8. National Culture and Cultural Diversity

This topic attempts to clarify the difference between a national culture, shared by citizens of
geographically bounded nation, and cultural diversity of various ethnic and cultural groups that
mix with one another, that are not pure and may not be locally bounded. The source 1 explains the
terminology. The American national culture is built on the myth of one nation and national values
shared by all Americans (read source 2). The myth of one American national culture tries to supress
the reality of cultural diversity. Learning about American or any other culture should not mean to
study one (American) national culture, but to explore the diversity of cultures within the given
nation.

Today's diversities in cultures and ethnic groups are threatened, however, by assimilative
tendencies, that erase cultural differences in favor of one major culture, or by extremist
nationalism of Ku Klux Klan and other Neo-Nazi groups that call for distruction of minorities and
their cultural groups. Read source 3 to learn more about these and other theories of national
culture and cultural diversity.