Walking Between Worlds: Episode IV

A summary from the podcast Walking Between Worlds. Listen now from your favorite podcast app.

Global Culture Trends and American Cultural Patterns

Guest: Terry Steele, Trainer, and Director of Academic Programs.

Throughout the world and time, many cultures have existed.

They all differ in some way, shape, or form. But when two cultures meet often one of the first reactions is discomfort. The way things are done doesn't meet the expectations of one culture to another. Sometimes it feels wrong or bad. In speaking about cultures, it is considered proper to avoid the word "bad." Instead, culture can be "different." This is because it is very difficult for one culture to assess another culture without biases. This does not mean that some cultures are morally superior to others. There is bad and good in every culture. However, those elements are many times difficult to comprehend and assess impartially.

Within the collection of cultures that exist at any one time, there is at least one culture that stands above all others in influencing the direction of a region or even the world. These are Dominant cultures. Dominant does not mean better. Rather, Dominant is the culture that has the most influence at that time in a region or nation or, on occasion, globally. Right now, in 2020, that nation is still the US. Other cultures that are rising to that level include China and India. The center of power is constantly shifting and flowing. For example, while the US is still the primary dominant culture globally, in Christianity and Christian Missions the global South, South America, Africa, and South Korea, are seeing far greater influence globally than the US. This is called the Shift to the Global South. The US still has a fair amount of influence in the Missions world. But, while the US still sends our more missionaries than any other nation, South Korea sends out the second largest group. The nation that receives the most missionaries, happens to be the US.

One side note that should be addressed. Dominant culture should not be seen as synonymous with evil or controlling. Throughout time there have been different Dominant cultures, such as Egypt, Ancient Syria, Japan, Mongolia, Babylon, and Rome, just to give a few examples. The Dominant culture has to do with influence rather than motivation. Dominant culture can be seen as an opportunity, a responsibility, or a tool. What a culture decides to do with the power of Dominant culture determines the morality of those decisions, not the actual possession of influence and power.

One of the many reasons for the shifts in influence and Christian mission is that culture is constantly moving. It is not static. Culture is like a living being. If it stops the vital signs stop and it dies. Those who study static culture are archaeologists. They study dead cultures.

Because of the organic nature of culture, the shifts that occur can be influenced by the life cycle of a culture. Shifts can also take place because of major events. These shifts usually take decades to see and are often challenging to find out why the shifts happened. These trends take a long time to develop and emerge. Short-term predictors usually only tell part of the story. Be wary of those who predict major culture trends based on a short-term study.

In observing and studying these global trends there are some indicators about the culture of the US, as the current Dominant culture, that can be seen. Some deep culture trends, unquestioned presuppositions that drive culture, often unconsciously, can be observed in American culture. It is easier to talk about the root ideas of a culture rather than addressing all the various trends outside of the culture, which can be so numerous that the collection of ideas becomes unwieldy and difficult to use practically. Those outside trends are driven by internal, deep culture. To make these deep culture ideas understandable I'm using the word CORE to address the four main trends in the culture of the US.

CONTROL is the first element to address the culture of the US. The US likes control. This isn't necessarily a bad thing. The culture talks about being self-controlled, disciplined, as a virtue. When a person is acting irrationally, they are often accused of being out of control. There is a desire in the culture of America to plan out the day, week, or even your life. These are the positive sides of control.

There are negative sides to control.

When people use methods and manipulation to control others and their behavior that can be perceived as an evil idea. For example, internet shaming, cancel culture, is not so much shame related, how do your actions or attitudes reflect upon your family and friends, but a form of peer pressure, mass guilt-tripping. Shaming usually has implications on the group around you and your family. Guilt has to do with the individual and being innocent or guilty.

ORDERLY WORLD is the idea that American culture likes to find out how things work in order to bring CONTROL to these elements of culture and others' lives. American culture tends to treat the world as a machine and people as cogs of the machine. Therefore, if the machine can be studied and understood then the right buttons on the machine can be pushed to make the machine work the way those in control desire it to work, as to get things done. In this way, ORDERLY WORLD and CONTROL work together. Success and pragmatism tend to move in this direction. American culture being focused on getting things done in the most efficient, highest quality way drives the people of the culture to find the quickest path between two points because, in the mind of the culture, it's reasonable to act and think in this manner. The culture of the US likes life to fit into categories and boxes, which allows there to be an understanding of how people fit together and gives a clear path to success.

Where CONTROL can be damaging is when people are sub-divided into boxes to predict and prescribe behavior and relationships based on the position of the boxes.

