Abstract
American society has always had its cultural myths. From the 17th-century Puritan “City on a Hill” to the rugged individualism of the Western frontier, certain cultural models have been used to characterize and describe American society. Perhaps the most enduring social model and cultural myth has been that of the melting pot. Symbolized by the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, the melting pot model described America as a country where immigrants from different corners of the world came to start a new life by stepping out of their previous ethnic identities and into the American melting pot. It was this melting pot in which they were all transformed into the ingredients of one and the same national brew.
Keywords
Sexual Harassment Affirmative Action Adversarial Model Cultural Myth Rugged IndividualismPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Notes
- 1.Robert Hughes, Culture of Complaint: The Fraying of America (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993).Google Scholar
- 2.David Guterson, “Moneyball,” Harper’s Magazine (September 1994): 45.Google Scholar
- 3.William Bukeley, “Sponsoring Sports Gains in Popularity,” Wall Street Journal (June 24, 1994), p. B1.Google Scholar
- 4.Tim Jones, “The Boom in Sports on TV,” Chicago Tribune (May 12, 1996), p. N1.Google Scholar
- 5.Ibid.Google Scholar
- 6.John Stravinsky, “He Shoots, He Scores, He Insults,” New York Times (May 22, 1994), p. 13A.Google Scholar
- 7.Seth Mydans, “Nice Guys Finish Last,” New York Times (April 9, 1994), p. A7.Google Scholar
- 8.Ibid.Google Scholar
- 9.Eleena DeLisser, “Abusive Fans Lead Amateur Umpires to Ask Courts for Protection,” Wall Street Journal (August 1, 1994), p. B1.Google Scholar
- 10.Ellen Warren, “Is Learning Finishing Second to Winning?” Chicago Tribune (April 16, 1995), p. 1A.Google Scholar
- 11.Hiller Zobel, “In Love with Lawsuits,” American Heritage (November 1994): 60.Google Scholar
- 12.John Marks, “The American Uncivil Wars,” U.S. News & World Report (April 22, 1996): 68.Google Scholar
- 13.Elijah Anderson, “The Code of the Streets,” The Atlantic Monthly (May 1994): 83.Google Scholar
- 14.Ibid, p. 94.Google Scholar
- 15.Pete Hamill, “End Game,” Esquire (December 1994): 86.Google Scholar
- 16.See Martha Bayles, Hole in Our Soul: The Loss of Beauty and Meaning in American Popular Music (New York: Free Press, 1994).Google Scholar
- 17.B. Drummond Ayres, “Art or Trash?” New York Times (June 8, 1996), p. 6A.Google Scholar
- 18.William Grimes, “Burgeoning Civility Deficit Could Be Next National Woe,” New York Times (November 16, 1993), p. 12A.Google Scholar
- 19.Ibid.Google Scholar
- 20.Angela Stofley, “Rude Doctors Sued More,” New York Times (November 25, 1994), p. 9A.Google Scholar
- 21.Patrick Garry, An American Paradox: Censorship in a Nation of Speech (Westport, CT: Praeger, 1993), p. 56.Google Scholar
- 22.Gerald Graff, Beyond the Culture Wars: How Teaching Can Revitalize American Education (New York: W.W. Norton, 1992), p. 81.Google Scholar
- 23.Harold Bloom, The Western Canon: The Books and Schools of the Ages (New York: Harcourt Brace and Company, 1993), p. 212.Google Scholar
- 24.Richard Bernstein, Dictatorship of Virtue: Multiculturalism and the Battle for America’s Future (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1994).Google Scholar
- 25.Richard Rorty, “The Unpatriotic Academy,” New York Times (February 13, 1994), p. 13E.Google Scholar
- 26.Dirk Johnson, “Word Cops Monitor a Classroom,” Star Tribune (Minneapolis) (May 13, 1994), p. 4A.Google Scholar
- 27.Daphne Patai and Noretta Koertge, Professing Feminism: Cautionary Tales from the Strange New World of Women’s Studies (New York: Basic Books, 1995), p. 117,Google Scholar
- 28.Ibid., p. 151.Google Scholar
- 29.Robert and Jon Solomon, Up the University (Massachusetts: Addison-Wesley, 1993), p. 37.Google Scholar
