American culture: history, values, and contemporary perspectives

American culture is the result of different social forces mixed together to create something unique: a society which is based on impermanence and change, always looking to the future for something better. There is always something better, something that will help create the perfect society just around the corner, about to hit the market. Because of this view that the future will be better than the present, Americans are rarely content with what the present has to offer. People are willing to sacrifice what they have now for the promise of a better future. This causes people to become fixated with the future at the expense of the present. In short, American culture is in a constant state of dissatisfaction, always seeking something better and never realizing how good things are right now.

Wendell Berry, in his 1977 book The Unsettling of America described how he viewed American society. He found that American society was the result of a mix of different social forces which have created a society where average Americans are detached from their home, work, and geography so they turn to technology to create a better future. Berry claimed that mankind has made himself the arbiter of all things, and therefore is able to shape the future to his liking. This idea is at the very heart of American culture, from the earliest days Americans have always felt the need to create something new out of what they saw as untamed wilderness. Because the United States of America started from nothing, everything had to be created. This gave birth to two ideals which have become the basis of American society: Americans can built the future and the future will be better than the present.

But these ideals come with an unexpected paradox, because Americans can make a future which is better than the present, no one is satisfied with the way things are, they always want something better, they always long for that next better thing. The future becomes the goal and the present becomes just something Americans have to get through so they reach the future. This creates a certain amount of impermanence in American society. Because the future will be better, whatever needs to be done, however destructive, can be justified in order to create the future. In this way Americans are destroying the future in order to create the future, thereby creating a never ending journey toward a future that is impossible to achieve. American culture risks being in a constant state of transition, never achieving the goal of permanence, but always moving toward a future that is just out of reach.