S2 AMERICAN WAY OF LIFE : A SHORT HISTORY

Question 1

18th century

Answer 1

US became independent country

Question 2

Exceptionalism

Answer 2

US built ont this idea, that it was one of a kind : embodiment of democracy and freedom

Question 3

Joseph Nye

Answer 3

Admiration, attraction and seduction are very important elements to gauge the power of a country

Question 4

American Way of Life (AWOL)

Answer 4

Popularized term in the 1930 to identify the set of beliefs that corresponded to the American national character, a century and a half after its independence.

Question 5

Michael L. Krenn, 2017

Answer 5

Defining the American Way of Life and what its cultural tenets are means defining “the sometimes-torturous path the country has taken in trying to create a national identity at home.”

Question 6

1780 changes

Answer 6

From rural to urban society.
Past : men self-employed, owned property, produced their food for own consumption. Earn living and save money.
20th century : men lived in cities, consumed new set of items produced thanks to the growth of industrialization. Made Americans live in debt.

Question 7

The “Robber Barons” (19th century, Gilded Age)

Answer 7

Nicknames for Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, J.P. Morgan : dérogatory expression denouncing their shady and unfair practices. Most of them had become rich on their own, corresponding to the myth of the self-made man but made miney off the backs of their workers.

Question 8

“Captains of industry” (also the Robber Barons)

Answer 8

That expression conveys the idea that without that kind of ambitious people, the United States would not have been able to move forward and become the world’s greatest industrial power. Lately, people such as Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates were nicknamed the new “Robber Barons” because they started a business that was useful and that made the American economy healthy, but it was made at the expense of their workers or users

Question 9

1930s

Answer 9

Distrust about the Robber Barons of the industry BUT seems there was no way back (AWOL sustained by industrialization and big business, industrial country whose progress could not be slowed down).
1930s : decade during which Americans had already become hooked on consumerism, despite the problems that lay ahead.

Question 10

Great Depression

Answer 10

Economic depression following the crash of 1929. During “Roaring 20s” : speculation in the stock market : borrow in order to invest (in stock market and real estate) but crash = people lost everything.
1933 : 15 millions unemployed (24,9%), half of banks had failed. Deflation (reduction in money supply).

Question 11

New Deal

Answer 11

Implemented by President Franklin D. Roosevelta : set of government programs (1933-39) that aimed to stop the Depression, alleviating the suffering of the unemployed Americans, and preventing future recessions.

Question 12

Social Security Act 1935

Answer 12

Signed during the second phase of the New Deal, including unemployment insurance, aid to the disabled and poor families, and retirement benefits.

Question 13

1936

Answer 13

US Supreme Court declared that a few laws were unconstitutional on the grounds that neither the industry, the economy or social matters could be regulated by the federal government, as mentioned in the Constitution (Roosevelt’s measures were deemed too socialist even if unemployment had dropped to 15%)

Question 14

Roosevelt’s definition of liberty

Answer 14

“Greater security for the average man”, which justified government intervention (and thus, less freedom).

Question 15

2 visions of America

Answer 15

• One favoring government intervention to address economic problems (Franklin D. Roosevelt and his New Deal policies : active government measures were necessary to combat the economic problems caused by the Great Depression and to ensure a fairer society)
• The other advocating for a free enterprise system with minimal government involvement (Ogden L. Mills VS “governmentally planned economy”)

Question 16

1938 Contest about “The American Way”

Answer 16

Editor of Harper’s Magazine : best essay winners (David Cushman Coyle, and three runners-up, Carl Dreher, Carl Landauer and Gerald W. Johnson)

Question 17

The American Way contest winners 1938

Answer 17

• Dreher and Landauer : agreed on the fact that the American Way had been corrupted by Big Business practices
• Johnson insisted on the unequal access to liberty and democracy
• Coyle explained believed that individual freedom was the key element in defining what the American national character was.

