American ways

American

Ways

GARY ALTHEN

with Amanda R. Doran and Susan J. Szmania

American

A Guide

for Foreigners

in the United States

Ways

First published by Intercultural Press. For information con￾tact:

Intercultural Press, Inc. Nicholas Brealey Publishing

PO Box 700 3-5 Spafield Street

Yarmouth, Maine 04096 USA London, EC1R 4QB, UK

Tel: 207-846-5168 Tel: +44-207-239-0360

Fax: 207-846-5181 Fax: +44-207-239-0370

www.interculturalpress.com www.nbrealey-books.com

© 1988, 2003 by Gary Althen

Production and cover design by Patty J. Topel

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be re￾produced in any manner whatsoever without written per￾mission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quo￾tations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

Printed in the United States of America

06 05 04 03 02 1 2 3 4 5

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Althen, Gary.

American ways: a guide for foreigners in the United States/

Gary Althen.—2nd ed.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references (p. )

ISBN: 1-877864-99-4 (alk. paper)

1. United States—Guidebooks. 2. United States—Handbooks,

manuals, etc. 3. Visitors, Foreign—United States—Handbooks,

manuals, etc. 4. Aliens—United States—Handbooks, manuals,

etc. 5. Intercultural communication—United States—Handbooks,

manuals, etc. 6. United States—Social life and customs—1971–

I. Title.

E158.A46 2002

973—dc21 2002032741

v

✰✰✰

Table of Contents

Preface to the Second Edition......................................................... xi

Acknowledgments ............................................................................. xvii

Introduction............................................................................................ xix

On Understanding ..........................................................................xx

How Much Generalizing Is Acceptable? ........................ xxii

On Asking “Why?” ....................................................................... xxvi

How Americans See Themselves ......................................xxvii

How Americans See Foreigners.......................................... xxix

On Describing Americans ...................................................... xxxi

Part I General Ideas about American Culture............1

Chapter 1: American Values and Assumptions....................3

Individualism, Freedom, Competitiveness,

and Privacy .......................................................................................5

Equality ................................................................................................. 14

vi AMERICAN WAYS

Informality........................................................................................... 16

The Future, Change, and Progress....................................... 18

Goodness of Humanity .............................................................. 19

Time ........................................................................................................22

Achievement, Action, Work, and Materialism ...............24

Directness and Assertiveness..................................................27

Chapter 2: The Communicative Style of Americans .......33

Preferred Discussion Topics.....................................................34

Favorite Forms of Interaction ..................................................37

Depth of Involvement Sought ................................................40

Channels Preferred ........................................................................42

Level of Meaning Emphasized ...............................................53

Chapter 3: Ways of Reasoning ....................................................55

The Context ........................................................................................56

The Point ..............................................................................................58

The Organization............................................................................60

The Evidence...................................................................................... 61

The Cause............................................................................................65

Chapter 4: Differences in Customs ...........................................67

Part II Specific Aspects of American Life .................... 75

Chapter 5: Politics ................................................................................77

The Rule of Law ...............................................................................80

The Ideal of Compromise.......................................................... 81

Politics Apart......................................................................................82

Chapter 6: Family Life ........................................................................85

What Foreigners Notice..............................................................86

The Changing Family....................................................................88

Raising Children ..............................................................................90

Suggestions for Foreign Visitors...........................................98

Chapter 7: Education .......................................................................101

TABLE OF CONTENTS vii

Guiding Ideals................................................................................ 102

Social Forces Affecting American Education ...............110

Issues Facing American Schools .........................................113

Advantages and Disadvantages ..........................................115

Suggestions for Foreign Visitors......................................... 117

Chapter 8: Religion............................................................................119

The General Context .................................................................. 120

Religion and Individual Americans ................................... 124

Exceptions ........................................................................................ 125

Suggestions for Foreign Visitors........................................ 127

Chapter 9: The Media..................................................................... 129

What Is American about the American Media?........ 130

Americans’ Views of Their Media...................................... 133

Misconceptions the Media Promote ............................... 136

Suggestions for Foreign Visitors........................................ 139

Chapter 10: Social Relationships...............................................141