- 30.Mickiko Kakutani, “Biography as Blood Sport,” New York Times (September 20, 1994), p. B1.Google Scholar
- 31.Ibid.Google Scholar
- 32.Sam Dillon, “AIDS Curriculum: Fighting Words,” New York Times (October 24, 1994), p. B1.Google Scholar
- 33.Ibid.Google Scholar
- 34.John Marks, “The American Uncivil Wars,” U.S. News & World Report (April 22, 1996): 69.Google Scholar
- 35.Wendy Bounds, “More Students and Parents Take Their Schools to Court,” Wall Street Journal (July 26, 1994), p. B1.Google Scholar
- 36.Sue Shellenbarger, “Work-Force Study Finds Loyalty Is Weak,” Wall Street Journal (September 3, 1993), p. B1.Google Scholar
- 37.Margaret Jacobs, “Courts Conflicted over Religion in Workplace,” Wall Street Journal (October 10, 1995), p. B1.Google Scholar
- 38.Frances McMorris, “Can Post-Traumatic Stress Arise from Office Battles?” Wall Street Journal (February 19, 1996), p. 1B.Google Scholar
- 39.Ginia Bellafante, “Are Women Too Nice at the Office?” Time (October 3, 1994): 60.Google Scholar
- 40.Lisa Genasci, “The Perils of Plaintiffs,” Star Tribune (Minneapolis) (October 11, 1994), p. 1D.Google Scholar
- 41.Thomas Lueck, “Job-Loss Anger,” Wall Street Journal (December 12, 1993), p. 1A.Google Scholar
- 42.Anastasia Toufexis, “Workers Who Fight Firing with Fire,” Time (April 25, 1994): 36,Google Scholar
- 43.Joan Rigdon, “Companies See More Workplace Violence,” Wall Street Journal (April 12, 1994), p. B1.Google Scholar
- 44.Mathew Purdy, “Workplace Homicides Provoking Negligence Lawsuits,” New York Times (February 14, 1994), p. 1A.Google Scholar
- 45.Dennis Farney, “Gay Rights Confront Determined Resistance,” Wall Street Journal (October 7, 1994), p. 1A.Google Scholar
- 46.Ibid.Google Scholar
- 47.Paul Starobin, “A Generation of Vipers,” Columbia Journalism Review (March 1995): 27.Google Scholar
- 48.Kenneth Walsh, Feeding the Beast (New York: Random House, 1996), p. 56.Google Scholar
- 49.Larry Sabato, Feeding Frenzy: How Attack Journalism Has Transformed American Politics (New York: Free Press, 1991).Google Scholar
- 50.Thomas Patterson, Out of Order (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1993), p. 71.Google Scholar
- 51.Ibid.Google Scholar
- 52.Adam Gopnik, “Read All about It,” The New Yorker (December 12, 1994): 86.Google Scholar
- 53.Ibid., p. 93.Google Scholar
- 54.William Glaberson, “Cynicism Erodes Press Credibility,” Star Tribune (Minneapolis) (October 14, 1994), p. 4A.Google Scholar
- 55.Peter Brown, “Gotcha Journalism,” Media Critic (Autumn 1994): 66–73.Google Scholar
- 56.Ibid., p. 72.Google Scholar
- 57.Louis Harris and Associates survey. The Privacy Study, No. 902030 (March 1990).Google Scholar
- 58.Adam Clymer, “Taking Power in the Age of Defiance,” New York Times (January 8, 1995), p. 17E.Google Scholar
- 59.Ibid.Google Scholar
- 60.“Partisan Hostility Strong in Wake of Cams Battle,” Star Tribune (Minneapolis) (March 12, 1995), p. 15A.Google Scholar
- 61.Jan Ferris, “Village Boards Veer toward Uncivil Liberties,” Chicago Tribune (September 25, 1994), p. 1A.Google Scholar
- 62.Katharine Seelye, “In Attack on Gingrich, Democrats Use His Tactics,” New York Times (January 19, 1995), p. 1A.Google Scholar
- 63.Sharon Schmickle, “Federal Partisanship Is Culmination of Trend,” New York Times (December 4, 1995), p. 1A.Google Scholar
- 64.Katharine Seelye, “Lawmakers Take Sour View as Session Totters to Close,” New York Times (October 1, 1994), p. 1A.Google Scholar
- 65.Text of remarks appeared in Chicago Tribune (November 15, 1994), p. 7A.Google Scholar
- 66.Sam Howe Verhovek, “Retiring Senator Sees Turmoil Ahead,” New York Times (November 16, 1994), p. 11A.Google Scholar
- 67.“Alabama Senator Is Fourth Democrat to Retire,” New York Times (March 29, 1995), p. 10A.Google Scholar
- 68.Robert Whereatt, “Suspicion, Paranoia, Lies,” Star Tribune (Minneapolis) (November 22, 1994), p. 1B.Google Scholar