Surprisingly, none of them dealt with consumerism when a few years after the Great Depression had abated, most Americans started consuming frantically again (in spite of the discordant voices telling them to be careful about “the spiral of consumption.”)

Question 18

AWOL after WWII

Answer 18

First, US adopted isolationist policy to preserve the AWOL from Nazism. But WWII brought the US economy back on its feet after the Great Depression. With implementation of the huge military-industrial complex needed to defeat the Axis, the U.S. showed that it was a powerful nation.
WWII was over, hard times did not come back : the GNP (Gross National Product) soared 250% (1945-1960). Increasing consumer demand : economy kept growing, which led to a period of prosperity, the 1950s, that lasted up until the 1973 recession.

Question 19

Interstate Highway Act (1956)

Answer 19

Eisenhower thought that it could a way to modernize the country & help people evacuate urban centers on case of a nuclear strike (from the communists). This new network of roads highly contributed to the economic growth of the country (supplies could be transported faster around the country). Also allowed Americans to move to other parts of the country. Western and Southwestern regions grew, more and more people were attracted to the Sun Belt. By 1963, California had more people than New York.

Question 20

Social standards and rise of the suburbs

Answer 20

Nuclear family (husband, stay-at-home mother and kids) ideally living in a house in the suburbs.
The rise of suburbs reshaped the environment : malls started popping up so that the American families would not have to go to city centers in order to shop. Shopping became a true habit, advertising developed to convince Americans that they always needed more.

Question 21

Post-industrial economy 1950s

Answer 21

Transition into a new economic area : job market changed. Automation : number of factory operators fell while number of clerical workers increased.
White-collar jobs outnumbered blue-collar workers : new managerial class (market dominated by a few gigantic businesses)

Question 22

President Carter’s voice 1977

Answer 22

The ideology of “working hard” increased levels of stress and cardiac diseases, worsened by the consumption of fast-food. President Carter warned about the environmental issues that the future held.

Question 23

Worries about the American Way

Answer 23

The American Way “had always been largely a white way of life, with most African-Americans not invited to participate in the bounty it offered” (Samuel)

Question 24

Civil Rights Movement 1960s

Answer 24

Tensions, climax in the 1960s : many Americans had enough of the mold they had to fit in, VS a society that promoted conformity, individualism and blind consumerism. Entrenched racism in the South, rampant poverty and millions of dollars spent on the War in Vietnam are reasons why they “took to the streets”.

Question 25

1964 Civil Rights Act

Answer 25

Victory to make sure that every citizen would have equal access to the American Way of Life on paper (in reality, it is subjected to many different factors though)

Question 26

1970s over-consumption

Answer 26

Consumerism turned into what Lawrence Samuel called “over-consumption and overindulgence and a belief in endless growth” with the creation of even more items, technological this time, to consume.

Question 27

AWOL 19th century

Answer 27

• Power of money and consumerism
• Propagandist value : strong economy and a society that promises wealth to anyone who is willing to work hard enough = important role in the attraction generated by the US
• 19th : measures that belonged to the field of cultural diplomacy, whose goal is to use culture to shine on the international scene and to become more powerful

Question 28

The AWOL and cultural diplomacy struggles

Answer 28

Struggle to make US culture legitimate : 1867 already (right after the Civil War), US decided to participate in the Universal Exhibition in Paristo show what its artists could do. Carol Troyen : “designed to present to an international audience the achievements of American culture and to demonstrate that American art was the equal of its machinery and inventions.”
120 pieces sent to the French capital did not really catch anyone’s attention (exceptone painting, Niagara by Frederic Edwin Church).
Even a decade later,exhibitions organized in the U.S. (Philadelphia1876 and Chicago 1893), but what really made the U.S. stand out was its industrial prowess.
With Bell’s telephone, Edison’s quadruplex telegraph & the machines for agricultural use, the US outshone the other nations.

Question 29

1907 Great White Fleet (Roosevelt)

Answer 29

16 battleships sent around the world to show that the U.S. was an “international peacemaker and bastion of civilization.” (Krenn)
American soldiers considered to be ambassadors for their country but at the time, the U.S. had not already showed what it was capable of and not really seen as a military power.

