06-23-2019, 11:49 AM
The United States contains a vast array of ethnic groups: in addition to all the different tribes of Native Americans, you have a wide range of large immigrant groups (the largest being German-American, African-American, Mexican-American, Irish-American and English-American). However, now that it's been over 400 years since the first European settlements were established in the territory that would become the USA, has enough time passed for "American" itself to become an ethnicity?
YouTube user Masaman explores that issue in the following video:
Here are some of the main points that he makes:
In the end, he concludes that the answer to the title question is "Not yet", because not enough time has passed, and the vast majority of non-native Americans still identify, to some extent, with their ancestral homelands. However, it's certainly showing signs of emerging: right now, it's largely restricted to those Anglo-Americans whose ancestors have been in America for the longest time, but it could easily expand to other groups as their European ancestry moves further back. (Indeed, some sociologists argue that the same process will even extend to Latin-Americans and Asian-Americans over time, as both groups have relatively high rates of inter-mixing with white Americans. It'd take many generations, but it could happen!)
So, is there an ethnicity which is just 'American' (as opposed to Anglo-American or German-American or anything like that) - and, if not, when might one emerge, if ever?
YouTube user Masaman explores that issue in the following video:
Here are some of the main points that he makes:
- Around 7% of Americans identify their ethnic group as nothing more than 'American' (as you can see on this map, this is particularly prevalent in Appalachia). Most of these people are of English or Scots-Irish descent; however, their ancestors have been in America for so long that they no longer identify with their original European ancestry groups. (Something similar happens in Canada, BTW - although, those who identify their ethnicity as just 'Canadian' are more likely to be French-Canadian than Anglo-Canadian)
- Masaman also argues that white Southerners could be considered to be an 'ethnicity', since political and cultural differences between North and South were massive prior to the 20th century (and, when white Southerners moved to the North, they tended to form 'Southern' enclaves).
- In some of the larger states (particularly Texas), many of the inhabitants identify primarily with their state, rather than a particular ethnic group. However, this isn't really true of the smaller states (and it could cause confusion in the cases of Alaska and Hawaii, since the labels 'Alaskan' and 'Hawaiian' are already in use to describe the native populations of those states!)
- Masaman repeats his earlier argument that Mormons (at least, the 'original' ones descended from the Mormon pioneers) function as an 'ethnicity' in many ways - but, this time, he gives a shout-out to the Amish as well .
In the end, he concludes that the answer to the title question is "Not yet", because not enough time has passed, and the vast majority of non-native Americans still identify, to some extent, with their ancestral homelands. However, it's certainly showing signs of emerging: right now, it's largely restricted to those Anglo-Americans whose ancestors have been in America for the longest time, but it could easily expand to other groups as their European ancestry moves further back. (Indeed, some sociologists argue that the same process will even extend to Latin-Americans and Asian-Americans over time, as both groups have relatively high rates of inter-mixing with white Americans. It'd take many generations, but it could happen!)
So, is there an ethnicity which is just 'American' (as opposed to Anglo-American or German-American or anything like that) - and, if not, when might one emerge, if ever?
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