MARVIN HARRIS AND CULTURAL MATERIALISM
Robert N. St. Clair, University of Louisville
Introduction
Currently, the field of anthropology is concerned with a theory of human diversity. Anthropologists refer
to this as "the study of man." There are several aspects to this tradition of studying what man is like.
One part, for example, deals with the remaining artifacts of the past is known as archeology. Another
area concerns the investigation of human remains and this is known as physical anthropology.
Linguistics is the study of language structure and it was once a major part of anthropological research.
Now it is an independent field of investigation. Even sociology was once merely a course in
anthropology before it attained a separate status as a separate discipline. The most interesting area
within the tradition of anthropology, however, is the study of culture.
There was a time when anthropologists studied exotic cultures. These were studies that told about how
people of distant nations experienced life and carried out their own social dramas. These cultures were
contrasted from those of the industrial nations. It was the task of the sociologist to study the culture of
the industrial nations. The anthropologists, on the other hand, studied the cultures of the non-industrial
nations. The problem with this scenario is that much have changed since the beginning of
anthropological and sociological research began centuries ago. Many non-industrial nations have
become industrialized. Many Third and Second World nations have attained the status of becoming First
World nations. These changes have led to great confusion between the disciplines of anthropology and
sociology. Many sociologists found themselves studying cultures that used to be considered exotic.
Similarly, many anthropologists found themselves studying exotic cultures which were rapidly become
part of the industrialized world. These scholars soon became confused as to who should study what
culture. These confusion was eventually reflected among university administrators who used their own
judgment on the matter and began to combine departments of anthropology with those of sociology.
They became known as The Department of Sociology and Anthropology. The faculty complained, but
they knew that they had more in common among themselves than others realized. They only differed on
one issue and that was the relationship of "society" to "culture." Sociologist argued that culture was just
another kind of society. Anthropologists disagreed. The model presented in this book agrees with the
claims made by sociologists. It goes one step further by arguing that when a subculture is made official
within a nation state, it becomes known as the culture for that group.
Cultural Materialism as the New World Culture
Marvin Harris (1980) has proposed a new model of anthropology. He thinks that all forms of culture can
be explain in terms of economics. He argued that his new theory of cultural materialism would be able
to explain all cultural differences as patterns of struggles for economic existence. Every society must
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cope with its own problems of production and reproduction of material goods, and the various kinds of
problems or threats of disorder arising from these domestic economic processes. He agreed with Karl
Marx that the mode of production in the material life of a nation determines the general character of
the social, political, and spiritual processes of life. Most scholars would agree with this anthropologist,
however, what they find startling about his theories is that he uses it to explain everything about
cultures. When other anthropologists argue that the Hindus venerate cows because of religious beliefs,
Harris (1974) boldly states that religion has nothing to do with it. He notes many inconsistencies such as
Moslems, for example, may argue on religious grounds that they should not eat pork, but they do eat
beef. This makes them cow killers. What about the Hindus? Harris notes that they do eat meat. The
issue is about the killing of female cows. They are not the cow lovers that they claim to be. There may be
many cows in India, but there is a shortage of oxen. The oxen and the male water buffalo are the
principal sources of traction used by farmers in the ploughing of their fields. There is a real threat in
India due to a shortage of these draft animals. Oxen, Harris notes (1974:10) are made by cows. Farmers
do not kill cows in India because they would be destroying the factory that makes oxen possible. It is all
a matter of economics. He produces figures showing that even though more cows are born than oxen
every year, there are statistically fewer cows in India. Something must be happening to these cows to
cause them to die! He concludes that these cows are slaughtered for food and that any religious claims
about "sacred cows" has no basis of reality. Note that "reality" has been defined by Harris as "economic
reality." He is using the business model as a theory of anthropology.
Harris claims that everything that other anthropologists may define as cultural really has an economic
motive or basis. Wars, for example, do not occur because of cultural differences. Wars are economically
motivated. Harris (1971:41-69; 1977: Chapter Four). People mobilize themselves for violence and go to
war as solutions to economic problems. Growing nations have problems of population pressure and
need more land in which to settle down and they take it away from their neighbors. Expanding nations
need more raw materials and they invade their neighbors in order to guarantee a steady flow of goods
into their own country. He even argues that warfare is an effective means of population control in those
countries which have a vary large imbalance of males to females. His claims have credence when one
considers the historical explanations for most recent wars. Harris even explains how some aboriginal
cultures adapt warlike lifestyles because it is good for the economy. It appears that his model could also
explain the rationale for many modern countries which live on wartime economies. The United States is
one of them. This is a country which has a huge wartime budget even though it is not currently at war
with anyone. The reason for this large expenditure of wartime funds in the past was supposed to be due
to the "cold war." This was a concerted among many nations in the Western world which worked
together in preparation for a potential war against Russia. What is interesting is the cold war is over and
many corporations continue to produced arms and munitions. The top ten defense contractors back in
1989 were McDonnell Douglas (Harrier Vertical takeoff planes, F-15 Eagle supersonic fighter plane, F/A
Hornet attack planes, missiles, nuclear weapons), General Dynamics (nuclear powered submarines,
tanks, F-16 fighter planes, Tomahawk missiles, Phalanx gun systems, Sparrow missiles, SM-1 missiles),
General Electric / Hughes (military radar systems, missiles, tanks, microwave transmitters, nuclear
weapons), Raytheon (Patriot missiles, military radar systems), General Motors (defense electronics,
nuclear weapons), Lockheed (Star Wars, satellites), United Technologies (helicopters, aerospace gear,
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space guidance systems), Martin Marietta, Boeing (B-52 bombers, Chinook helicopters), and Grumman
(2.3 billion dollars in unknown defense contracts). Under President Reagan, the Pentagon budget for
McDonnell Douglas, the leading defense contractor in the United States, doubled. There is a real
economic problem for companies such as these. During wartime, they are seen as heroes. They provide
much needed equipment, expertise, and organizational skills. The problem is that they expand during
such times and become dependent on money from defense contracts. What happens to such companies
when the war is over? Usually such companies suffer sever cutbacks and reorganization towards a peace
time economy. But, research shows that this is not what happened. They still have large defense
contracts. How is that possible? The only conclusion that can be drawn is that America is still operating
on a war time economy. Perhaps, Marvin Harris was correct about this aspect of the economic
motivation behind war.
Why is this research model of cultural materialism brought into the discussion of American culture? The
answer is twofold. The first reason is that Marvin Harris is an American anthropologist who proposes a
new theory of culture, but he is unaware that his own theory is culture bound. His model comes directly
from the business model which claims that everything in life is economic. He explains cannibalism in
some cultures as a natural means of obtaining protein. He views religious movements as attempts to
replace old systems of power with n ewer ones that are more economically viable. He views the taboo
on eating pork in some cultures as an economic choice. The taboo on eating beef in Hindu cultures is
argued from an economic perspective. The women's movement in the United States is seen as an
economic event. All war religious or otherwise are seen as being economically motivated. The witch
hunts in the United States during the colonial period are explained by him as economic ventures. Even
violence and crime is reinterpreted by him and are viewed by him as economic events. If Harris is not
correct in his current theory, he eventually will be correct because it appears that all of the old
traditional cultures of the world are being replaced by the dictates of the corporate culture with its
emphasis on a consumer society.
The second reason why Harris is important for the study of advertising and the social construction of a
consumer culture in area is because he has actually analyzed American culture using his economic
model (Harris, 1981). Anthropologists have noted that some cultures are more violent than others. The
United States is of ten cited as one of those more violent cultures in the industrial world. Why is this so?
