The term identity crisis as defined by Webster’s New World College Dictionary as a state of becoming uncertain of an individual's feeling relating to oneself especially about, character, goals and origins that occurs primarily in the puberty age as a result of growing up under unstable and fast-changing environments. At times, individuals are faced with obstacles that may be a hindrance to them in developing a strong identity. The current unsolved crisis makes individuals continue to struggle to find themselves. The prevailing conditions often make them to lack idea of who they are, where they belong or where they need to go. The resulting impact may be them withdrawing from ordinary life, by not acting normally, or by not making informed choices about their future. The decisions they make involves getting into bad activities such as drugs and crime because they consider having a lousy identity is better as opposed to having none at all. The article analyses how American's identity is being weakened by the spread of globalization and multiculturalism. The polarization and continue division of American society with the knowledge of the country's standard ideals and heritage is eroding is a significant concern. The resulting impact is disturbing and continues to propagate problems that need attention.
If an average person in the street of Los Angles is asked to identify themselves, a wide variety of answers might be given. Some of the answers may be based on race or gender while others may just say they are Americans. Currently, most people in the United States think about themselves first and foremost as Americans. On the contrary, in the early years mostly 19th century that was not a common identification criterion. Individuals in this period identify themselves based on region, political, religion and race. For example, a resident of Georgia would have distinguished himself or herself firstly as a Georgian. This means his or her allegiance is with the state first before committing to the federal government. The country's history has been embedded by many ideas and core values. For example, equality, liberty, self-government, diversity, and individualism among others (Owen, 2005). Because the county belongs to the Native Americans who were present here first, there exists an irony where thousands of people are being targeted, scrutinized and are made to feel less in every passing day because of the diversity in cultural and religious believes considering the founding fathers were immigrants. As a nation, we have missed the point and got it all wrong. It cannot be hidden despite the US having strong ideals and core values that have only been applied to white people for all these years. The country has a dark history relating to stealing, mistreatment, and many others which have impacted the nation negatively.
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In the early 21 st , Israel Zangwill came up with the maxim of the "melting pot." It was used to refer to how settlers from across the globe came to interact in the US. The "melting pot" is a metaphor that had the assumption that as time passes by different habits, traditions and customs associated with a given group would dissolve as individuals assimilated into a more prominent culture. A unique American culture would arise which will accommodate specific elements of different immigrant cultures such as language phrases, a holiday tradition in a new perspective. Zangwill used the metaphor to translate how the urban immigrants experienced the American Exceptionalism. If they undergo the suffering of being melted into the pot, then they would be just be considered as other Americans. The American assimilation model was strengthened by the ideals and cores values formed by the nation's original Anglo-Protestant (Owen, 2005). They are have been established in the American creed, which has promoted the ideologies of liberty, individualism, equality, and laissez-faire which reinforce the Constitution of the US.
According to research done by the Bradley Project on National Identity of America, it was revealed that 84 percent believes that America possesses a unique national identity. It involves viewing American identity as contained in the countries set values and their way of life as opposed to being based on ethnicity. Those interviewed had the opinion that an American identity is a form of commitment to freedom, which entails free speech, religious freedom, opportunity freedom, and freedom of political association. On the contrary, a significant portion of the population sampled had the view that American identity is continuing to weaken and the Americans are already divided that sustaining a mutual identity is an uphill task now. The younger generation interviewed believed that there is no national identity which is a worrying response. It reveals the gap that exists between the American adults and the young generation because of being unable to transmit the heritage of the country to the youth.
