The Past and Present of American Civilization

Until the 1960s, American democracy was identical with political democracy, but in 1930s – 1960s a “welfare state” emerged in the USA. Its expansion was halted during the Reagan presidency. The main reason was that, as capitalism triumphed in many countries of the world, its mythologisation was taking place. The myth was that capitalism, freed from all shackles, would benefit everyone. The counter-trend is explained by the fact that American democracy provides obvious advantages to the upper economic strata.

In the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries, immigrants were assimilated into the Anglo-Saxon core. From the beginning of the twentieth century they began to blend into the melting pot. Since the 1960s, multiculturalism began to compete with the concept of the melting pot, which meant that immigrants and citizens of different racial groups existed as equals in the US. If full equality were to be realised for non-white races and ethnic groups, American civilisation would change radically.

The two main parties were close in their approach to foreign policy. Both adhered to the imperial messianism inherited from the British Empire, but preserved and developed after independence in 1776. At the present stage, there is a crisis of American empire and a move away from the goal of world domination and messianism.

Keywords

democracy, mass immigration, melting pot, multiculturalism, imperial messianism

Received

21.09.2022

Publication date

19.12.2022

Number of characters

47634

Cite

GOST	Sogrin V. The Past and Present of American Civilization // Novaia i noveishaia istoriia – 2022. – Issue 6 C. 192-206 [Electronic resource]. URL: https://nni.jes.su/S013038640023089-5-1 (circulation date: 29.04.2024). DOI: 10.31857/S013038640023089-5
MLA	Sogrin, Vladimir "The Past and Present of American Civilization." Novaia i noveishaia istoriia 6 (2022):192-206. DOI: 10.31857/S013038640023089-5
APA	Sogrin V. (2022). The Past and Present of American Civilization. Novaia i noveishaia istoriia (6), pp.192-206 DOI: 10.31857/S013038640023089-5

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