• Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!

Genuine question: What is white culture?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Saying certain cultural practice is specific to one race is not just silly, but racist. "Black Culture" etc. is just as nonsensical a term as "White Culture" is. "African-American culture" would be the much better term, and even that doesn't come without pitfalls.
 
HeelPower said:
Western Philosophy,science and classical music are all white.

Industrialization is arguably white.

I mean the renaissance and enlightment are white/european achievments.

As a non-white person, I am compelled to admit that.

Edit : Christianity too.
Click to expand...
And where can we trace the origins of renaissance, philosophy, religion (Christianity too) and the bases for modern science especially in the field of mathematics and medicine?

Hint: is not in a region full of whites.
 
viciouskillersquirrel said:
In America, it's more or less Protestantism and the set of values that come with it (conservative morality, self reliance, work ethic, just world hypothesis), an unqualified belief in certain myths about the USA and its founding (Washington could not tell a lie, freedom uber alles), a view of the military and the police as heroic, quasi-sacred institutions, a way of dressing that signals who you are and your status in society (boat shoes, polo shirts, blue jeans, plaid, those string tie things, actual suits and ties etc), a particular set of cuisine and a relatively bland spice palate (roast lamb with mint jelly), a set of expectations regarding men and women's interactions (in flux, but transitioning from Rockwell-esque father knows best to a diluted version of that, dating norms etc.), certain norms regarding families (the word family refers to immediate family only and not cousins or grandparents, kids leaving home at 18, kids as a rule do not take care of parents in old age), patronage of certain institutions over others and a bunch of peculiar traditions, like Halloween.

Black, Hispanic and Asian culture in the US have a lot of similarities to White American culture, but view the world through different lenses, differ in terms of values, religion and family norms. It's pretty obvious when you dig just a little beneath the surface.
Click to expand...

I think some of it is true, but I think it mostly describes conservative and older White Americans. White Americans are politically diverse and are spread out, so it is difficult to pinpoint an identifiable culture.
 
It's depressing that the first thing I thought of was the NRA and gun worship.

Snarky answers aside, American "white culture" is difficult to define, mostly because so many of us come from a hodge-podge of European/Scandinavian heritage. My background is Danish, Czech, and German - do any of those cultures define who I am as an American? Not really. I couldn't tell you the first thing about Danish or Czech culture. German culture I'm more familiar with, but that's almost entirely because of the four years of German classes I took in high school. But I didn't grow up eating traditional Danish/Czech/German meals or anything.

I've found that the white Americans who are connected to their culture/heritage tend to be the ones who are either 1st or second generation American-born. If their parents or grandparents are immigrants, they have a direct connection to whatever culture they're descended from. Since the vast majority of us don't have that, we're kind of left to our devices to essentially find culture in the US and to pick and choose what defines who we are.

This is of course where the ridiculous amount of cultural appropriation comes in.
 
wSFnmzs.png
 
Part of white privilege is not having to think of your whiteness. White is treated as the default and everything else is othered.

People have a hard time answering this question because white people get to claim and participate in whatever aspects they like and society supports that. Minorities don't get that privilege.
 
HeelPower said:
Western Philosophy,science and classical music are all white.

Industrialization is arguably white.

I mean the renaissance and enlightment are white/european achievments.

As a non-white person, I am compelled to admit that.

Edit : Christianity too.
Click to expand...

Ehhh... The foundations of philosophy, science and classical music were all "picked up" from other cultures out of Africa/the Middle East. The renaissance and enlightenment being part of that knowledge containing philosophy, science and music... Even Christianity came up out of Egypt on the back of a colonial conquest. From a Greek slaver cult to the slow perversion of the original Coptic Egyptian religion over a process of about 500 years.
 
Abinash117 said:
I think some of it is true, but I think it mostly describes conservative and older White Americans. White Americans are politically diverse and are spread out, so it is difficult to pinpoint an identifiable culture.
Click to expand...
Older, conservative people are the keepers of culture, whereas younger people are experimenters and pioneers. Just because their kids might be drinking no fat chai with a splash of walnut essence doesn't mean they're not connected to the culture I described.

Just because a sophisticated and educated Shangai-ren might have little in common with someone from Sichuan or Shenzhen, even linguistically, doesn't mean there isn't a common Chinese culture. It's easier to recognise Neo Confucianism and its emphasis on order, loyalty and filial piety as Chinese values because they're different from your own.
 
