Encyclopedia of Sociology

AMERICAN SOCIETY

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C. MATTHEW SNIPP

AMERICAN SOCIETY

The term American society is used here to refer to

the society of the United States of America. This

conventional usage is brief and convenient and

implies no lack of recognition for other societies

of North, Central, and South America.

Boundaries of modern national societies are

permeable and often socially and culturally fuzzy

and changeable. Lines on maps do not take into

account the cross-boundary flows and linkages of

trade, tourists, information, workers, diseases, mili-

tary arms and personnel, ethnic or linguistic af-

filiations, and the like. As a large, heterogeneous

country, the United States well illustrates such

interdependence and cultural diversity.

During the second half of the twentieth centu-

ry it became increasingly plain that an understand-

ing of American society required analysis of its

place in a global system. National societies have

become highly interdependent through extensive

flows of capital, technology, goods and services,

ideas and beliefs, cultural artifacts, and symbols. A

world system of politico-military relationships (blocs

and hierarchies) interacts with a global system of

trade, finance, and population transfers, and both

systems are influenced by cultural interpenetration

(including organizational forms and procedures).

While these developments were under way,

the American people became healthier, life ex-

pectancy increased, educational levels rose, in-

come and wealth increased, major new technolo-

gies developed (e.g., the so-called Information

Revolution), and ethnic and racial minorities gained

in income, occupational status, and political par-

ticipation (Farley 1996). On the other hand, eco-

nomic inequality increased sharply, the prison

population grew rapidly (and became dispropor-

tionately made up of African Americans), divorce

rates remained at high levels, single-parent house-

holds increased, and infant mortality remained

high, as did violent crime (Farley 1996).