An aspect of U.S. culture that’s is interesting to me is the American Dream. The American Dream is the idea that if anyone works hard enough they will be able to obtain a comfortable and fulfilling life. It seems that we believe individuals have a lot of control over their environment and their life in general so when individuals are in bad situations for long periods of time it is viewed as a personal failure. Especially when people in similar situations have been able to get out of them on their own. The desire and pressure to get yourself out of a bad situation by yourself is a very American aspect of culture that closely connects to another American value of individualism.
I believe this aspect of American culture is very harmful because it The “American Dream” creates a false sense of equal opportunity in a country that values profit over people. In reality the American Dream is a way to keep people working because if people believe hard work will create opportunity, they are more likely to stay working. It is much easier for people with money and social capital to live the American Dream than someone who grew up lower-income. The American Dream is more obtainable for people of certain genders, race, class, ability than others.
An individual’s “failure” is more likely a failure of our system rather than an individual failure. The importance we place on individualism makes it easy to view the “American Dream” as positive and obtainable when in reality it is much more challenging. While individuals have control over many aspects of our life, many things are out of our control. It is unreasonable to place blame on individuals when the system is the real issue.
I think many people outside of the U.S. would agree there are a lot of systemic issues in the U.S. (and other countries) that make it more challenging for some people to be successful than others. It seems as though many people outside the U.S. view it as individualistic rather than group oriented. Many other high-income countries have legislation that benefit and support individuals. I believe there are people outside the U.S. who believe that individuals are completely responsible for their life outcome but it is much more likely that people believe in community and government support in addition to individual will.
This helped prepare me for my time abroad by getting me to think about other cultural differences I will need to be mindful of and aware of during conversations. Australians seem to value fairness, loyalty and togetherness more than people in the U.S.. They also have a higher minimum wage and standard of living than many of the cities in the U.S. which makes equality more of a reality.