How Americans See Themselves

Department of Diplomatic Translation, SFS, NUM
Article #1
Target: SFS sophomores
Instructor: Bolormaa. Sh
HOW AMERICANS SEE THEMSELVES AND OTHERS
It is usually helpful, when trying to understand others, to understand how they see themselves.
A few comments about Americans’ self-perceptions appear here; others come later.
Americans do not usually see themselves, when they are in the United States, as representatives
of their country. They see themselves as individuals (we will stress this point later) who are different
from all other individuals, whether those others are Americans or foreigners. Americans may say they
have no culture, since they often conceive of culture as an overlay of arbitrary customs to be found
only in other countries. Individual Americans may think they chose their own values, rather than
having had their values and the assumptions on which they are based imposed on them by the society in
which they were born. If you ask them to tell you something about “American culture,” they may be
unable to answer and they may even deny that there is an “American culture.”
Because they think they are responsible as individuals for having chosen their basic values and
their way of life, many Americans resent generalizations others make about them. Generalizations such
as the ones in this book disturb many Americans. They may be offended by the notion that they hold
certain ideas and behave in certain ways simply because they were born and raised in the United States,
and not because they had consciously thought about those ideas and behaviors and chosen the ones they
preferred.
At the same time, Americans will readily generalize about various subgroups within their own
country. Northerners have stereotypes (that is, generalized, simplified notions) about Southerners, and
vice versa. There are stereotypes of people from the country and people from the city; people from the
coasts and people from inland; people from the Midwest; minority ethnic groups; minority religious
groups; Texans; New Yorkers; Californians; Iowans; and so on. We will comment later on differences
among these various groups of Americans. The point here is to realize that Americans see few
generalizations that can safely be made about them, in part because they are “so individualistic” and in
part because they think regional and other kinds of differences clearly distinguish Americans of various
groups from each other.
HOW AMERICANS SEE FOREIGNERS
Like people everywhere else, Americans as they grow up are taught certain attitudes toward
other countries and the people who live in them. Parents, teachers, school books, and the media are
principal sources of information and attitudes about foreigners and foreign countries.
Americans generally believe that there is a superior country, probably the “greatest” country in
the world. It is economically and militarily powerful; its influence extends to all parts of the globe.
Americans generally believe their “democratic” political system is the best possible one, since it gives
all citizens the right and opportunity to try to influence government policy, and since it protects citizens
from arbitrary government actions. They also believe the system is superior because it gives them the
freedom to complain about anything they consider wrong with it.
Americans generally believe their country’s “free enterprise” economic system has enabled
them to enjoy one of the highest standards of living in the history of the world.
Department of Diplomatic Translation, SFS, NUM
If Americans consider their country to be superior, then it cannot be surprising that they often
consider other countries to be inferior. The people in those other countries are assumed not to be quite
as intelligent or hard-working or sensible as Americans are. Political systems in other countries are
often assumed to be inadequately responsive to the public and excessively tolerant of corruption and
abuse; other economic systems are regarded as less efficient than the American economic system.
Foreigners (with the exception of Canadians and northern Europeans, who are generally viewed with
respect) tend to be perceived as “underdeveloped Americans,” prevented by their primitive economic
and social systems and by their quaint cultural customs from achieving what they could if they were
Americans. Americans tend to suppose that people born in other countries are less fortunate than they
are, and that most foreigners would prefer to live in the United States. The fact that millions of
foreigners seek to enter or remain in the United States illegally every year supports this view. (The fact
that billions of foreigners do not seek entry is ignored or discounted.)
Foreign visitors often find that Americans in general condescend to them, treating them a bit
(or very much) like children who have limited experience and perhaps limited intelligence. Foreign
visitors are well advised to remember that it is not malice or intentional ignorance that leads so many
Americans to treat them like inferior beings. The Americans are, once again, acting the way they have
been taught to act. They have been taught that they are superior, and they have learned the lesson.
There are obviously many exceptions to the preceding generalizations. The main exceptions are
those Americans who have lived or at least traveled extensively on other countries and those who have
in some other way had extensive experience with people from abroad. Many Americans will also make
an exception for a foreigner who has demonstrated some skill, personality trait, or intellectual
capability that commands respect. British writers, German scientists, Korean martial arts specialists,
and Kenyan runners readily have many Americans’ respect.

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Department of Diplomatic Translation, SFS, NUM

HOW AMERICANS SEE THEMSELVES AND OTHERS

HOW AMERICANS SEE FOREIGNERS

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