Composition and Some Correlates of the American Core Culture

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Abstract
A questionnaire investigation into 23 so-called typical American values resulted in a stable cluster of 40 items, defining 17 values in 3 large American and 3 foreign samples. These 40 items survived 3 successive item analyses and a factor analysis in 3 large domestic samples from a much larger pool of value statements, to which S responded by checking degree of agreement. The American core culture cluster is organized around the belief in upward mobility. Strongest acceptance is found in the upper-lower class, while more privileged groups progressively diverge. This finding, the increasing diversity of scores in higher status groups, and the relationship between strong acceptance of core values and preference for mass culture indicates that higher status groups use the para-popular sources, including mental health experts, and diverge significantly from traditional values. Implications point to diversity as an increasing keynote in American life and to a new culture conflict in the schools.

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