Many argue that it is due to the nature of the American culture. It has five times more homicides than
Japan. It experiences ten times more cases of rape than Japan. There are seventeen times more
robberies in the United States than in Japan. Harris disagrees with them. He cites the American economy
as the reason for such violence. Before considering his interpretation of these events, it is interesting to
note several modern theories which attempt to explain the rise of violence in the United States. One of
these theories, it is argued that criminal violence is inevitable in the United States because of its
capitalist mode of production. If this were true, Japan and Great Britain would have high crime rates.
They do not. Another theory claims that violence is simply the result of urbanization. This theory also
fails. Japan and Great Britain are highly urbanized and they do not come close to the United States in
crime statistics. Tokyo is the world's largest city. However, New York City has twelve times as many
murders than Tokyo and fourteen times as many rapes. Some students of American history note how
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violence was part of the settling of the American frontier prior to the turn of the century. Their argue
that this violence mentality still exists and accounts for the high crime rate in modern America. The
problem with this theory is that it cannot explain why the crime rate has risen in the United States since
the end of the Second World war. Others propose theories based on race. They appeal to the fact that
Blacks constitute only eleven percent of the population, but Backs account for about forty-three percent
of all violent crimes committed in the United States. Most homicides and robberies are committed by
Blacks. They account for seventy two percent of criminal homicides, seventy four percent of aggravated
assaults, and eighty-five percent of armed robberies. Harris (1981: 124-125) disagrees with those who
correlate these statistics with racial identity. He does not see race as a factor in the crimes committed in
America. He attributes these high statistics by Blacks in America to poverty. Half of these Blacks live in
major American cities and are raised in the most dilapidated and dirtiest inner cores of these cities. They
are victims of high unemployment. They have no incomes. They have chosen violent crime as a solution
to their chronic despair. Crime has become their career. What Harris cannot explain by his economic
theory is the fact that the Black middle class is now the largest that it has ever been in the history of the
United States. At present there are many more Blacks who are well educated, working in decent jobs,
and supporting a family in the suburbs than ever before. His statistics do not account for the fact that
Whites also commit many crimes. Most con artists (confidence men) are White. Many people who pose
as contractors and take money from the unsuspecting elderly for low quality home repairs White. White
collar crime occurs but it often goes unreported. The model proposed by Harris cannot explain why the
United States is such a violent country.
It is interesting to note that Harris has embraced the capitalistic model in support of his theory of
cultural materialism. It is a model which places money or financial concerns at the center of all human
activities. Everything human is interpreted through this business model. There are other models of
culture. The interpretation model of culture is held by Clifford Geertz (1973; 1983). It views culture as a
symbolic activity which must be interpreted in terms of local knowledge and customs. Geertz has spent
most of his adult life studying other cultures. He lived with the natives of Bali and speak their language.
He spend many years in the Near East and also speaks Arabic. When he writes his books about a culture,
they represent his interpretation of the events as seen through the eyes of those natives around him.
What he has described is the emic culture of these peoples . Another noted model of cultural analysis
comes from the writings of Lévi-Strauss (1949; 1955: 1972 a, b; 1964). His model is structural. What this
means is that he views all cultures as expression of underlying binary categories. These categories are
unconscious and they pervade all forms of human expression, including culture. There is one major
problem with this model. Speakers of Western European languages realize that when they categorize
things, they tend to present them as opposites: black versus white, good versus bad, etc. What they do
not realize is that not all cultures share this view of categorization. In many cultures in the Far East, for
example, things are seen as belonging to a continuum. Good and bad are not opposites, but the ends of
a continuum. Some things are more good than others. Some are worse. In these cultures, the world
does not exist as polarities. What this means is simply that the structural model proposed by LéviStrauss is culture bound. Therefore, it has limited use as an analytical tool. A very recent model of
cultural analysis comes from a biologist. Edmund Wilson (1975) has developed a model of sociobiology.
It is based on the assumption that all of human behavior can be explained in biological terms. Recent
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research in cellular biology and gene splicing give credence to this model, but genetic traits cannot
explain all form of human expression which differentiate one set of humans from another. Even though
sociobiology is a promising new field which explains such human traits as territoriality and hierarchical
dominance, it cannot explain most cultural phenomena. What Wilson's model offers is a balance against
those anthropologists and sociologists who argued that culture was a replacement for the loss of
instinctual behavior in humans. One is led again to the either/or dichotomy characteristic of Western
thinking. Either cultures are seen as having no biological bases or they are seen as containing only
biological explanations for human behavior.
The Consumer Culture as the New World Culture
What the authors of this book claim is that the creation of the consumer culture which began in the
United States in the second decade of this century has not only become the mainstream culture for the
United States, but it is rapidly becoming a new world culture. As developing nations adopt the model of
monopoly capitalism, they also adopt its beliefs that the purpose of life is economic. They adopt the
model of cultural materialism proposed by the anthropologist, Marvin Harris, who attempts to explain
all human behavior in economic terms. With the advent of the new world culture, many of the older
cultural patterns have either undergone erosion or replaced by the demands of a consumer culture.
Research into this new culture is seen as a positive contribution by economists and members of the
business community. Recently, Charles Hampden-Turner and Alfons Trompenaars 1992) have developed
a model in which they attempt to explain the seven cultures of capitalism. This model does include both
Japan and the United States. All of the other countries mentioned in this analysis are European. The
economic miracles of the Asian Rim cultures are not mentioned in this book outside of the Japanese
experience. In this model, the authors already assume that there is a common world culture and they
dedicate their research to subcultural differences. They note how managerial styles differ from one
nation to another and how the role of labor unions differs across nations. Their work is very informative,
but it needs to be expanded so as to include the underlying rationales for these so-called cultural
differences.
The Nine Subcultures of North America
Anyone who has been to North America knows that a great cultural diversity exits among the nations of
Mexico, the United States, and Canada. These differences have been studied by Joel Garreau (1981) who
is the editor of the Washington Post, an important national American newspaper with a strong research
staff. For two years, Garraeau traveled North America and collected hundreds of important sources of
social and economic information from which he created his interesting theory of the Nine Nations of
North America. These groups, he noted, are nations within nations. They are all culturally different from
one another. They may share many beliefs and attitudes, and in some ways they may even differ
radically in their social, political, or economic perspective on life. For this reason Garreau considers them
to be separate nations.
America is made up of nations within nations. Cultures within cultures. Each is different
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from the other.
What Garreau has accomplished with his Nine Nations Theory is what any cultural geographer would
have arrived at after an in-depth analysis of the cultures in North America. The rationale for this study,
however, was not anthropological. Garreau wanted to create a model for newsmen so that they could
adequately analyze and judge media trends within North America. Newsmen have always felt that there
were many Americas and wanted to be able to refer to these various groups in descriptive terms. In this
sense, Garreau was following a tradition which is common to the business of marketing. Advertisers
have also created cultural maps of North America. Their maps, however are commercial. Those of
Garreau were not. Garreau was merely pursuing this line of thought. His research depicts certain
common trend among the citizens of Mexico, the United States, and Canada. He calls these subcultures,
the Nine Americas. Garreau feels that his research represents a rhetorical pattern which is common to
North America. He notes that when one encounters a stranger, such persons will tend to ask the same
three questions of each other: What is your name? Where are you from? Where do you work?
