The 100% American Enigma: Revisiting Linton’s "One Hundred Per-Cent American," In Ralph Linton’s essay "One Hundred Per-Cent American,”, the author suggests that ultimately even though Americans strive to be 100% American, they are ultimately foiled by the fact that almost every product we consider to be American is non the less derived from some other nation. Linton’s argument that ultimately no matter how hard the American people try, reaching a 100% American culture is unattainable, because of the diversity of America’s origin, the syncretism that ultimately is American culture, and lastly the interconnectedness of the world, also known as globalization. The diversity of America’s origin can account for one reason as to why being
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The various tribes that inhabited the land we now call the United States left a strong impression on American culture and laid the foundation for it. As hinted by Linton, if America were to adopt a truly “American” wardrobe it would consist of gee strings and moccasins, something that was in fact native dress of the original Americans. Besides the Native American cultures, Europeans left a very strong imprint on American culture today. Settlers from various parts of Europe came to America, French, English, Dutch, Spanish; they all came to America as part of their respective empires’ effort to colonize the new world. These various groups left many imprints on modern American culture as hinted by Linton, some of these things included brushing of the teeth, trains, etc. Along with this group of Europeans, immigrants to America from all over the world ultimately have …show more content…
Globalization in this case does not just pertain to the last 20 years, or the last 100 years for that matter, but rather to the time when humans first started trading goods with another. This transferal of goods also came with syncretism of culture, transferring things such as religion, language, food, art, literature, etc across cultures. Linton hints at several examples of this in essay, including cotton domesticated in India, and eventually turned into cloth by methods derived form Southwestern Asia, leather shoes originating in Egypt, and cut from a pattern of Greek origin. These examples go to prove that ultimately finding a truly 100% American culture in today’s society is unattainable, due in part to the fact that globalization has always had and always will have a key factor in the culture of America. In conclusion, in Ralph Linton’s essay “One Hundred Per-Cent American”, he argues that ultimately a truly one-hundred percent American culture is something that is unattainable. In my opinion, this argument is a truthful one, and is even more resonant in 2014 as it was in 1937, because of the diversity of America’s origin, the syncretism that ultimately is American culture, and lastly the interconnectedness of the world, also known as
The various tribes that inhabited the land we now call the United States left a strong impression on American culture and laid the foundation for it. As hinted by Linton, if America were to adopt a truly “American” wardrobe it would consist of gee strings and moccasins, something that was in fact native dress of the original Americans. Besides the Native American cultures, Europeans left a very strong imprint on American culture today. Settlers from various parts of Europe came to America, French, English, Dutch, Spanish; they all came to America as part of their respective empires’ effort to colonize the new world. These various groups left many imprints on modern American culture as hinted by Linton, some of these things included brushing of the teeth, trains, etc. Along with this group of Europeans, immigrants to America from all over the world ultimately have …show more content…
Globalization in this case does not just pertain to the last 20 years, or the last 100 years for that matter, but rather to the time when humans first started trading goods with another. This transferal of goods also came with syncretism of culture, transferring things such as religion, language, food, art, literature, etc across cultures. Linton hints at several examples of this in essay, including cotton domesticated in India, and eventually turned into cloth by methods derived form Southwestern Asia, leather shoes originating in Egypt, and cut from a pattern of Greek origin. These examples go to prove that ultimately finding a truly 100% American culture in today’s society is unattainable, due in part to the fact that globalization has always had and always will have a key factor in the culture of America. In conclusion, in Ralph Linton’s essay “One Hundred Per-Cent American”, he argues that ultimately a truly one-hundred percent American culture is something that is unattainable. In my opinion, this argument is a truthful one, and is even more resonant in 2014 as it was in 1937, because of the diversity of America’s origin, the syncretism that ultimately is American culture, and lastly the interconnectedness of the world, also known as