A current trend is to observe people's position in society and how it places them in boxes. Then to sub-divide those boxes into smaller identity groups based on identity. This leads to an informal hierarchy that is made up of the haves and have-nots. Furthermore, if a person fits in a particular box then certain thinking and behavior are expected of them. "If you fit into this box, then you must think and act this way." This is the source of much of the divisions in American culture that are being noted at this current time. While this might be seen as contrary to CONTROL, ORDERLY WORLD works in harmony with CONTROL because the person who controls the most boxes wins.

Another part of ORDERLY WORLD is time. Western culture, including American culture, is linear. One event follows another event follows another event. Patterns can be repeated but the actual event doesn't take place over again. American culture wants linear time to be precise. While there is a perception that older Americans may have a greater appreciation of time than younger Americans, even students who come late to class recognize that they have violated a social norm. They are still driven by time. They may not observe it as diligently as older Americans, but the young people still recognize an element of its power. Americans can be driven by time and schedules, driven by the clock. If a map app is being used to track a destination Americans might try to beat the app-generated estimated time of arrival to defy the app. Time has power in America.

Another part of American deep culture is that the power of an ORDERLY WORLD clearly defines success for Americans. If I can get things done in the right amount of time in the right way, then I will be successful. Efficiency and quality, the American perspective, should be outcomes of the ORDERLY WORLD. However, as with all culture, the negative of time in the ORDERLY WORLD is that the drive for quality and efficiency can become a master to drive the people, rather than a tool that can be used.

REASON and MATERIAL WORLD are the last of the four cultural elements of American culture. REASON is rationalism and logic. An example was an older Modern American Christian Evangelist once asked what defined the young people as being different than the Moderns. At that point, he was addressing Generation X many years before anyone had thought about Millennials. The answer given was that they didn't draw upon reason as the ultimate answer to all questions. He reacted by asking if they had abandoned reason then and become unreasonable. The Evangelist clarified, saying that they didn't believe that rationalism answered all their questions. The older Modern concluded that they were therefore irrational. The conversation moved forward and the response came that younger Americans did not believe that the world would be figured out by logic. He responded that they were then illogical. Moderns draw upon REASON to explain what is true or truth in the universe. If a human mind can think a thought or figure out a problem rationally then that answer is reality. If any other American does not perceive this to be true, if there is a belief that something beyond logic can answer then that person ceases to be American. Richard Dawkins once said if science doesn't answer all your questions than it should not be abandoned, but that a different science will provide better answers. A teaching colleague of Terry's once asked what he was learning in his study of the Emerging Culture, Generation X, Millenials, and Generation Z. Terry responded that he found that rationalism was not the final answer, but he had been taught it was. The colleague answered, "Prove it." One cannot use logical proofs to demonstrate that logic is insufficient to answer all the world's questions. All this is not to show that REASON is bad, but that when it becomes the only thing used to find the truth, it becomes a god.

If REASON, the American culture, determines what is true, then the MATERIAL WORLD, also called Empiricism, shows what is real in the world.

Throughout the Modern era the unexplainable, the immaterial, the supernatural or existential was dismissed as unprovable and, therefore, not real. American culture relies heavily upon the five empirical senses and the extension of those senses through scientific tools to explain reality, how the universe works. Only by partitioning off the supernatural, accomplished by the boxes of the ORDERLY WORLD, can science limit reality to the MATERIAL WORLD and therefore, all answers about reality can be determined through the scientific method.

One of the difficulties that arise for the CORE of American culture is many people from the US tend to work based on principles, logic and mechanistic rules. Communication between people and cultures is often reliant upon building relationships. A mechanistic approach makes relationships much more challenging to develop and often abrasive.

While there are negatives and positives in the deepest parts of American culture, there are also negatives and positives in the deep part of all cultures. It is easy for those who discover their deep culture points to be drawn to or appalled by their findings. It is possible to challenge these deep beliefs and see actual change. However, any change in deep culture takes time, constant challenging of deep beliefs and driving forces, and a lot of crisis. These core beliefs only shift through crises or complete dislocation, which is why refugees often have seen monumental shifts in their deep beliefs.

A question for our readers.

What are the major patterns that you see in your nearest population center?

If you get to know your own deep culture and patterns it makes learning other peoples' cultures and patterns easier. As a result, relationship building becomes more streamlined.

What is Walking Between Worlds?

Walking Between Worlds is a podcast hosted by CultureBound. CultureBound is a training organization that specializes in Culture and Language. This podcast focuses on the secrets of culture to enrich our interactions with others. The topics covered relate to culture and building connections with people across cultural differences, specifically as it relates to American culture in a world that is globalizing. Walking Between Worlds is about how to navigate relationships in a cross-cultural context. This is a sneak peek into the material that CultureBound covers. We also have premium content and training on our website CultureBound.org that you can take today!