The Social Significance of the Family Name
The name of a person is important is American culture because it indicates one's social or ethnic
heritage. The name of John Henry IV, for example, tells one that the family has aristocratic designs or
ambitions. Towanda Jones signifies that the woman was named by parents who take pride in their
African heritage. Jorge Yamamoto is a name that tells one that although he is of Japanese kinship, his
surname indicates that he has adapted to the Mexican culture and is also fluent in that language. Names
tend to follow trends. The most popular names in America at present is "Jason" for males and "Jennifer"
for females. Before the turn of the century, many people had biblical names such as Jeremiah, Jones
(derived from the genitive of John), Joseph, Ezekiel, Mark, Matthew, Mary, or the names of Saints such
as Theresa, Thomas, or Paul. These names were especially popular before the turn of the century
(Johnson, 1990: 521-522)
Aaron (first high priest of the Jews), Abigail (wife of Nabal),
Abraham (patriarch or forefather of the Jews), Asher (son of Jacob),
Boaz (husband of Ruth), Daniel (the prophet saved from the lions by God),
Hannah (wife of Elkanah), I saac (Hebrew patriarch, son of Abraham),
Ishmael (son of Abraham and Hagar), Jacob (Hebrew patriarch, founder of Israel),
Mordecai (uncle of Esther), Rebecca (wife of Isaac), Seth (son of Adam)
Some family names reflect a certain time in the social history of a nation. There was a time in Europe
when a person was named by what his family did for a living or by his personal traits.
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Baker - his family worked with the oven. Green - his family worked and lived near the village
green. Cooper - the family name given to barrel makers. Tanner - family that worked with the
tanning of animal hides. Shoemaker - the family that made shoes. Fowler - the family that
takes care of the chickens. Miller - family that ground the corn and other grains. Fowler - the
family that takes care of the fowls. Carpenter - family that worked with wood. Becker - the
family that works with hoes and adzes. Smith - the family name of the blacksmith.
Hall - the family that was employed in a manor or hall within an Estate.
Later, people were named after their families. In this time, the man was legally considered to be the
head of the house According to this Latin tradition, the family was named after him (Latin: pater
familias). Hence in England, one finds Richardson which means son of Richard. Robinson or Robertson
means son of Robert. And so other names with the suffix "-son" maintain this etymology. Simpson,
Davidson, etc. The Irish use the word "Mac" to mean "son of" so MacArthur means son of Arthur.
MacDonald, MacMahon, and numerous other names follow this pattern (Lehman and Lehman, 1957: 78). Some have the prefix which means "descendant of." O'Neil means "grandson or descendant of Neil."
O'Malley, O'Brien and other names follow this pattern. But the Irish also have characteristic names
which date back from old Celtic traditions or traits (Griffin, 1990: 107; Grenham, 1993: 78-183:
Armstrong from family of Adam Armstrong, 1235 A.D., Bell (beautiful or handsome),
Bradley from O Brolchain (breast), Brennan form O Braonain (sorrow), Byrne from O Broin
(the raven), Burke from Norman French surname de Burgh, Burns from an Anglicization of
O'Byrne, Cahil from O Cathail (strong in battle), Campbell from Cathmhaol (battlechampion), Casey form Cathasach (vigilant in war), Cassidy from O Caiside (curly-headed),
Clark from Latin Clericus (clergyman), Connolly from O Conghalaigh (as fierce as a wolf),
Daly from O Dalaigh (one who is present at assemblies), Dillon from O Duilleain (the blind
one of Leon), Donohue from O Donnchadha (brown-haired), Dunne from O Duinn (swarthy
or brown-haired), Finnegan from O Fionnagain (fair-haired), Fitzgerald from Norman French
(son of Gerald), Fitzpatrick from an Anglicization of Mac Giolla Phadraig (son of the servant
of Patrick), Ford from English (one who lived near a Ford), Flynn from O Floinn (reddish or
ruddy), Gorman from Mac Gormain (spear protection), Kelly from O Ceallaigh (bright-haired
or troublesome), Lennon from O Leannain (lover), Kennedy from O Cinneide (round-headed
or ugly headed), Lyon from Normal French Leon (lion), Lynch from the Norman French
surname de Lench, McCarthy from Mac Carthaigh (loving), Macnamara from Mac Conmara
(son of the hound of the sea), Moriarty from O Muicheartaigh (one skilled in the ways of
the sea), Murphy comes from O Murchadha (the sea warrior), O'Brien from O Briain (lofty
or eminent), O'Connor from O Conchobhair (lover of hounds), O'Neill (nine hostages),
Quinn from O Cuinn (chief or leader), Regan from O Riagain (impulsive or angry), Reilly
from O Ragailligh, Ryan from O Mavilriain , Sullivan from O Suileabhain (eye deity), Walsh, a
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person of Welsh origin.
Many Scottish names follow the traditions of Ireland. The following Scots-Gaelic names reflect this
pattern of naming people after old legendary figures or after the personal traits of a family or clan
(Grant: 1992: Sections II, VIII, XVII, XVIII, XXVI, XXXV)
Cameron from Chameron (man with a crooked nose), Chisholm from Chisallich (an ancient
Celtic tribe), Gordon (descendants of the famous knight who slew monstrous animals),
Graham (descendants of the famous warrior who breached to Roman wall in 420 A.D.,
MacDonald (old clan founded by Gaelic Somhairle and the Norsemen Somerled),
MacGregor (the clan of those who lived next to the lowlands)
What is important about a person's name is that it provides one with information about that individual.
Is the name ethnic? Does it belong to one generation or another? Is it an old Anglo-Saxon family name
or is it the name of an immigrant family. Many immigrants have been known to anglicize their names.
For example, the Portuguese "Perreira" was anglicized to "Perry." During the First and Second World
Wars many Americans with German names had them legally changed so as to avoid criticism or
persecution. Johann became John, and Adolph was changed to Al. Regional variants can also be found in
how a name is spelled or pronounced, for example, St. Clair is British, Sinclair is Scottish, and Saint-Clair
is French. In Japan, foreign names are written in Katakana and Japanese names are written in Kanji.
Some forms of Kanji may reflect older forms of the language and others may be written in the revised
Kanji forms. America is a nation of immigrants and the name of one's family reflects the country from
which one's ancestors came from. Rheinhold is German, Bhaktin is Russian, Kanemura is Japanese, Hsu
is Chinese, Carducci is Italian, Kim is Korean, and McGregor is Scottish.. Sometimes, names can be
confusing. In the traditional South, the name of Lee is given high value because of the Civil War General
by that name. In one southern college a student named Lee ran for public office and was
overwhelmingly elected by his fellow students. After the election they found out that Mr. Lee was a
Chinese student. If he had spelled his name Li instead of Lee, he would have lost the election. What this
means is that the question "What is your name" is an important request for information.
The Social Significance of the Region
When someone asks about what part of the country an individual was raised in, he is asking for an
information on that person's subculture. Someone who was born in East Los Angeles (State of California)
belongs to an area that Garreau refers to a Mexamerica. Whereas someone who was born in Pittsburgh
(State of Pennsylvania) knows that his city is the home of United States Steel and Pittsburgh Plate Glass.
Garreau refers to this area as the Foundry. What he is accomplishing by means of these labels for the
Nine Americas is important. Each regional area has its own capital. Each looks different from the others.
Each one definitely feels different. And, each sounds different. Individuals may share a national image
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such as being a Mexican, Canadian, or an American (i.e., a citizen of the United States). However, these
people may not share a common subculture. Someone born in the Foundry has a different value
structure than one who comes from Mexamerica. The final question in the triad is one of social status.