Meeting New People ................................................................. 143

The American Concept of Friendship ............................. 145

Relationships Prescribed by Roles .................................... 148

Courtesy, Schedules, Gifts ...................................................... 150

Suggestions for Foreign Visitors........................................ 153

Chapter 11: Racial and Ethnic Diversity ............................... 155

What Foreign Visitors See ...................................................... 156

How Americans View Race and Ethnic Relations .... 162

Austin, Texas: A Case Study .................................................. 167

Suggestions for Foreign Visitors........................................ 169

Chapter 12: Male-Female Relationships ............................. 173

Influences on Male-Female Relationships ....................174

Male-Female Relationships in Various Settings ........179

Suggestions for Foreign Visitors........................................ 186

Chapter 13: Sports and Recreation ........................................ 187

viii AMERICAN WAYS

Sports .................................................................................................. 188

Recreation .........................................................................................191

Suggestions for Foreign Visitors........................................ 193

Chapter 14: Driving .......................................................................... 195

General Information .................................................................. 196

Traffic Laws...................................................................................... 197

Attitudes about Driving ........................................................... 198

Suggestions for Foreign Visitors........................................ 201

Chapter 15: Shopping.....................................................................203

Advertising .......................................................................................204

Pricing .................................................................................................206

Customer-Clerk Relationships.............................................206

Sales Tactics.....................................................................................208

Procedures for Returning and Exchanging..................209

Private Sales .....................................................................................210

Precautions for Shoppers from Abroad.........................210

Chapter 16: Personal Hygiene ....................................................213

The Basics..........................................................................................214

Variations........................................................................................... 217

Other Issues Concerning Hygiene .....................................218

Suggestions for Foreign Visitors.........................................219

Chapter 17: Getting Things Done in Organizations .... 221

Misconceptions ............................................................................222

Characteristics of U.S. Organizations .............................. 224

Suggestions for Dealing with U.S. Organizations ... 226

Chapter 18: Behavior in Public Places .................................. 229

Rules for Behavior in Public Places................................... 229

Communication Behaviors .................................................... 232

Suggestions for Foreign Visitors........................................ 234

Chapter 19: Studying.......................................................................235

Assumptions Underlying the Higher

TABLE OF CONTENTS ix

Education System ...................................................................236

Student-Student Relationships............................................ 237

Student-Professor Relationships ....................................... 239

Roommate Relationships........................................................ 241

Plagiarism .........................................................................................244

Suggestions for Foreign Students ..................................... 245

Chapter 20: Business ...................................................................... 247

Doing Business in the United States ............................... 250

The Global Economy................................................................. 257

Suggestions for Foreign Businesspeople

and Future Businesspeople..............................................258

Part III Coping with Cultural Differences ................. 259

Chapter 21: Some Helpful Ideas .............................................. 261

Expectations ....................................................................................262

Personality Characteristics .....................................................262

Traits and Situations ..................................................................264

Culture Shock and Stages of Adjustment.....................265

D-I-E ....................................................................................................267

Chapter 22: Activities for Learning about

American Culture ......................................................................... 271

Ask Questions ............................................................................... 272

Learn and Practice Local English ....................................... 273

Take Field Trips .............................................................................. 275

Talk with Experienced Foreigners ......................................280

Keep a Journal .............................................................................. 281

Learn the Names of Local and Institutional VIPs.... 281

Read, Reflect ....................................................................................282

View Yourself as a Teacher ....................................................284

Conclusion ............................................................................................285

Bibliography .........................................................................................289

About the Author ..............................................................................295

xi

✰✰✰

Preface to the Second Edition

The September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Cen￾ter in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.,

took place while this revision was in progress. Some com￾mentators said that “everything would change” as a result

of the events of that day. It remains to be seen whether

the attacks will indeed have a lasting impact on the way

Americans live. But the immediate aftermath seemed char￾acteristically American in several ways:

• Americans wanted to know exactly how many

people were killed.