Question 30

After WWII

Answer 30

Matthew Fraser: American power was well-known and the U.S. was “the undisputed master of the free world.”
Beginning of the 20th century : many Americans believed that their country was one of the most attractive.
After WWII : if you were not for the US, you were against.

Question 31

Cold War and rivalry with the Soviet Union (SU)

Answer 31

US had to promote its lifestyle and counter what the SU might say about them (“money-mad war mongers who valued the dollar above the beauty of art”). Culture = tool to humiliate the enemy.
Led to irrational fears and intense propaganda. In the US, numerous posters inciting hatred towards and “Reds”.

Question 32

Truman Doctrine

Answer 32

Harry Truman (45-53) : 1974 announced that the U.S. would help (politically, economically and militarily) any country who needed to fight communism.
He implemented the Marshall Plan (aka Europe Recovery Plan) to lend money to the European countries, 1948-1952, $15 billion. They wanted to stop the spread of communism (historians say the Cold War started with the Marshall Plan). Soft power, create moral on top of a financial debt.

Question 33

Cold War

Answer 33

War of attrition and containment (contain the other country’s culture and expansion). Strive to intimidate and show eco, cultural and political power.
Eisenhower : thrifty but launched the “cultural offensive” to counter the SU. For him, the world had to kwon about “the standard of living” people had in the US.

Question 34

1950s-2020s

Answer 34

Matthew Fraser : “Weapons of mass distraction” : mass consumption is a dangerous phenomenon and the people who consume American products are manipulated by mass consumption.
Consumerist habits started in the 1950s, adopted by a great number of countries who saw the way Americans lived in the popular TV shows and movies and envied them.

Question 35

Music in soft power

Answer 35

1920s jazz followed US army to Europe, 1940s State Department understood its power in “selling America abroad”, then organized world tours.
20th century : Rock ‘n Roll made people envy American culture but US didn’t have the monopoly (Britain 1st). 1960s : RnR popularity, influencing other countries such as France.

Question 36

Krenn about cultural diplomacy

Answer 36

He argues that cultural diplomacy died in 1999 and that the biggest challenge for the U.S. now is to be able to improve its image in the Middle East (because of the War in Iraq after 9/11)
But one cannot deny that American culture has become more and more ubiquitous and that the AWOL has infiltrated our lives.
Since the beginning of the 21st century and 9/11, AWOL is still criticized in spite of having enlarged its dominance.

Question 37

American Empire in the digital age

Answer 37

Potential frailty of the American international and cultural strategies while considering that the U.S. seems to always be able to renew itself and overcome obstacles.

Question 38

“Weapons of mass distraction” (Fraser)

Answer 38

U.S. has a covert strategy to take over the world, which has allowed intellectuals to think about “cultural imperialism”: is the U.S. aggressively trying to control the world with its culture, or is it an expression that comes from feelings of jealousy and resentment? Isn’t globalization a more accurate word? Do we actually live in a globalized culture, and is it because of the United States?

Question 39

Hip hop diplomacy

Answer 39

State Dpt uses HH diplomacy for soft power in the Middle East

Question 40

Mark Katz

Answer 40

Build: The Power of Hip-Hop Diplomacy in a Divided World (book) : hip-hop diplomacy started in 2013 when the American government launched a program called Next Level in order to foster cross-cultural exchange as a diplomatic tool to ease tensions. That kind of music represents rebellion against authority (usually African American artists who use music to criticize American society)

Question 41

American tech companies and globalization of culture

Answer 41

Today, a lot of the world’s largest tech companies are American companies (Microsoft, Apple, Google, Amazon, Meta), the American tech giants’ digital influence is colossal.

Question 42

Cloud Act 2018

Answer 42

Upset the world’s community : it allows the American government to collect data from US-based technology in any country, showing that digital hard and soft power have become a new asset.