OG Shaka Zulu said:
To be honest, nothing positive comes to mind when I think about "white culture" in the U.S. Nonwhites on this continent have casually been considered human beings for only 52 years, so "white culture" in the US carries a lot of baggage for me. Whites' actual ethnicities should be celebrated and the US concept of white as a social caste should be rejected at all costs. With my white friends and family, I ask them about their specific ethnicity, customs,celebrations and backgrounds. I would love it if whites held on to their European roots and not buy in to the U.S.' casteness.
Click to expand...

When white Americans stopped distinguishing between ourselves based on our families' countries of origin and started "mixing" is when a lot of cultural histories went out the window. Ask your average "white" American 75 years ago about their culture and they'll likely have a much more straightforward answer, probably because they're 100% Polish like their parents ND Grandparents who moved here and would never consent to their children marrying anyone Irish or Italian.

Today, There's no strong connection to your past when you family has six different countries of origin and even your grandparents can't remember if they're a half or a quarter Greek.

This will probably happen to a lot of other non-white mixed race/ethnicity Americans in the future too. It remains to be seen whether this will be a good thing or a bad thing, but it does look like, in America at least, insular cultures are on the way out.
 
There is no such thing as white culture. There is no such thing as black culture or asian culture. Culture is not a monolith. There is probably more diversity within any particular large grouping (however arbitrarily you define it) than between two groups.

The moment you begin defining a culture, you very quickly have to use stereotypes to find any commonality. Which might make you realize how futile the exercise is.
 
ZealousD said:
Personally, this is the hardest thing for me, as a white person, to get a handle on when talking about race. There's notions of "black culture" or "asian culture" or "hispanic culture" or whatever else. There's things that are seen as belonging to those cultures. Something that other cultures shouldn't appropriate. But there's no clear idea of what "white culture" is. The notion that white culture is default culture has problems. The idea that whites have a distinct culture that should be preserved or protected has problems (sniffs of white supremacy). There's nowhere for this concept to go. It's like it can't exist.
Click to expand...
Of course it's problematic. White people went around trying to colonize and force our culture on people. We're still doing that with our military and religious missionaries. Of course that's a problem, and people fighting back to preserve their culture should be given every opportunity to do so.

White people weren't the only colonizers in history, but we're the ones whose colonization is still most evident in modern western society.
 
ahoyhoy said:
When white Americans stopped distinguishing between ourselves based on our families' countries of origin and started "mixing" is when a lot of cultural histories went out the window. Ask your average "white" American 75 years ago about their culture and they'll likely have a much more straightforward answer, probably because they're 100% Polish like their parents ND Grandparents who moved here and would never consent to their children marrying anyone Irish or Italian.

Today, There's no strong connection to your past when you family has six different countries of origin and even your grandparents can't remember if they're a half or a quarter Greek.

This will probably happen to a lot of other non-white mixed race/ethnicity Americans in the future too. It remains to be seen whether this will be a good thing or a bad thing, but it does look like, in America at least, insular cultures are on the way out.
Click to expand...

I to a point disagree. It's true to say that many White Americans don't know of the culture of their ancestors but that doesn't mean they are without a culture or have some generic American culture. Due to the sheer size of America different regions have different culture and even individual cities have their own distinct culture. A person from San Francisco is culturally very different from a person from New York. Unless we manage to hook everyone in the US to some type of mind melding interface we won't have a singular American culture but instead we have a bunch of Regional cultures with the connection being they all think(and are) a part of the United States.
 
I'm a German who later came to, further grew up in and lives in NYC. "American white culture" somewhere else in the country, whatever it even particularly is, is surely vastly different than our infinite varities of nationality based self-segregated neighborhoods here.

I guess my point is that there is no monolithic "American white culture" from my experience. The country is utterly vast and varied and it really hit me after having driving a car from NYC to San Francisco three times. It probably usually depends what part of their European heritage a particular area, or actually even family tree, decided to hold on to or celebrate.
 
Thelonelykoopa said:
I to a point disagree. It's true to say that many White Americans don't know of the culture of their ancestors but that doesn't mean they are without a culture or have some generic American culture. Due to the sheer size of America different regions have different culture and even individual cities have their own distinct culture. A person from San Francisco is culturally very different from a person from New York. Unless we manage to hook everyone in the US to some type of mind melding interface we won't have a singular American culture but instead we have a bunch of Regional cultures with the connection being they all think(and are) a part of the United States.
Click to expand...