The American Creed and Exceptionalism act as the focal point to American identity, given the fact that the country has a diverse cultural background. Americanism is an ideological commitment to the ideal values. The debate present among different individuals is whether American identity can be expressively be realized by an obligation to the fundamental beliefs and ideas rather than to history and sharing of ancestral among the American population which is increasingly becoming a diverse nation (Root, 1992). Scholars and political analysis from the 1960s have advanced the idea that the "melting pot" concept has not acknowledged the fact that the different immigrant's groups should not abandon their distinct identities and embrace multiculturalism and diversity. Ethnic and racial groups conserve many of their traits and cultural attributes, on the other hand, they change their orientation as a result of marriage with other groups (Bowles, 1993). Multiculturalism, identifies the unique heritage of culture of ethnic and racial groups, with some striving to maintain their native languages and lifestyles (Owen, 2005). Consequently, people can be American while at the same time acquire other identities, based on ethnic and racial heritage, sexual preference and gender.
Most Americans have embraced multiculturalism. Furthermore, it has been promoted in institutions where curricula that foster understanding of diversity in culture by exposing students to traditions and customs of racial and ethnic groups. According to Hutchison, the interaction of people with the environment results in the production of human behaviors. These behaviors are human cognitive which relates to racial identification (Hutchison, 2008). The government organizations are advocating for acceptance of diversity by supporting Asian, Hispanic, American and Pacific Islander heritage weeks. However, multiculturalism still becomes a significant basis for a societal and political pressure. The proponents of the "melting pot" conventions believe that ethnic and racial assimilation is prevalent among the public. The Americans think that the United States is the global greatest melting pot where individuals from other countries can be brought together as one nation. A study was done in 2005, of the respondents, 67 percent believed that the immigrants need to adopt the culture of the American, heritage, and language, while 17 percent had the view, they need to maintain their home country cultures.
Any person of any skin color, religion, and language living in America can be entitled to be American although their self-identity may not be recognized. The existence of a lot of different descriptions of who and who is not American, leading to doubts when categorizing individuals (Owen, 2005). Currently, the emerging trend inclines towards acceptability of every person, even those with minority opinions. This pattern proves that America is moving in the right direction. As time progresses, America could witness the dissolution of identity. America shortly could be the pioneer of a global society where many characteristics on which the roots of many characters rely on will be broken. An examination of trends relating to the American population composition provides the grounds for discussions of multiculturalism and identity. U.S Census data reveal the population of the country is increasing, and its ethnic and racial makeup has been radically changing.
Research done by the Bradley brings vital information and provides suggestions that are good. The American identity has brought national conversation which had begun a long time ago both in the education system and at the society. This has increased the focus based on majority will of the people of America. The national identity crisis in the American has been systematically and purposely eroded by both the internationalists and multiculturalists who holds influence positions, who have the idea of replacing American identity with a global agenda. The research provides revived hope to the people of America to reclaim their national identity. The process of reclaiming American heritage will need a sustained and determined action by the Americans in every community in the coming years.
In conclusion, American identity has been an issue since the founding of the nation. This has been associated with immigrant heritage. The American citizenship is involved with a commitment and acceptance of ideology and core values as opposed to the feeling of sharing ancestral and history. It now evident that multiculturalism and immigration have reconfigured American identity and citizenship. Historically, American political culture has an adaptive culture, and the tradition may continue to exist. The research conducted shows that the nation's youth seems to indicate they are accepting the American core values and will be responsible for reorganizing them regarding social, demographic, and cultural trends. America’s identity crisis is that of a nation, not encompassing everyone but some. People have the assumption that they are better than others not realizing that diversity brings uniqueness. Diversity allows for interaction and learning with individuals from other groups.
References
Bowles, D. Dorcas E.D. (1993). Bi-Racial Identity: Children born to African American and White couples . Human Science Press, Inc
Hutchison, Elizabeth D. (2008). Dimensions of human behavior person and environment . Los Angeles: Virginia Commonwealth University Press.
Neufeldt, V., & Sparks, A. N. (Eds.). (2002). Webster's new world dictionary. New York: Simon and Schuster.
Owen, D. (2005). American Identity, Citizenship, and Multiculturalism . Retrieved from http://www.civiced.org/pdfs/germanPaper0905/DianaOwen2005.pdf.
Root, P. P. (1992). Racially mixed people in America . Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.
