4 ms·

Diversity, as understood as a possible problem for social cohesion, is not about race: it's about culture. And the vast majority of Americans in the US have onl

by cplanas 10y ago

Diversity, as understood as a possible problem for social cohesion, is not about race: it's about culture. And the vast majority of Americans in the US have only one culture: the American one. The exception for this is first (and sometimes second) generation immigrants. That's why I use the native vs foreign born statistic.

dragonwriter 10y ago
> And the vast majority of Americans in the US have only one culture: the American one. I don't think there is one unifying American culture. There are some common cultural elements, but there are fairly distinct regional (as well as racial/ethnic) cultures in the US.
- cplanas 10y ago
  I think those common cultural elements form the American culture. Having fairly distinct regional cultures, and even languages, is not uncommon. If the US would not share a culture, intra-US migration would be a big issue, as it is in the EU.
  - dragonwriter 10y ago
    > If the US would not share a culture, intra-US migration would be a big issue, as it is in the EU. Migration (and simply interaction) across some of the internal cultural divides (especially the ones closely tied to race/ethnicity) is a big deal (you know those big problems with race/ethnicity the US has -- that's a big part of them). The regional variations are less of a big deal not because the regional cultures aren't distinct, but because the regional cultural areas are far bigger than in Europe, and the US has better inter-region support structures, which -- outside of rare major crises -- reduce mass internal migrations across those regional cultural divides. (When there have been mass internal migrations, culture clashes and problems with migrants similar to those seen in Europe have occurred in the US, but I don't think there's been a big internal dislocation of that type since the 1930s Dust Bowl.)
civilian 10y ago
Ah, there are many different cultures among the people who are born with American citizenship. It's common-sense to me that most of the races have their own culture. (Although, admitting that it's common sense to me makes me wonder why sociology we have to back it up.) A lot of my friends in high school were Chinese-American. They spoke without accent, and most of their families actually came via Taiwan, but their culture and values and family structure were distinctly different. Also, shoes-off in their home! And even among whites, there are distinct cultures. I was confused why I didn't enjoy living in Massachusetts, until I read this: http://slatestarcodex.com/2016/04/27/book-review-albions-seed/ http://slatestarcodex.com/2016/04/27/book-review-albions-see... and it started to make more sense. I've got Borderer roots :)

by cplanas 10y ago

dragonwriter 10y ago

> And the vast majority of Americans in the US have only one culture: the American one. I don't think there is one unifying American culture. There are some common cultural elements, but there are fairly distinct regional (as well as racial/ethnic) cultures in the US.

cplanas 10y ago
I think those common cultural elements form the American culture. Having fairly distinct regional cultures, and even languages, is not uncommon. If the US would not share a culture, intra-US migration would be a big issue, as it is in the EU.
- dragonwriter 10y ago
  > If the US would not share a culture, intra-US migration would be a big issue, as it is in the EU. Migration (and simply interaction) across some of the internal cultural divides (especially the ones closely tied to race/ethnicity) is a big deal (you know those big problems with race/ethnicity the US has -- that's a big part of them). The regional variations are less of a big deal not because the regional cultures aren't distinct, but because the regional cultural areas are far bigger than in Europe, and the US has better inter-region support structures, which -- outside of rare major crises -- reduce mass internal migrations across those regional cultural divides. (When there have been mass internal migrations, culture clashes and problems with migrants similar to those seen in Europe have occurred in the US, but I don't think there's been a big internal dislocation of that type since the 1930s Dust Bowl.)

civilian 10y ago

Ah, there are many different cultures among the people who are born with American citizenship. It's common-sense to me that most of the races have their own culture. (Although, admitting that it's common sense to me makes me wonder why sociology we have to back it up.) A lot of my friends in high school were Chinese-American. They spoke without accent, and most of their families actually came via Taiwan, but their culture and values and family structure were distinctly different. Also, shoes-off in their home! And even among whites, there are distinct cultures. I was confused why I didn't enjoy living in Massachusetts, until I read this: http://slatestarcodex.com/2016/04/27/book-review-albions-seed/ http://slatestarcodex.com/2016/04/27/book-review-albions-see... and it started to make more sense. I've got Borderer roots :)