Title: American Democratic Values - democracy central
Headings: WHAT ARE AMERICAN DEMOCRATIC VALUES and AMERICAN CULTURAL VALUES?
WHAT ARE AMERICAN DEMOCRATIC VALUES and AMERICAN CULTURAL VALUES?
AMERICAN DEMOCRATIC VALUES
AMERICAN CULTURAL VALUES
(by Elizabeth McNamee)
AMERICA IS FALLING SHORT OF ITS VALUES
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN AMERICAN CULTURAL VALUES AND AMERICAN DEMOCRATIC VALUES
SUMMARY
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Content: Civitas: A Framework for Civic Education, a collaborative project of the Center for Civic Education and the Council for the Advancement of Citizenship, National Council for the Social Studies Bulletin No. 86, 1991. The Pew Research Center provides a survey view of the public’s view of American democratic values. AMERICAN CULTURAL VALUES
(by Elizabeth McNamee)
In contract to American democratic values, American cultural values describe common ideologies or standards of behavior that have persisted over periods of American culture. American democratic values focus on principles explicitly or indirectly expressed or written in fundamental US Policy (e.g. the United States Constitution) while American cultural values highlight the popular ideals and ideologies developed and shared by generations of the American people. While democratic values and cultural values may both converge or diverge in ideology, American cultural values have the ability to influence the manifestation of American democracy in practice (e.g. influence over election results, political priorities, Supreme Court case selection). The values listed below have been adapted from an essay written by Robert Kohls aimed to help visitors prepare to acclimate and understand American society. Personal control over the environment
Change/mobility
Time and its importance
Equality/egalitarianism
Self-help
Competition and free enterprise
Action and work orientation
Informality
Directness/openness/honesty
Practicality/efficiency
AMERICA IS FALLING SHORT OF ITS VALUES
A Pew survey documented public opinion as to how well America is adhering to its democratic values as of 2019. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN AMERICAN CULTURAL VALUES AND AMERICAN DEMOCRATIC VALUES
American cultural values refer to common ideologies shared by the American people while American democratic values refer to the principles explicitly or implicitly found in foundational US policy (e.g., the United States Constitution).