Who is american

Look around the U. Asian Americans are not passive in the face of such threats to their American identities but react by altering their behavior, sometimes to their own detriment. For instance, Asian Americans who were confronted with a question indicating that their American identity might be in doubt i. In contrast, White Americans, who fit the image of a prototypical American, do not change their behaviors. These concerns are especially problematic for second-generation i.

Trading a traditional diet and lifestyle for a prototypical American one may thus provide a way, albeit a potentially harmful one, for Asian Americans to assert to others that they belong in America.

A headline used the term "America" as a synonym for the United States of America. Though I didn't share his reaction, as a U.

In extreme cases I would receive a tirade denouncing U. I was unaware of how nuanced "America" and "American" were before moving to Argentina in September I did have a moment of realization in college, though, that people outside the 50 United States also laid claim to the terms. When researching this piece, I reached out to my professor at the time Nathalie Bouzaglo, an assistant professor in the Spanish department and native of Venezuela, to recount this anecdote.

I was surprised that America, in fact, referred to the U. Meanwhile, my father, a first generation Mexican immigrant and U. Why does civic solidarity matter? First, it is integral to the pursuit of distributive justice. The institutions of the welfare state serve as redistributive mechanisms that can offset the inequalities of life chances that a capitalist economy creates, and they raise the position of the worst-off members of society to a level where they are able to participate as equal citizens.

While self-interest alone may motivate people to support social insurance schemes that protect them against unpredictable circumstances, solidarity is understood to be required to support redistribution from the rich to aid the poor, including housing subsidies, income supplements, and long-term unemployment benefits. Second, genuine democracy demands solidarity. If democratic activity involves not just voting, but also deliberation, then people must make an effort to listen to and understand one another.

Moreover, they must be willing to moderate their claims in the hope of finding common ground on which to base political decisions. Such democratic activity cannot be realized by individuals pursuing their own interests; it requires some concern for the common good. A sense of solidarity can help foster mutual sympathy and respect, which in turn support citizens' orientation toward the common good. Third, civic solidarity offers more inclusive alternatives to chauvinist models that often prevail in political life around the world.

For example, the alternative to the Nehru-Gandhi secular definition of Indian national identity is the Hindu chauvinism of the Bharatiya Janata Party, not a cosmopolitan model of belonging. One might believe that people have a deep need for belonging in communities, perhaps grounded in even deeper human needs for recognition and freedom, but even those skeptical of such claims might recognize the importance of articulating more inclusive models of political community as an alternative to the racial, ethnic, or religious narratives that have permeated political life.

We might look first to Habermas's idea of constitutional patriotism Verfassungspatriotismus. The idea emerged from a particular national history, to denote attachment to the liberal democratic institutions of the postwar Federal Republic of Germany, but Habermas and others have taken it to be a generalizable vision for liberal democratic societies, as well as for supranational communities such as the European Union.

On this view, what binds citizens together is their common allegiance to the ideals embodied in a shared political culture.

The only "common denominator for a constitutional patriotism" is that "every citizen be socialized into a common political culture. Habermas points to the United States as a leading example of a multicultural society where constitutional principles have taken root in a political culture without depending on "all citizens' sharing the same language or the same ethnic and cultural origins.

Based on a minimal commonality of shared ideals, constitutional patriotism is attractive for the agnosticism toward particular moral and religious outlooks and ethnocultural identities to which it aspires. What does constitutional patriotism suggest for the sort of reception immigrants should receive? There has been a general shift in Western Europe and North America in the standards governing access to citizenship from cultural markers to values, and this is a development that constitutional patriots would applaud.

In the United States those seeking to become citizens must demonstrate basic knowledge of U. A newly revised U. There is still a fair amount of trivia: "How many amendments does the Constitution have? Constitutional patriots would endorse this focus on values and principles.

In Habermas's view, legal principles are anchored in the "political culture," which he suggests is separable from "ethical-cultural" forms of life. Acknowledging that in many countries the "ethical-cultural" form of life of the majority is "fused" with the "political culture," he argues that the "level of the shared political culture must be uncoupled from the level of subcultures and their prepolitical identities.

Yet language is a key aspect of "ethical-cultural" forms of life, shaping people's worldviews and experiences. It is through language that individuals become who they are. Since a political community must conduct its affairs in at least one language, the ethical-cultural and political cannot be completely "uncoupled. Indeed, support for the principles of the Constitution has been interpreted as requiring English literacy.

The continuing centrality of language in naturalization policy prevents us from saying that what it means to be an American is purely a matter of shared values.

Sign in to play Episode 1. Episode 1 Comedian Sacha Baron Cohen explores the diverse individuals who populate a unique nation First shown: Mon 16 Jul 27 mins. Episode 2 Comedian Sacha Baron Cohen explores the diverse individuals who populate a unique nation First shown: Mon 23 Jul 28 mins. Episode 3 Comedian Sacha Baron Cohen explores the diverse individuals who populate a unique nation First shown: Mon 30 Jul 23 mins.

Episode 4 Comedian Sacha Baron Cohen explores the diverse individuals who populate a unique nation First shown: Mon 6 Aug 25 mins.