What one does for a living is important information as to what level of society one belongs to. A medical
doctor lives in a different social world from that of a laborer. They may both have the same family name,
both raised in the same regional culture, but they do not belong to the same social class. If North
Americans were to follow the Japanese in the use of business cards (meishi), it would contain a persons
name, where he name from, and what kind of work he does. So the question remains? What are the
nine cultures of North America? These different regional cultures are discussed as follows.
New England is one of the regional cultures which Garreau analyzes. The states of Maine, New
Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and most of Connecticut belong to the area of New
England. People from these parts like to refer to themselves as being more civilized than other parts of
the country. They consider themselves to be academic elitists. They are known for their strong
independent character and for their Yankee virtues as ingenuity and shrewd trading. The images of New
England are those of efficient cast-iron wood stoves, maple syrup, beautiful multicolored falling leaves
Autumn, and old-fashioned values. The dominant industries in New England are low wage industries
such as textiles, apparel, and leather. New England is known for its abundance of water and its
woodlands.
New England lacks the oil of MexAmerica, the thundering cascades of hydro
power found in Quebec and Ecotopia, and the uranium and synthetic fuel stocks
of the Empty Quarter. Except for its proximity to the fishing riches of the Georges
Bank, New England has sparse rouse assets -- apart from the remnants of an
9
industrialism that derived from the historical accident of first settlement.
In general social and economic terms, the scenery and the surroundings have becomes New England's
primary asset. New England is rapidly transforming itself into North America's first truly twenty-firstcentury, postindustrial society, and, as such, it is again a land of pioneers (Garreau, 1981: 19). The future
of this area is in the realm of high technology. Wang Computers, for example, is located in Lowell,
Massachusetts. Dr. A. E. Wang received his Ph.D. from Harvard in 1946 in applied physics and has been
in business in the area for over three decades. Raytheon is also another big employer in the area. Byte
Magazine, a computer journal, can be found in Peterborough. New England Digital makes Synclavier
synthesizers is also a New England company. Natives of the area, however, receive these new industries
with mixed blessings. They are particularly opposed to nuclear energy. It is not surprising, Garreau
argues, that Seabrook Station was the place of the American antinuclear movement. New England, it
should be noted, includes such Canadian areas as Labrador, Newfoundland, and Nova Scotia.
The Foundry
The Foundry is a different kind of America. It is the home of the steel mill. It is where the Bessemer
process was created. This process made the production of steel possible and allowed it to compete with
iron. Steel changed the face of the continent (Garreau, 1981: 59). It enabled the architects of the
Chicago School to transform New York into a city of skyscrapers. It provided the steel rails which linked
the Central Pacific and the Union Pacific railroads. It provided the barbed wire which transformed open
rangeland into farmland and promoted the creation of towns. The foundry could not have happened
elsewhere in North America. It was situated in the middle of a triangle of the three basic resources of
steel: high quality iron ore (Northern Michigan and the Mesabi Range of Minnesota), bituminous coal
(the valleys of Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Kentucky), and limestone (New York, Pennsylvania,
Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, and Ontario).
Its capital must be Detroit, the birth place of the assembly line,
but its spiritual center is bankrupt Cleveland. Its hope may be
Baltimore, but its shame is Cicero, the northern town whose
hatred broke the heart of Martin Luther King, Jr. (Garreau, 1981;
58)
The Foundry is the most populous of the Nine Nations. One third of America can be found here. It is an
area that has attracted a virtual melting pot of ethnic groups: Swedes, Norwegians, Finns, Scots, Welsh,
and Irish. Later it attracted the Blacks who were fleeing from the region known as Dixie. The Foundry
was aptly represented by the television situation comedy, Archie Bunker. Some argue that the glory
days of the foundry are over. It is failing. Its cities are old. The famous television program on how to
repair old homes (This Old House) was targeted for this area. This program is hosted by Ted Villa who
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teaches his viewers how to rebuilt or upgrade old homes. Others consider the Foundry to be the home
of General Motors. Since the manufacture of automobiles have been a major source of government
income, many still hold out that General Motors will again save the nation. They are quick to mention
that Ford Motors is currently doing well with its Ranger Trucks and its Taurus and Sable automobiles.
The number one corporation sales in Canada was by General Motors of Canada, Ltd. This is located in
Oshawa which is about an hour east of Toronto. It is owned completely by General Motors in Detroit
and as much as 80% of its sales are destined for the United States. What they have forgotten is the fact
that many of the nations of the First World are moving into a postindustrial society. America is
desperately trying to maintain the power and the glory of the past which was based on an industrial
society.
The problem with the Foundry is that it is failing. Its cities are old and creaking,
as is much of its industry. It is still struggling with its historic role as the
integrator of wildly different personalities and cultures and ethnic groups, and
there is no assurance that the sociological battles that it has been assigned will
end in victory (Garreau, 1981: 65).
The area covered by the Foundry is quite large. On the North it includes such Canadian towns as Ottawa,
Toronto, Windsor and land areas north of Lake Erie and Lake Huron. On the West it is flanked in the
United States by Green Bay, Milwaukee, Chicago, Indianapolis, and Cincinnati. Washington D.C. and
Baltimore are also a part of the Foundry. Obviously, someone who grows up in the Foundry has very
different social, economic, and ethnic experiences from one who comes from New England.
Dixie
Dixie is another regional culture that has been outlined by Garreau. This area is steeped in tradition. The
first flag of the Union came from Dixie. It is where the battle of the North and the South is still being
replayed in the hearts and the minds of its citizenry. They like to refer to themselves as Southeners.
They flaunt the image of the coquetious Southern Belle. And they take pride in their mint juleps and
11
Southern style cooking. Dixie is the home of tobacco. It is where one finds tobacco farms and Liggett and
Myers, the tobacco company. Liggett makes the top-selling chewing tobacco: Red Man. Their
Chesterfield brand was once the third largest seller in the United States. Their L&M filter brands were a
success. They have done poorly recently. They are now in the last place in the cigarette business. They
continue to make money on chewing tobacco, but have lost sales in their smoking tobacco. Their most
popular tobacco brands include Chesterfield, Eve, Lark, L&M, and Oasis. They have diversified their
business and now sell Scotch whiskey, J&B. They are now the leaders in canned dog food, Alpo. Philip
Morris is another cigarette manufacturer located in the South. Its popular brands include Merit,
Parliament, Benson & Hedges, Virginia Slims, Saratoga, Marlboro, and Philip Morris. This company
produces more than 170 different brands of cigarettes and distributes them to over 170 countries
around the world. Philip Morris is not limited to selling cigarettes. It has also diversified into real estate.
It developed Mission Viejo in Orange county which is located just south of Los Angeles. But the company
also has diversification in polymer chemicals. They own Armstrong Products which serves the textile
industry. Another arm of economic expansion by this company includes beer breweries. Philip Morris
produces Miller and Lowenbrau. In the area of soft drinks, they produce 7-Up. The third major cigarette
maker in the South is RJ Reynolds which is headquartered in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Their more
popular brands include Winston, Salem, Camel, Vantage, More, Now, and Oral. They have also
diversified their corporations and own Del Monte which is the biggest vegetable and fruit packer in the
United States. They own Chung King, the maker of soy sauces and oriental meals. They even own an oil
company, Aminoil. It would be wrong to see the South as nothing more than tobacco farms.
Dixie is also a quilt. It contains Louisiana Cajuns, Ozark hillbillies, and the Appalachians of Tennessee,
Kentucky, and the West Virginia. The South, however, is changing. It is now referred to as the Sunbelt. It
is where many government agencies such as NASA can be found. Space travel centers can be found at
Cape Canaveral (Florida), Houston (Texas) and Montgomery (Alabama). Atlanta is now the hub for Delta
Airlines and a National Conference Center. The boundaries of Dixie are quite large. On the West is Dallas
and Houston, on the North is St. Louis, Louisville, and Richmond and the Southern rim includes New
Orleans, and all of Florida except Miami.