• Americans searched for a single cause of the event

and settled on the idea that Osama bin Laden, rather

than some complex configuration of factors, was

responsible.

xii AMERICAN WAYS

• People all over the country sought ways to help;

they donated blood, set up fund-raising drives, and

volunteered at the attack sites.

• In general, Americans professed not to understand

how other people could hate them so. They ap￾peared to have no particular knowledge of or con￾cern about the history that might have led to the

attacks.

• Most seemed not to understand how people could

deliberately kill themselves in the name of a cause

such as a religion or political point of view.

• Americans believed that the event could have been

avoided and that another such event can be fore￾stalled, probably with better use of technology (such

as stronger doors on cockpits, fingerprinting, body

scanning, and other biometric security and identifi￾cation devices) and more thorough background in￾vestigations drawing on a wider range of databases.

• Some Americans were concerned that “individual

rights” might be curtailed as a result of the security

measures that were developed in the wake of the

attacks and also because hundreds of people with

possible links to terrorism were detained without

what many deemed proper cause.

• Americans assumed that, deep down, everyone

wants to negotiate about differences, certainly not

to kill on account of them.

The cultural assumptions underlying these reactions

will be referred to repeatedly in this book, which seeks to

bring up-to-date an introduction to American culture that

was originally published in 1988.

First, a few words about terms. For the past dozen years

or so, Americans have been quite concerned with what has

PREFACE xiii

come to be called “political correctness.” The term means

different things to different people, but in general it refers

to the notion that speakers and writers should avoid any

words or phrases that might be considered “insulting” or

“demeaning” to anyone. For example, restaurant waitresses

(as well as waiters) are now commonly referred to as

“waitstaff” or “servers” to avoid the implication that people

who serve restaurant customers are predominantly females

in a lowly station. Many people with what were formerly

called physical or mental handicaps now prefer to be called

“differently abled.” Writers and speakers are encouraged to

avoid the exclusive use of the word he in any passage that

refers to members of both genders.

The word foreign, used for decades to refer to people

from one country who were temporarily in another, has

been criticized for implying strangeness, or being out of

place. People who consider themselves sensitive to the

feelings of people from other countries urge the use of

international in its place. So, “foreign students” has gen￾erally been replaced by “international students,” “foreign

visitors” by “international visitors,” and so on.

People who consider themselves sensitive to the feel￾ings of citizens of the Western Hemisphere outside the

United States of America argue that it is unacceptably ar￾rogant for people in the United States to refer to them￾selves as “Americans.” Everyone from the Western Hemi￾sphere is American, they say. People in the U.S. should

refer to themselves as “U.S. Americans,” “U.S. citizens,” or

some such term.

Perhaps by the time a third edition of this book is writ￾ten, clear and graceful terms for referring to people from

other countries and to citizens of the United States will

have evolved. For now, though, this book generally main-

xiv AMERICAN WAYS

tains the traditional usages of the words foreign and

American.

Second and in conclusion, a few words about culture

change. Social scientists argue about the notion of “cul￾ture change”: Do cultures actually change, or is it only a

people’s trappings that seem to alter over time? If cultures

do change, what is it that actually becomes different? What

causes the changes? How fast does change occur?

Fewer than fifteen years have passed since the first

edition of American Ways. During that period, many things

certainly changed, most obviously in the areas of tech￾nology, politics, and economics. E-mail, the World Wide

Web, cellular telephones, automobiles with built-in navi￾gational systems, and many other innovations made

Americans’ lives, and the lives of people in many other

countries, move at an ever-faster pace.

The Soviet Union collapsed, ending the Cold War and

leaving the United States as the world’s sole “superpower.”

The September 11 attacks occurred, presumably bringing

significant changes in both domestic and international

politics.

Large corporations became larger, assuming ever￾more important roles in many countries’ economies. Sev￾eral large corporations found themselves beset by major

scandals, giving rise to fundamental questions about the

role of the “free-market system” so long touted by many

Americans.

Underneath all this, though, the essentials of Ameri￾can culture have persevered. If anything, they have be￾come more pronounced. The emphasis on individualism

and material progress, the faith in science and technol￾ogy, the idea that the future can be better than the past,