/5 the size of Texas.

France is not a big country at the world’s level. America is the 4^th largest country in ize. It is so big that the American have had to establish time zones. In France, it is the same hour in Brest and Strasbourg, in the US, when it’s 8h in NY, it’s 6h in San Francisco or Los Angeles. In the West of Alaska and NYC, there is a 4 hours difference, so there are 4 time zones total.

Space is expanded, because France has the size of one state. In America, there are several cities of a million people. 80% of the people live in cities, and 50% in cities above 5 million people. The size of the farms is also bigger. There would only be 2 US farms in Maine-et-Loire. It’s necessary to have a lot of space, because it doesn’t rain a lot. You have to take a helicopter to get at the opposite point of a farm.

Skyscrapers were invented in the US, and they have the highest. The Americans were also the first to on on the moon, which is the continuation of their need of space.

The New Frontier, a political platform form Kennedy had for idea that space was a challenge, being size or social space. Its goal was to abolish poverty. These various types of spaces, horizontal, vertical and figural, are as much challenges for the US.

The next space is not an area where you cannot go, but one where you can go and take up the challenge. European countries ust to fight for borders, limits that cannot be trespassed. But the American seek to go to the other side and take up the challenge to do something better. They only go in the hope to succeed, the result of a success being progress. Progress Is a means to reach happiness.

The immensity of land means there was a lot of work to be done, but also a lot of constraints. You had to do the work, or you died. The first settlers in America expected that 50% of them would die. The word had to be efficient, because one person is limited in what they can achieve. They didn’t have machines, only their hands and a handful of tools. But in the other hand, the immensity of the land provided opportunities for everybody willing to work. Everything had to be build.

We became a value in American history was the notion of initiative. Today, it would be called entrepreneurship, which is the legacy of the notion of initiative. People are going to try and implement ideas instead of waiting for someone to tell them what to do. It also brought up the notion of risk, which is totally accepted in America. Today, it is accepted to fail at something you try, but it is not accepted not to try. In Europe, risks are calculated, so as they do not become too high. European routine is not accepted. It also implies that the people who survived were strong-willed. There is a culture of strong-will in America.

If we compare with other cultures, all works are welcome. There is not a sort of hierarchy of work. In particular, manual work is looked upon up to in France, which is not the case in America. In France, we still have a culture inherited from monarchy. French people have an idea of aristocracy, which is to succeed without pulling too much work. In America, one would not boast succeeding without doing anything, but would wnt to be credited for all the work he has done.

No one is America is going to find faults woth one becoming rich. In America, money is directly equal to your work, so if you want more you work more. In Europe wou would organize a demonstration. “If I want to know how much m colleague is earning, I will ask him how much he works.” This indicates the link between work and money is very close.

In America, there is a work ethic. It’s ethical to work in the sense that if you don’t work, it’s not ethical, which changes the outlook of what poverty or unemployment are. In America, it’s easier to find a job, but it’s more criticized when you don’t find one. In France, even if you need to, it may be difficult to find a job. Money is not dirty, which sometimes in France it is, althought it’s chanching in the US. It’s still a reward, and there is a ration more work/more money.

The level of consumption in America establish your social status. It’s determines by how much you can spend. If you consume a lot, there is nothing wrong about it because it means you deserved it. It’s not only accepted, it’s ethical because it meas you are enabling other people to work, and so to consume too. On the contrary, putting money on a safe is not ethical. It leads America to being a consumption society, where consumption is the barometer of your deserves.

Consumption in America is unrestrained and conspicuous, because it’s in fact integrated in the economic system of American society, in the sense it helps American economy, by allowing people to consume goods and services that have been produced or put in place. It allows people to find jobs in order to consume themselves. It’s a virtuous circle. It’s part of the duty of a person to consume. Thus it becomes morally ethical. Not consuming is regarded as unethical. Sometimes there is waste and overconsumption due to the fact it’s unrestrained. But it’s part of the American economy.

If Alaska was situated at the level of Norway, Florida will be located at the level of Sudan. The size of the country means it’s impossible to consider it as one region. There is a perspective of regions with the 51 states.

Some of them are as big as Western Europe. If we take the western half of the US, it’s bigger than western Europe. It means that if you are an American, during the November elections, governors are more important in your daily life. The president is as important for the Americans than M.Barroso for Europe. Washington DC is for the Americans what Brussels is for the Europeans. People tend to vote less for their president and more for local politicians. The National level is for them less important than for French.

There is a tradition of suspicion concerning the federal government. They are suspected to make decisions without knowing the reality of states. They do not have the trust of the population.

The notion of time is usually pretty much structured in years, decades and centuries. In other countries, there are historical references of time. The reference in France is from today to Vercingetorix, which means 2 000 years. In Italy, it’s Romulus and Remus. The history of China is 6000 years. Your reference of time depends of your history length. In America, the founding act of the US as a country is the declaration of independence 240 years age. The fact is it has a much shorter history than every European countries.

Do we measure time according to the number of years and centuries, or do we have other elements to measure it?

We can measure the number of actions that took place. Then American history goes much faster than the one of France. For example, the industrial revolution took place in 40 years, for 150 years in France. There are pretty much the same landmarks, but they are much

More condensed. Americans celebrate their history on a regular basis. In France, it depends of the region you live in. They have just as many public holidays as us. Although it took place on a shorter period of time, American history is just as rich as the others.

The notion of speed implies the notion of change. It supposes a certain degree of activity and of action. In American, the notion of acting has become a virtue. On the other hand, being inactive is a fault. It means America has developed a culture of being active. This activity is all the stronger as Amercia has not been hampered by traditions, which in fact slows change.

In America, there has been a continuous state of revolution. Having a permanent revolution has canceled any need for a real revolution, like the one of 1798 in France or the one of 1948. Because things change all the time, there is no need for a violent revolution.

The notion of mobility is at first geographical, and it’s natural in America, because America is a country of immigrants. 100% of the population is composed of immigrants or people who have immigrant origins. In Europe, there is a notion of demographical stability.

The second mobility is the mobility in the country. A person born in Florida may die in Minnesota, after studying in Louisiana and working in NY. The notion of mobility inside the country is also very natural.

There is also a notion of professional mobility. American historically lived were the jobs were. Many American ran for California to Atlanta for the Olympic Games. Even for a short period of time, they are going. Today, many people rush to Minnesota or North Dakota because of the oil industry development.

Social mobility is the idea of a social ladder. Traditionally, people have gone up the social ladder. This has been the case at the beginning, although it’s changing today. The last generation is not certain to be as high as their parents on the social ladder, because it’s not possible for them to do even the same as their parents.

Mobility may also be seen as the improvement of the people themselves. The idea of somebody who was in delinquency and improved himself into a socially acceptable person is an example of American vision of mobility and is perfectly accepted. A very prominent politician caught doing drugs who publicly apologized has been forgiven. In America, being frank about his misdeeds may allow to be forgiven.