I think regional cultural ties in white America are very loose and are practically transparent compared to European or Asian ones. Our relative youth as a nation combined with a history of mobility means that we haven't had time to forge distinct cultures tied to geography.

There are hints of it here and there (West Coast" laid back" work culture springs to mind) and a few outliers like Southeastern country culture, but for most third generation American whites in suburban/urban settings coast to coast the experience is largely the same.
 
MrKaepora said:
And where can we trace the origins of renaissance, philosophy, religion (Christianity too) and the bases for modern science especially in the field of mathematics and medicine?

Hint: is not in a region full of whites.
Click to expand...
You don't have to create something for it to be a part of your culture or history.
 
MrKaepora said:
And where can we trace the origins of renaissance, philosophy, religion (Christianity too) and the bases for modern science especially in the field of mathematics and medicine?

Hint: is not in a region full of whites.
Click to expand...

How long does a culture need to "own" something before its considered theres?

How much do they have to mold it, build upon it, and export it before its theres?
 
I always considered it segmented depending on class and location.

Cowboys out south for instance. Redneck truckers with a trucker hat. Trailers. Hunting apparel. All that seems like white culture to me.

Country music.

Meth seems like a white persons game from my experience also.
 
ahoyhoy said:
How long does a culture need to "own" something before its considered theres?

How much do they have to mold it, build upon it, and export it before its theres?
Click to expand...
I mean we consider America to be white people's and they just snatched that shit so a couple thousand years give or take
 
ahoyhoy said:
I think regional cultural ties in white America are very loose and are practically transparent compared to European or Asian ones. Our relative youth as a nation combined with a history of mobility means that we haven't had time to forge distinct cultures tied to geography.

There are hints of it here and there (West Coast" laid back" work culture springs to mind) and a few outliers like Southeastern country culture, but for most third generation American whites in suburban/urban settings coast to coast the experience is largely the same.
Click to expand...

Europeans have mobility as well (Through the EU). Their is are distinct regional cultures in the US.You can see it in the food , even if it's the same type of food the taste will be distinct.As well as with the regional accents and different specific regional vocabulary among others things. Culture isn't a singular picture it's like a mosaic it's a whole butch of smaller pieces that build up to form an image a lot of these you may not even notice until you look at them. If you want I may be able to dig up some articles on this as I have done classes dealing with the Different Regional cultures of the US with a focus on Intersections of Linguistics, Culture and food.
 
70s,80s and 90s "classic rock" is White culture. Country music is White culture. "Classic rock radio" and "Country radio" is White culture. Those genres may not have started out that way, but theyve been unquestionably White culture for the last 50 years and so are the radio stations that go with them.
 
What is black culture?
What is any culture really?
It's a very specific thing that varies wildly depending on your ethnic heritage and location.
 
viciouskillersquirrel said:
In America, it's more or less Protestantism and the set of values that come with it (conservative morality, self reliance, work ethic, just world hypothesis), an unqualified belief in certain myths about the USA and its founding (Washington could not tell a lie, freedom uber alles), a view of the military and the police as heroic, quasi-sacred institutions, a way of dressing that signals who you are and your status in society (boat shoes, polo shirts, blue jeans, plaid, those string tie things, actual suits and ties etc), a particular set of cuisine and a relatively bland spice palate (roast lamb with mint jelly), a set of expectations regarding men and women's interactions (in flux, but transitioning from Rockwell-esque father knows best to a diluted version of that, dating norms etc.), certain norms regarding families (the word family refers to immediate family only and not cousins or grandparents, kids leaving home at 18, kids as a rule do not take care of parents in old age), patronage of certain institutions over others and a bunch of peculiar traditions, like Halloween.

Black, Hispanic and Asian culture in the US have a lot of similarities to White American culture, but view the world through different lenses, differ in terms of values, religion and family norms. It's pretty obvious when you dig just a little beneath the surface.
Click to expand...

You seem to be defining White culture as White Conservative culture. You also seem to be collapsing class here.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

  • Poll
What is your take on culture-centered first names?
29
769
GateofD replied
  • Poll
What will be the bigger pop culture event of 2026...Avengers: Doomsday or Grand Theft Auto 6?
2
53
1K
March Climber replied
What is your current computer/laptop?
2
55
576
computergeek replied
AI Is Now Fabricating What "The Public Thinks"
12
336
IAmRei replied
Spider-Noir | Authentic Black & White Teaser Trailer
28
563
VulcanRaven replied
Top Bottom