Culture In America

The culture of the U.S. began as the culture of its first English colonists. It quickly evolved as an independent culture supplemented by SpanishÐ'-Mexican cowboy culture and by the cultures of subsequent waves of immigrants from Europe and Africa and later from Asia. Overall, many cultural influences came from Europe, especially from the German, English and Irish cultures and later from Italian, Greek cultures. Descendants of enslaved West Africans preserved some cultural traditions from West Africa in the early United States. America has often been called a melting pot. Immigrants from other cultures and countries bring different cultural aspects which are incorporated into the larger American culture.

Social Class

Social class is the greatest cultural influence on persons in the United States. Nearly all cultural aspects of interactions and consumer behavior in the US are guided by a person's location within the country's social structure of the United States. While American society is commonly divided into three or five socio-economic classes, there may be many more distinct groups that could be identified as constituting social classes. Social class is generally described as a combination of Educational attainment in the United States, income in the United States and occupational prestige. There are, however, no clearly defined class boundaries and the nature of any class limits remains arbitrary.

Health

Although many Americans consider themselves middle class, American society is more divided. If pertaining to the majority of Americans, the term middle class would include white collar professionals with an income of about $72,000. American society is generally divided into five social classes, each with its own sub-culture. The most commonly identified classes are the upper class which consists of multiple corporate and social elites, the upper middle class which consists of highly educated white collar professionals, the middle class which largely consists of people with some college education or a Bachelor's degree, the working class (or lower middle class) which includes closely supervised clerical workers, and the lower class which consists of those with the lowest incomes, lowest education and least well-known occupations.

Income and Health Care

Income also had a significant impact on health, those with higher incomes have better access to health care facilities, higher life expectancy, lower infant mortality rate and increased health consciousness. The life expectancy for the Asian Americans who have an average income of $21,566 is 84 years. African Americans with an average income of $14,800 have a life expectancy of 71 years.

People of higher status are less likely to smoke, more likely to exercise regularly and be more conscious of their diet. Poor Americans are more likely to consume lower quality, processed foods, contributing to the likelihood of being obese.

Food

The types of food served at home depend on the region of the country and the family's cultural background. Recent immigrants tend to eat food similar to their country of origin, and the American versions of these cultural foods, such as American Chinese or Italian-American often eventually appear. German foods had a great impact on American foods, especially in the mid-west.