Click on the following links. Please note these will open in a new window.

Audio Links:

• Exploring America's 'National Identity'. Does the U.S. require a common core of cultural values? Two-thirds of non-immigrants say the U.S. should have a single culture. Is America a melting pot, a salad bowl, or, as one Harvard professor puts it, tomato soup?
  • Does the U.S. have one basic culture into which new immigrants assimilate?
  • Does the U.S. culture change as new people immigrate into the country?

• Poll Findings: On Cuban-Americans And The Elusive 'American Dream'.
  • How is the American dream elusive for many Cuban Americans?

• America's Cultural Exports Now.
  • What are the cultural exports of the United States and how have they changed? 

• No Tiara, No Problem: 'Rejected Princesses' Have Stories Worth Telling.
  • What does it contend about Disney princesses?
  • How are such princesses viewed around the world?

Video Links:

• Watch the New York Times video “Defining the American Dream” and read the ccompanying print article
  • How do the people interviewed define the American Dream?
  • Even in times of the recession, why do people believe in the American Dream?

•  “Walt Disney: The Triumph of American Imagination”
  • Cultural critic Neal Gabler discusses his book on American imagination. Match his observations to the textbook description of dominant U.S. cultural values.

• In “And The Oscar Goes To...,” 2010 movies are analyzed for moral, ethical, religious, and spiritual themes.
  • What U.S. dominant cultural values do you see in these movies?

• Commencement addresses, like other forms of popular culture, often reflect prevailing ideas of a culture. View Oprah Winfrey’s 2008 commencement address at Stanford:
  • What did Oprah say about materialism?
  • What does she say about time orientation?
  • What other aspects of U.S. culture does she speak to?