12
The Islands
The Islands is the name given to the areas of Miami, all of the Caribbean, Northern portions of
Venezuela. This seems to be a strange composite of people to include under the same regional culture.
Why did Garreau combine them into a common group? One could imagine this area to be a carefree
world as represented by the singer Jimmy Buffett, beachcomber who has captured the life of the
Caribbean in his songs about being barefoot on the beach, surfing on the waves, traveling from island to
island on a boat, and joie de vivre which he found in the local bars. He is known as the poet laureate of
the Islands. He sings of a carefree life near the beach. There is only one season in the tropics. It is
comfortable all year round. He is surrounded by many beautiful local women, a fulfillment of his male
fantasies. His calls his place in the sun, Marguerita ville. It is named after a strong alcoholic drink made
from the tequila plant. This is how Jimmy Buffett views his life as a beachcomber.
Garreau finds a different kind of culture among these Caribbean islands. His view of this ideal location is
not very complementary. The number one industry of South Florida, he notes, is drug-smuggling. It is
ahead of tourism. Tourist boats are now being used to bring in bales of Marijuana, or cocaine. He alludes
Miami as the home of the Mafia. It is also the home of Focus Scientific and Electronics, an industry that
makes nightscopes , antibugging devices, and phone scramblers for the CIA.
. the Mafia considered South Florida a vacation spa, meeting place,
retirement goal, and a place to invest their ill-gotten gains in
legitimate business (Garreau, 1981:172).
Obviously, this is not what South Florida wants to be known for. They see themselves as an international
city in which Spanish is the language of commerce. Miami is the place of business for anyone who wants
to do business in Spanish with representatives from Central and South America. Miami is also a favorite
vacation spot for tourist from the Northeast. Hence, they see themselves as the tourist Mecca of New
York City. But the tourist from Manhattan and the Bronks have ceased their migrations to the South.
They have been replaced by an influx of Cubans. Anyone who wants to deal with South American trade
must speak Spanish and must do his business in Miami. But the dark side of the Islands override the
image of tourists. The drug traffic is a reality. Miami does a thriving business in the drug trade.
13
Murders linked to the drug trade are averaging more than one a week
in the Miami area.
Place crashes associated with attempts to fly under coastal radar
defenses, without lights, in order to land marijuana at isolated dirt
airstrips, also with lights, have mounted to as high as one a day
(Garrreau, 1981: 177).
Puerto Rico, another Island culture, is an American territory which could be readily classified along with
Miami in terms of its Spanish heritage and its strong bilingual tradition. Cuba, on the other hand, is
considered to be a part of the Islands. It is interesting to note that it was once the playground of the
Mafia before the overthrow of Batista by Fidel Castro. It now has a very different culture. It is aligned
with Russian communism and is ruled by a dictator and in spite of these differences Garreau still
includes Cuba in this regional culture. The Bahamas, another Island culture, provides island homes for
many wealthy movie stars just as Fort Lauderdale and Palm Beach provides Winter homes for the Super
Rich. But, this does not mean that the Bahamas and Puerto Rico alone should be classified with Miami.
Other countries such as the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and the Greater and Lesser Antilles are also
included in the regional culture known as the Islands. If Garreau wants to include all of these areas into
one regional culture, then he should consider tourism to be the major focus. All of these regions except
for Haiti and Venezuela vigorously serve the tourist trade. It is the image that others have of them.
Many tourists from Venezuela, for example, visit the ABC Islands (Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao) and
other Caribbean islands as tourists. Finally, it should be noted that Miami is essentially known as a
tourist center. Real Estate brokers and travel agents worked the New York and New Jersey area for years
and encouraged people to retire in South Florida. As a consequence, the dialects of this area are
Northeastern. As a consequence, Miami and its environs are very different from Northern Florida which
resembles Dixie. Now that many Cubans have immigrated into Southern Florida, the cultural climate has
once again changed. It is this last change that makes it closer to the other islands of the Caribbean as a
cultural group.
Mexamerica
Mexamerica is an area which covers portions of California (Sacramento and the Sierra Nevada range), all
of Arizona, New Mexico, and the Western and Southern portions of Texas (El Paso, San Antonio, Austin,
Houston, and the towns along the Rio Grande). It also includes all of Mexico. This is an interesting
conglomeration of locales. East Los Angeles, for example, has the second largest number of Mexicans
outside of Mexico City. One can live in East Los Angeles for a whole lifetime and never have to use
English. All of the shops have signs in Spanish, the radio stations are in Spanish, and all of the workers in
national chain stores located in the area hire only workers that speak Spanish. San Antonio is the home
of Spanish International Network (SIN) and produces Spanish language programs all over the United
States, Central America, South America, and Europe. All along the Mexican border from Arizona to Texas
one hears Spanish being spoken by a group that has the fastest growth rate in the United States. Many
14
companies label the contents of their products in Spanish. Also the San Joaquin Valley which is bounded
by San Francisco and Sacramento in the north is where many seasonal workers (braceros) can be found.
The language of these people is Spanish. Their music is the Mexican (norteno). Mexican radio stations
can be found all throughout the San Joaquin Valley and even into the mid sections of Washington State
(the Yakima Valley). There are thirty-seven stations in Texas, Twenty-three in California, six in Arizona,
and four in New Mexico. The values and the character of Mexamerica makes it a regional culture.
Mexicana is most evident along the 1,933 mile border that the United States shares
with Mexico, but it is also highly visible as well in such diverse nonborder cities as Los
Angeles, Phoenix, Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Pueblo, San Antonio, Austin, and Houston.
Los Angeles is not only the second-largest metropolitan area in the world, after
Mexico City, with 1.5 million American citizens of Mexican heritage, and an estimated
half-million more illegal immigrants. In San Antonio, the tenth largest city in the
United States, there are already fewer Anglos than there are tejanos, as some Texans
of Mexican descent like to call themselves (Garreau, 1981: 211).
Over one hundred million federal dollars are spent each year for bilingual education. Much of it is spent
in the Southwest; and it is used to teach Spanish to Anglos and English to Mexicans. The billboards in
San Antonio are in Spanish and in Phoenix many of the street signs are in Spanish. Spanish is becoming
the language of the airwaves. At one time there were only a few radio stations in the Southwest. Now
there are thirty-seven in Texas, twenty-three in California, six in Arizona, and four in New Mexico. Most
Mexicans are Catholics and two-thirds of the Catholics in the Southwest are Mexicans. Obviously,
Mexamerica differs substantially from most of the other nine nations of America. It should be
mentioned that Spanish speakers are among the fastest growing population in the United States and it is
estimated that the country will become bilingual within the next few generations.
