PILLAR 3 : CULTURE
Teen Culture Quiz- what does your culture say about you?
Take this quiz to see which culture you best fit into (write down the letter of your response):
- How many clothes do you have in your closet?
A. Tons: it is bursting at the seams, I could wear a different outfit every day this month
B. Some: my closet is not full & not empty, I go shopping a couple times a month
C. Not to many: I stick to my favorites & only buy new things when I absolutely need them
D. Hardly any: My closets almost empty I wear clothes till they are completely worn out
- How often & far do you travel?
E. I don’t fly too often, every few years
F. I travel lots but I have not ever flown internationally
G. I’ve never been on a plane
H. I’m a frequent flier domestic & international
- What & where do you eat?
A. My kitchen is full of lots of bags/boxes/cans of food, some ready to heat & eat. I eat out 3 or so times per week
B. My kitchen has a mix of fresh, packaged & ready meals. I eat out 1 or maybe 2x per week
C. My kitchen mainly has ingredients for homemade meals & snack foods. I eat out 2 or 3x per week
D. My kitchen has only whole foods (fruits, veggies, nuts, grains, beans). I don’t eat out much. Maybe 1x per month or less
Keep track of your letter responses & find out which culture you match with at the end of the article!!
Culture= similarities amongst particular groups of people & includes what we wear, how we travel, what we eat, how we speak, marriage, arts, religion, habits/traditions….
Most people in the US have ancestry from more than one country.
The US census shows how diverse our countries ancestry is:
| 58% Euro mix | 19% Hispanic/Latino | 12% African American | 11% Asian, Native, Othr |
USA 2020 census data
Yet despite your ancestry or skin color, the country that you lived in for the majority of your life is your dominant culture & says a lot about U!!
Let’s explore how strongly you fit into the US culture vs cultural trends of other countries!
First topic:
WHAT DOES YOUR CLOSET LOOK LIKE?
As the US is considered a ‘developed’ country, your jeans & t-shirts pretty much match the teen uniform of other ‘developed’ countries. Yet ‘underdeveloped’ countries will differ in wearing possibly more ‘handmade’ outfits or hand-me-downs from developed countries.
[developed: a country with a lot of industrial activity and where people generally have high incomes]
[underdeveloped: a country that is less developed economically than most others, with little industry and little money spent on education, health care, etc. And income around only $400-4000 total-per year!] Thx Cambridge Dictionary
Have a look in your closet, is it stuffed? If so, that’s a big sign you fit the ‘US high consuming’ culture.
Here’s how many outfits/pieces of clothes bought per year across different cultures/countries:
US: 53
UK: 33 & spend about 70% more per item
Japanese: 26 & spend 31% more on each item.
China: 20 & spends just under a quarter of the amount than an average US consumer
Source: euromonitor international, https://www.commonobjective.co/article/volume-and-consumption-how-much-does-the-world-buy#:~:text=Which%20countries%20consume%20the%20most,the%20shoes%20sold%20each%20year.
US shoppers also tend to spend less per item of clothing than other developed countries as you can see, people in England spend about 70% more per item!
*could the info below be in a text pastel colored text box?
| And 93% of teenage girls rank shopping as their favorite pastime https://www.becomingminimalist.com/clutter-stats/ Clothing accounts for 21% of Teens budget which is highest in category. (Piper Jeffery Reports) |
Second topic:
WHAT DO YOUR TRAVEL PLANS LOOK LIKE? (Pic: *airplane pic? Or teen w passport)
American teens tend to do lots of traveling to see family, for vacations, to amusement parks…. Yet not a lot of international traveling.
Teens from these 7 countries tend to get the most international travel:
Albania
Denmark
Switzerland
Singapore
Ireland
Finland
Sweden
It’s more likely that US teens don’t have a passport. And, if you grew up in the UK or Australia, you would be 2 to 3 X more likely to take a Gap Year (the term developed in the UK and typically means taking 6mo-1yr off after high school to travel).
| Gap Years are2 to 3 Times more popular amongst UK & Australian Students than US Students | Passport Holders Per Country UK +76% USA ~42% Japanese ~23% Chinese +10% |
Yet gap years are getting more popular in the US! Yeah! Travel is fun!
| “A growing list of colleges, from Tufts University to Harvard University to University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, are providing incentives such as preferred admission, financial aid, and course credit to increase the number of students who (take a gap year).” https://askwonder.com/research/gap-year-statistics-united-states-rgam8efnk https://www.cntraveler.com/gallery/these-countries-have-the-most-well-traveled-citizens https://www.ntacourier.com/node/541 “Youth travel has become one of the fastest growing segments of international tourism, representing more than 23% of the over one billion tourists traveling internationally each year.” https://www.wysetc.org/about-us/facts-and-stats/ https://matadornetwork.com/read/top-traveling-nations-favorite-destinations/ |
Last topic:
WHAT DO YOU EAT?
What does it look like in your fridge & cabinets? Food, like clothing, shows a huge difference between developed & undeveloped countries. Our kitchens typically contain boxes & bags of foods that have been ‘processed.’ Whereas underdeveloped countries tend to eat whole foods that have not been altered. [Strange that our diets aren’t better despite our ‘wealth.’]
‘In 2015, Cambridge University conducted an exhaustive study, identifying countries with the healthiest diets in the world. Nine of the top 10 countries are in Africa, where vegetables, fruit, nuts, legumes, grains are staples and meals are homemade, a stark contrast to the U.S., where nearly 60% of the calories we consume come from ultra-processed foods and only 1% come from vegetables.’ TIME
So, our culture is strong on salty, sweet & ultra processed foods. McDonalds, Starbucks, and other popular (big) US food chains have influenced our culture. Our culture also is unique in how often we eat out. Most undeveloped countries rarely eat out at all.
How do you compare when it comes to eating out per week?
This list ranks how many times per week people in these countries eat out:
- Spain (4.3 times)
- Canada (3.8 times)
- USA (3.6 times)
- Italy (3.4 times)
- China (2.6 times)
- France (2 times)
- United Arab Emirates (2 times)
- UK (1.6 times)
- Germany (1.1 times)
- India (1.1 times)
https://www.prestigeonline.com/my/wine-dine/dining/which-country-has-the-biggest-appetite-for-dining-out/
| In the US, teens spend 20% of their budget on food. “Among the most popular places to grab a bite are Starbucks, McDonald’s, Taco Bell, and Chipotle.” https://www.creditdonkey.com/teenage-consumer-spending-statistic.html https://time.com/what-kids-eat-around-the-world-in-one-week/ |
SO, IN CLOSING-
Looking back to your replies on the culture quiz at the top, which culture do you fit most in?:
If you mainly checked:
a&f- You fit the classic US culture!
b&h- European culture matches with you!
c&e- You fit quite well into Asian culture!
d&g- Developing cultures like African or Indian match you!
GLOBALIZATION brought McDonalds to China and globalization brought the US H&M from Sweden, Uniqlo from Japan and tons of other goods from many other countries. Despite globalization & mixed heritages, CULTURE still makes a big impact on our behaviors. AND as we learn more about how our culture influences us, maybe we can pick and choose habits from other cultures to be different & better global citizens :)!!!
Ciao, Bye, Sayonara, Adios, Tschuss, au revoir!!