Contemporary American Culture and Materialism Essay

Throughout the semester we have covered many different topics during our study of contemporary American culture. We studied topics relating to our everyday lives such as, relationships, life habits, work, and school. The various readings, films, and discussions during class have helped me reflect upon my life. I would like to elaborate and focus on the aspects of this class that directly influence the way I see the world today. Before I took this course my mental image of materialism, happiness, and love were entirely different. I have been exposed to a different perception of our world today that I would have never experienced if I had not taken this course. Our course material helped me analyze how materialism affects me, and it helped†¦show more content†¦There are so many commercials on television that I rarely believe anything I see on television and that is quite sad, because what is shown on television should be regulated and resemble some sense of truth. I have learn ed that owning things are not important in life, and things like family, friends, love, and intelligent thought are more important. However we still need the essential necessities to survive. Another aspect of modern American culture that I hadn’t thought deeply about until taking this course is love. I can relate the materialism to love, because many Americans believe that the expense one spends on a gift reflects how much they love the person receiving the gift. Relationships in our culture today resemble a well-oiled bond between two people who remain strangers all their lives, who never arrive at a central relationship, but treat each other with courtesy and attempt to listen and make each other feel better. Love is only possible if both people communicate with each other, and are able to see things from their partner’s perspective. I have learned that love isn’t just a sense of passion one feels, or a sense of excitement out of lust, but it is a moving, growing, and consent conflict that two people experience and work through to the best of their abilities. For one to be in love they must understand they cannot change their partner, and must acce pt their partner for whom he or she reallyShow MoreRelatedRalph Chang in Typical American1078 Words   |  5 Pagesfactors of one’s wisdom and future success. People can always gain precious life lessons from their flaws, which resemble the pebbles that make a stable and perfect road. In the novel Typical American written by Gish Jen, the protagonist, Ralph Chang, makes a mistake in which he shifts and tortures his original American dream to a false and ‘poisonous’ dream that causes his ultimate familial, moral and financial collapse; in other words, he fails to create a ‘China’ with traditional values in America. HoweverRead More Modern American Culture and Individualism Essay1019 Words   |  5 Pagesconsidered to be a money culture. Materialism, a devotion to making money and to having a good time are all products of a money making culture. All of technology is controlled by an interest in private profit (Dewey, p15). Sigmund Freud and John Dewy both see this day in age as a time devoted to the â€Å"scientific revolution† and profit from this drastic advance in mankind. Civilization, as we know it today, is largely to blame for the misery of the common people. The American people no longer have aRead MoreConsumerism : The Trap Of Materialism1704 Words   |  7 Pagesâ€Å"The Trap of Materialism† Out of all of the different causes that people live for today, consumerism is the only one spread completely around the globe and into almost every culture. Throughout the thousands of years that humans have been on this planet the universal idea of success has been altered greatly. Today, the most common vision of a successful life is the ability to consume the greatest amount of stuff by obtaining the most amount of money possible. If you are unable to afford a houseRead MoreEssay about 1920s in The Great Gatsby1008 Words   |  5 Pagescompete, establishing contemporary interpretations of the novel. Dubbed the ‘roaring 20s’, because of the massive rise in America’s economy, this social and historical context is widely remembered for its impressive parties and sensationalist attitude. However, Fitzgerald also conveys a more sinister side to this culture through numerous affairs, poverty and a rampage of organised crime. By exposing this moral downfall, Fitzgerald reveals to the responder his value of the American dream and his beliefRead MoreMarketing Apple Fanatics : Self Identity1307 Words   |  6 Pagesfinances, maximizing business profits; however, marketing needed to evolve in order to become successful, so it transformed into an appeal to humans’ religious nature. In contemporary marketing, brand managers create an identity for their products that allows brands to grow in size and gain devoted followers. All of this impacts the culture because generations identify with the religion and commodities of their time. As a result of today’s major technological corporations, modern students use websitesRead More Materialism in The Great Gatsby Essay1075 Words   |  5 PagesMaterialism may be defined as attention to or emphasis on material objects, needs or considerations, with a disinterest in or rejection of spiritual values. The acquisition of material wealth is often equated with happiness in this country. This is true today, and it was true during the 1920s, the setting of F. Scott Fitzgeralds The Great Gatsby. That the majority of Americans believe that wealth and happiness are the same is a result of our market economy that encourages consumption and conditionsRead MoreViolence On The Rise Of Contemporary Society1275 Words   |  6 PagesViolence on the Rise Contemporary society has evolved around materialism due to an incessant rise of scientific and technological innovations. While some may argue man is living in the most peaceful era in American history, the incline of man’s tendency to value material possessions above spiritualism has effectively caused an erosion of general morality, a revision of social normalization, and an increase in violent actions. Children are the leading advocates in this societal evolution. PatentlyRead MoreAnnotated Bibliography Of The New Historicism2440 Words   |  10 Pagesconcept of Cultural Poeticswas put forward clearlyby Greenblatt in TOWARDS A Cultural Poetics. New historicism cultural poetics had become a hot topic in contemporary academia that a large number of dissertation literary studies and cultural anthropology are new historicism as a problem object or research methods, and a well-known American universities even openly paying jobs of new Historicism professional teacher(Seaton,19 99).Some scholars wrote to protest the new historicism impact on traditionalRead More Terrorism and the Pursuit of God Essay example648 Words   |  3 PagesTerrorism and the Pursuit of God To set out on a suicide mission, to willingly kill thousands of civilians seems unfathomable for many Americans in the wake of the tragedy of September 11, 2001. Why would anyone do something like that? The answer from many sources has been: religion. More specifically, many people are blaming the Islamic religion, the religion that the hijackers are suspected to adhere to, claiming that Islam reveres its martyrs and sanctions war. But the answer is muchRead MoreIn Quest Of A Political-Economic Critical Anthropology.1781 Words   |  8 Pagesframeworks of oppression. This paper seconds what Maskovsky and Susser (2016) call for that is political-economic critical anthropology is necessary towards an anthropological discipline that would quest equality and justice. In order to talk about the contemporary quest of political-economic critical anthropology, this paper explains, chronologically, the terrain of political economy in anthropology after World War II to present in the context of the US. This paper agrees that Marxist-inspired political