15
Ecotopia
Ecotopia is the new hope of the West Coast of the United States. The term was coined by Garreau to
signify the new ecological utopia. The is the land of nature where giant Red Woods are allowed to grow
for another thousand years, and where organic farming is the ideal. Ecotopia begins in Southern Alaska
and includes Valdez and Juneau. It crosses British Columbia along Canada's Western coast and enters
the United States at Western Washington. The area runs down along the seaward side of Oregon, and
Northern California's seacoast and runs through San Francisco end at the scenic area of Point
Conception. Anyone who has traveled along this route will recognize Ecotopia. The Great Continental
Divide is a range of mountains which separates Ecotopia from the Empty Quarter. The sea coast of
Washington State, Oregon, and Northern California is known for its natural beauty. There are pine trees,
good fishing grounds, hunting cabins, fishing towns, and lush green foliage. Because of its image of
cleanliness, Ecotopians have rejected the introduction of industry into their towns. They did not want
factories to pollute the air and contaminate the streams. The only kinds of commercial enterprises that
they catered to were those of the electronic industry. As a consequence, the area south of San Francisco
became known as "silicon valley" because of its creation of electronic chips. In Bellevue (Washington)
just across the lake from Seattle is the home of MicroSoft, the maker of Intel microchips and related
computer software programs. But, Seattle is also the home of Boeing Aircraft, the largest exporter of
airplanes in the world. This is an industry that hires hundreds of engineers and is not comparable to
comparable to auto manufacturing common to the Foundry. There are anomalies in Ecotopia. Seattle
may be one of the more scenic cities in Ecotopia, but it also has the highest suicide rate in America.
Louisville (Kentucky) in Dixie comes in second place. No one has been able to adequately explain why
this is so. What both of these cities have in common, however, is that they are both heavily overcast and
covered by clouds most of the year.
There wasn't even much sun. Seattle likes to say that the total annual
rainfall in that fair city is less than in New York, but that doesn't explain
the town's suicide rate, which is the highest in North America, and is
often attributed to the way the water comes down. All over Ecotopia
weather loves to hang in difficult-to-dress-for balance of wetness that is
moister than mist but drier than drizzle. The standard joke is that in
summers in the Pacific Northwest, residents don't tan, they rust (Garreau,
1981: 260).
Ecotopia, it should be noted, is an active participant in the Pacific Rim trade cycle. Seattle is an active
seaport along with San Francisco and Long Beach in California. Furthermore, Bremerton (Washington) is
an active naval shipyard and the home of various nuclear submarines such as the Trident. This
submarine houses four trident missiles which are four-stories-tall. Each missile carries ten warheads.
Each of these warheads is designed to produce airbursts. In a blinding flash of light, this warhead can
cause hurricane winds, thermal radiation and nuclear fallout. Seattle is also the home of Boeing's cruise
missiles. Seattle is a part of the Pacific Rim culture. Its trade with Asia appears to be more important
16
than its trade with the rest of North America. Their business is with Europe and with the countries of the
Pacific Rim. California share the same view of Ecotopia.
When China began to open up its economy to the West, Seattle and Vancouver
saw dollar signs. Before Mao, they had been the ports from which North America's
trade with China had flourished, simply because they're the closest. And, of course,
Vancouver had been shipping Canadian Breadbasket wheat to China throughout
the seventies.
One of the first things the People's Republic bought when it started looking through the North American
industrial candy store was a Boeing jet, which ended up going nonstop from Peking to Paris on its
maiden flight. In fact, when I was at the Boeing 747 assembly plant, a plane destined for the PRC sat
gleaming in its Vaseline-green protective coating, peafully coexisting next to a place with Taiwanese
marketing (Garreau, 1981: 280).
It is interesting to note that China is now producing its own airplanes which are very similar to the first
Boeing 707 that they bought. Boeing is not concerned about this new market within China. The Boeing
707 is based on a technology which is at least twenty-five years old. China does not seem to threaten
their economic livelihood.
It is important to note that the influence of Asia is also felt in America's Ecotopia. There are twice as
many Japanese cars in this area than American cars. The grocery stores openly sell oriental foods and
supplies. Many Americans in this area are comfortable shopping for the makings of sushi, or the
preparations for a stir-fried dinner of vegetables with soybean curd (tofu).
The Empty Quarter
The Empty Quarter is what Garreau calls the wild open West. It is where many of the Indian
Reservations can be found. More recently, it has come under the watchful eye of the Bureau of Energy
which realizes that this is one finds low-sulfur, strip-mined coal, oil, gold, silver, molybdenum, copper,
17
lead, beryllium, iron, zinc, potash, sodium, magnesium, and hundreds of other minerals. The lands of
these areas have been scraped by monstrous commercial machines and has been referred to as the
National Sacrifice Area. The towns in this area are small and widely separated. They have names such as
Gillette, Cheyenne, Sundance, Fairbanks, Barrow. These cities are all isolated by great distances.
Evanston is one of the biggest towns in Western Wyoming. It is 456 miles from Gillette, 372 miles from
Cheyenne, and 515 miles from Sundance. The Empty Quarter ranges from Alaska (Barrow, Anchorage,
Fairbanks) through Canada (Victoria Island, Baffin Island, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg) and into the
United States (Spokane, Salt Lake City, Las Vegas, and Denver). There are many natural resources in the
Empty Quarter. One of them is oil.
Saudi Arabia today produces about nine million barrels of oil a day. Its
technical capacity to sustain such production is expected to start declining
soon after the year 2000, if political considerations do not force the issue
earlier.
Exxon allows that producing fifteen million barrels in the United States "will be
complicated by the fact that much of the industry will have to be concentrated
in areas, sparsely populated parts of the West.
In fact, Exxon figures that of the projected fifteen million barrels, almost 80% would have to come out of
the Empty Quarter. Over half would come out of the Piceance and Uinta basins alone --the area in the
vicinity of Evanston (Garreau, 1981: 300).
It is not surprising that there is a clear analogy between the oil producing areas of Saudi Arabia known in
Arabic as the Rub 'al Khali and the Empty Quarter in the United States. Exxon sees the Empty Quarter as
18
the new Saudi Arabia in the year 2010. The Empty Quarter, by the way, is a literal translation of that rich
oil-producing area of Saudi Arabia. Both areas are dry and unpopulated. Rub 'al Khali means The Empty
Quarter in Arabic.
Trapped in the Athabascan tar sands of Alberta alone, there is more oil
than in the entire Persian Gulf. And that doesn't count the gold. Or silver.
Or molybdenum. Or copper. Or lead, beryllium, iron, zinc, potash, sodium,
magnesium, vanadium selenium, cadmium, or the hundred of other metals
and minerals without which the twentieth century would screech to a halt
(Garreau, 1981: 301-392).
Canadians have always known that the political culture of Ottawa conflicts greatly with that of the West.
People in the West live in sparsely populated areas among majestic mountains and broad natural
horizons. They refer to this area as "Big Sky Country." For decades the Canadians of the West have
identified with the Americans citizens of the West. Both belong to the Empty Quarter. Stanley Roberts,
the President of Canada West, has often alluded to both regions belonging to an economic group. He
refers to this group as the North American common market.
Alberta could severely curtail the economic prosperity of the East by merely restricting oil production in
Western Canada. There is even talk of separating the Empty Quarter of Canada from Quebec, the
Foundry, and the Bread Basket.
The Bread Basket
The Bread Basket is aptly named. It covers the wheat land corn producing fields and the cattle ranges of
Canada (Regina, Winnipeg,, Thunder Bay) and the United States (Bismarck, Rapid City, St. Paul, Des
Moines, Omaha, Kansas City, Wichita, Amarillo, Fort Worth and Houston). Three fourths of the
continent's wheat and corn comes from the Breadbasket. John Deere, the maker of Wheat trashing
combines thrives in the Bread Basket. Farmers proudly wear their John Deere caps when visiting the
town. Only four countries are known for their wheat exports. Australia, Argentina, and the Bread Basket
of Canada and the United States. This area is also known for its cattle markets and pig farms. This is also
the area known as the Plains, The Great American Desert. It is still the home of the cowboy. Blue jeans
and cowboy books are common attire. Cowboys can be found in Manitoba (Canada) and all through the
lower portions of the Bread Basket. Cowboy country overlaps, it should be noted, between the
Breadbasket and the Empty Quarter.
19
The Cowboys in the United States think that they are alone. They think that they are a unique group.
Their history is recorded as a saga, a movement which occurred when the United States when the West
was being settled. This movement was not limited to the United States as it also occurred in Canada. In
these travels, both the the new Americans and the new Canadians encountered the Indians, the original
inhabitants of America. They wanted the land that belonged to these native tribes. They wanted it for
farming and for cattle raising. Once they had fought the Indians and took their land, they began to fight
among themselves. The ranchers wanted the land for grazing and the cow herders (the cowboys) soon
fought with the sheep herders who also wanted the same land for grazing. Sheep eat grass differently
than cows. The sheep destroy the grass because they eat the grass near its root system. The farmers
wanted to remove the grass and plant wheat and other food for the new communities that settled the
West. The sheep herders have now moved on to the Northwest and the cattle ranchers and farmers
continue to dominate in the bread basket of the country.
Quebec
The final nation outlined by Garreau is Quebec. This is the largest province in Canada. It is three times
the size of France. It is even larger than Texas. This proud nation is definitely as regional culture. The
French spoken there has vestiges of the 17th century language. Over 80% of the population speak
French. The culinary preferences is a very important part of life. Even its architecture is different.
Quebec used to be the commercial center of Canada because of its shipping lanes. It is strategically
located along one of North America's greatest trading rivers, the St. Lawrence. This river is the route out
of the Great Lakes into the Atlantic sea. Later, this power shifted to Toronto with the opening of the
Saint Lawrence Shipway. Quebec is relatively diversified. Economically, it has materials such as pulp and
paper, iron ore, lumber products, aluminum, asbestos, and copper exported to the United States. And, it
has manufactured goods and products from textiles to food products traded within Canada. Its most
prominent technology is in the area of hydroelectrics. Hydro Quebec is a source of great national pride.
Manic 5 was the name of a hydroelectric project on the
Manicouagan River built in the late 1960s. Although dwarfed by
later achievements at La Baie James, when it was being built,
Manic 5 became part of the Quebec national myth. Songs were
sung about it; legends told. Men went off to work on it as if on a
20
crusade (Garreau, 1981: 376).
The original French settlers (les habitants) were great explorers. Their trade took them from Quebec in
Canada all the way down to the Gulf Coast in the United States.
It includes Toronto (originally Fort Rouille, 1749); Pittsburgh (Fort Du Quesne, 1754);
Uniontown, Pennsylvania (Fort Necessite, 1734); Detroit (Fort Ponchartrain du
Detroit, 1701); Vicksburg, Mississippi (Francois); Natchez, Mississippi (Fort Rosalie,
1716) Montgomery, Alabama (Toulouse, 1714); Mobile (de la Mobile, 1701); New
Orleans (Nouvelle Orleans, 1718); and Point Comfort, Texas (St.-Louis, 1695)..
Also, Sault Sainte Marie, Green Bay (St.-Francois Xavier), Atchison, Kansas (Cavagnol);
Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin (St. Nicholas, 1690); Winnipeg (Fort Rouge, 1738);
Dorothy, Alberta (La Jonquiere, 1752); Memphis (Assomption, 1739); and, of copurse,
St. Louis, Missouri (Garreau, 1981: 167)
The monarchs of France during the 17th and 18th centuries were only interested in exploiting the New
World. They were not interested in creating settlements. When the British overtook the city of Quebec
in 1759, this overwhelmingly French city came under the rule of the British. This created a great fear
among the people of Quebec. They believed that their language would be destroyed. They were
concerned that their Catholic religion would be replaced by English Protestantism. In essence, they way
of life was being destroyed. But the British were not interested in changing Quebec. They kept the
region as they found it. The rural society of French Canada was allowed to remain. The Roman Catholic
Church was given even greater economic and political power in the region. These factors assisted in
creating French Canada as a separate nation. This separateness was to later intensify; and by the early
1960s, a quiet revolution was beginning in Quebec. Pierre Vallieres was a leader of the FLQ (Front de
Liberation due Quebec). He wrote a book while in prison in which he compared the French to the Blacks
in America. He called his people "white niggers." They are second class citizens. Language became the
rallying cry.
21
There are those who have been spat on or beaten up for speaking French in
their own land. There are the jobs denied and the school doors closed even
to English-speakers with a French accent. There's the chick Quebecoise
refused service in a restaurant or boutique in the heart of her own home
town of Montreal for not speaking English. The workers in Anglo-owned
asbestos mines brutally suppressed by thugs paid for by their own
government. The "two solitudes" of English and French lived side by side for
generations, never communicating with each other (Garreau, 1981: 372).
Language Loyalty
It should be noted that two of the nine nations are dominated by non-English speaking populations:
Quebec and Mexamerica. Both are unique cultures with substantial differences from the other nations.
Their social histories speak of different heroes, the languages are substantially foreign, their cuisines are
ethnic, their musical preferences are non Anglo-Saxon, and they take great pride in their language
loyalty. It is not surprising to find that the citizens of French Quebec feel a strong affiliation with those of
MexAmerica. Both had their destinies shaped by military defeats inflicted by Anglos. Both saw their
economies being exploited by outsiders. Their natural resources of timber and minerals were exported
to outsiders for a fraction of their worth. In 1967, Charles de Gaulle visited French Canada and rekindled
the fires of dissent with his cry of "Vive le Quebec libre" (Long live free Quebec). Since then the outlines
of this separate nation of North America has been more clearly drawn. Advertisers now know that they
cannot market their products in Quebec unless it is in French and surrounded by the proud symbolism of
this French nation.
Garreau is well aware of some of the difficulties in his Nine Nation Theory. He has a chapter which he
entitles "Aberrations." It is in this chapter where he tries to explain how and why New York City is
different from New York State. It is the center of the cloth trade, the home of the three major flagship
television stations (ABC, NBC, and CBS). It is the center of the publishing industry and the financial hub
of the nation. Washington, D.C. provides another example of an aberration. It is the seat of political
power, the home of the lobbyist. It is interesting to note that Washington D.C. has more psychiatrists
than any other city in North America. Garreau also voices some doubts about Alaska. Part of it is in
22
Ecotopia and part is in the Empty Quarter. But Alaskans do not feel that they belong to either. Garreau
seems to agree with them at times. Hawaii is another aberration. It shares many characteristics with
Puerto Rico in that it began as a territory with second class citizenship ("island mentality") and that it
has many allegiances to other cultures and languages. The problems with these exceptions to the Nine
Nation Theory are minor. Most of the labels work very well. Some, such as the Islands, do not. But this
does not destroy the theory nor substantially weaken it. Garreau has provided a good working
hypothesis about the regional cultures of North America. His groupings have provided a useful tool for
marketing analysts.
The Significance of Social Class
What is your name? Where do you come from? What do you do? These are the most common questions
that Americans ask each other. The last one "what do you do? is a request for information about social
status. The answers can cover a wide range of professions: banker, teller, security guard, surgeon, nurse,
doctor of medicine, administrator, professor, school teacher, manicurist, dock worker, mother, and so
on. If one knows something about the profession, he will elicit further information because in each
occupation there is a further hierarchy of social status. A brain surgeon or a medical researcher is placed
higher in social status than a general practitioner. In some countries such as West Germany, this social
status is carried into the structure of the family. Doktor is someone with a Doctorate of Philosophy, but
a Professor is one who is officially above other scholars in the department. The wife of a Professor in
West Germany also shares this title "Frau Doktor Schmidt" as a prestige marker of social status.
The idea of social class came out of the discipline of sociology. The earliest work on sociology was
directly connected to the needs of the oligarchy in France. These are the very rich people who own and
control their nation. Prior to the French Revolution, the super rich wanted to understand the masses so
that they could control them.
The French Aristocracy (The Aristocracy, The Upper Class)
The French Masses (The Poor Masses, The Lower Class)
Sociologists were concerned with the fascination that the masses had for certain charismatic leaders.
These leaders, they felt, somehow understand "mob psychology." Sociologists created terms for the
various social groups and these are stilled used today. There is the upper class (the super-rich), the
middle class (social values associated with respect for money and property), and the lower class (the
masses who differ greatly in their manners and morals from the other social classes).
The French Aristocracy (les aristocrats)
The French Middle Class (les nouveaux riches)
23
The French Lower Class (les pauvres)
These class distinctions are essentially economic. Some have argued that there are really only two
classes: the rich and the poor. The rich in most countries make up about 12% of the nation. In the
United States they comprise about 4% of the people who own over 80% of all of the wealth. According
to this view, the middle class and the lower class are among the poor. Other sociologists focus on the
social differences among these groups. The lower classes solve problems non-verbally, their parents
seek to control by force, and the respect for property is very low. The middle classes, on the other hand,
tend to place great value on peaceful resolution to problems, they endorse the rhetorical styles
associated with logical argumentation, and they cherish property values. The upper classes differ
substantially from these other classes. They marry each other, their marriages are informally arranged,
they attend the same colleges and universities which have exorbitantly high tuition which only the rich
can afford (Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth), and they live in family compounds and may have numerous
Summer and Winter homes around the world.
Conclusions
The focus of this book is the consumer culture in the United States and the implications of this new
pattern of economic behavior as a model for Japan and for other nations which are adopting this new
world culture. Advertising plays a major role in the creation of consumer cultures and many of the
chapters of this book are specifically aimed at explaining how advertising works and how the tradition
began in the United States and is being used as a model for other economic nations. The role of big
business is also important in the creation of the consumer culture. Big business creates a corporate
culture which can only survive through the use of consumers. Hence, the corporate culture and the
consumer society belong together as related forces within these emerging new world cultures.
In this book, one finds a discussion of the role of advertising as the culture of commerce. Advertisers are
shown to be professional persuaders. Their whole existence is to serve the needs of the corporate
culture. What they want to do is to modify human behavior in order to persuade people to buy more
goods and stimulate the economy. This chapter shows how the consumer culture was created in the
United States.
There are also numerous insights on the history of advertising. It shows how the concept of a consumer
culture was created and how it was applied with the cooperation of business leaders and advertising
agencies. It took little over a generation for the consumer culture to become a reality. In this short
period of time, a nation can become completely changed and made over. Advertising provides a
powerful social force that has not been adequately addressed by sociologists and cultural
anthropologists. What is so interesting about this phenomenon is that it has been recorded by members
of these agencies themselves. They have shared their successes with others in their own periodicals.
One only needs to turn to the latest issue of Madison Avenue, a New York advertising magazine, to find
the most recent accomplishments of advertisers.
24
The relationship of television and marketing is also investigated. This is the perfect advertising medium.
It brings together sound, movement, color, and a wide range of human emotions. Each frame of the
television screen represents a single moment of an advertisement. Each picture is word a thousand
words. Television exists only to sell advertisements. It is an economic tool of big business. It has been
portrayed as a "waste land." This is true only when dealing with intellectual issues. As a economic tool, it
is a gold mine that brings in many rewards for its business clients. There are many important
consequences of this new medium of advertising. One of them has to do with the fact that in the United
States there has been a rise in functional illiteracy. The new generation of consumers cannot read or
write adequately and fail to use their native languages correctly as an expression of public culture.
Television has created a new visual culture and a loss of the print culture in the United States. What is
good for business may not be good for the nation. This chapter also focuses on marketing and how this
industry has grown into a sophisticated business venture. The Baby Boom generation (1946-1964) was
the most closely watched group of consumers in the history of the United States. Marketing
organizations knew everything that one could know about those who where born during these years.
They used this knowledge to persuade this generation into new patterns of purchasing goods. Children
of this generation did not buy books. They bought cassette players, magnetic tapes of their favorite rock
stars. They also bought new styles of clothes. They were good for the fashion makers of the popular
culture. The blue denims or blue jeans became the trademark of this generation. Later on it would be
shifted into the use of psychedelic colors and now it is focused on the torn jeans and the grungy (messy)
look. None of these models of behavior reflect the sobriety and the civility of a the public self. Through
the world of marketing, America lost is sense of public self.
Another area of investigation has to do with the archetypes of popular culture. Here is where industrial
psychologists have helped the industry by noting that the parent of these children were thinkers and
doers while there children were sensate feeling types. The archetypes of the sensate type and the
feeling type was to adequately describe this new generation. They did things because it felt good. They
hated logic and preferred to be ruled by their emotions. They were also into the five senses and wanted
to live for the moment. They were not interested in why things happened. They only wanted to have
things happen. They looked to television in order to find themselves in the popular images portrayed in
situation comedies (sitcoms) and other popular programs which focused on loud noises, bright colors,
very overt behavior, and rudimentary language. There is a generation gap between the parents of this
generation and their children. They live in two different worlds. They speak different kinds of English.
They do not desire similar things in life. Now that the consumer culture are having their own children,
the die is cast. The new culture will live on. Where will the United States go for its intellectuals? The
answer is becoming obvious. They are being imported from China, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, England,
Germany, and so on.
An interesting area of study has to do with the use of subliminals in advertising. This chapter is
important because much of what happens in the media is subliminal. Since the use of subliminals in
advertising is illegal in the United States everyone claims not to know about it. Advertisers use them, but
claim that their critics have vivid imaginations and are seeing things in their advertisements which do
not exist. It should be noted that subliminals are only important when dealing with matters of sexuality.
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When advertisers focus on patriotism or family unity as themes in their advertisements, no subliminal
messages are necessary. It is only when the advertisements have sexual implications or innuendoes that
subliminals become a significant means of persuading consumers to buy the advertised product.
The study of psychological types do not only operate in novels, but they also use as literary types from
novels to sell products in advertising. The stories that one read in books are now told on television
through soap operas. These are called "soaps" because the major sponsor of these programs are soap
manufacturers such as Proctor and Gamble. This aspect of popular culture is fascinating. Producers of
soap operas and other television stories incorporate many of the techniques used by literary scholars.
There is a whole new field of research which deals with this new aspect of popular culture. At Bowling
Green University in Bowling Green, Ohio, many students from all over the world congregate to study this
new phenomenon. The journals of popular culture provide fascinating analyses of the archetypes used
in situation comedies, soap operas, and other forms of popular entertainment.
One of the concluding remark or more importantly one of the claims made in this book has to do with
the implications that the consumer culture in America has for other world cultures such as Japan. One of
the strengths of the Japanese nation has been its ability to incorporate other cultures into its own reevaluation of everyday behavior. Everyone knows that in Japan there is a widening gap between the
most recent generation of children and their parents. This same pattern of behavioral change can be
found in Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, and Thailand. It is argued that the new world culture of consumerism
which feeds only the needs of the corporate culture is responsible for these changes. This book is not
against capitalism or consumerism. The authors are concerned, however, when it is presented as the
only form of public culture. The problem occurs when old traditions and values are replaced by new
ones only because they fulfill the needs of the corporate culture. What is good for business may not be
good for the nation. What is needed is a balance between the new cultures and the old ones.
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