{"id":131718,"date":"2012-09-05T10:00:12","date_gmt":"2012-09-05T14:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/?p=131718"},"modified":"2012-12-26T16:03:42","modified_gmt":"2012-12-26T21:03:42","slug":"puritans-in-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/article-of-the-day\/09\/05\/puritans-in-america\/","title":{"rendered":"Puritans Still In America?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Article:<\/strong> Are Americans Still Puritan?<\/a> by Matthew Hutson in The New York Times.<\/p>\n

The Text:<\/strong> \u201cI THINK I can see the whole destiny of America contained in the first Puritan who landed on those shores,\u201d the French political thinker Alexis de Tocqueville wrote after visiting the United States in the 1830s. Was he right? Do present-day Americans still exhibit, in their attitudes and behavior, traces of those austere English Protestants who started arriving in the country in the early 17th century?<\/p>\n

It seems we do. Consider a series of experiments conducted by researchers led by the psychologist Eric Luis Uhlmann and published last year in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. In one study, they investigated whether the work habits of today\u2019s Americans reflected the so-called Protestant work ethic. Martin Luther and John Calvin argued that work was a calling from God. They also believed in predestination and viewed success as a sign of salvation. This led to belief in success as a path to salvation: hard work and good deeds would bring rewards, in life and after.<\/p>\n

In the study, American and Canadian college students were asked to solve word puzzles involving anagrams. But first, some were subtly exposed to (or \u201cprimed\u201d with) salvation-related words like \u201cheaven\u201d and \u201credeem,\u201d while others were exposed to neutral words. The researchers found that the Americans \u2014 but not the Canadians \u2014 solved more anagrams with salvation on the mind. They worked harder.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Professor Uhlmann and his colleagues also conducted an experiment to see if Americans shared the prudishness of the Puritans. They found that American students judged promiscuous women more harshly than British students did.<\/p>\n

In a third experiment, the researchers asked Asian-Americans to rate their support for a school principal who had canceled a prom because of sexually charged dancing and also to rate their support for a school that had banned revealing clothing. But first, the researchers primed the participants with thoughts of either their Asian or their American heritage, as well as with thoughts of work or another topic. They found that the participants showed increased approval of the prudish school officials when primed with thoughts of work \u2014 if they had also been primed with their American heritage, but not when primed with their Asian heritage. These results suggest a tight Puritanical intermingling of work, sex and morality in the American mind.<\/p>\n

In none of these studies did the results hinge on the participants\u2019 religious affiliation or level of religious feeling. Whatever these Americans explicitly believed (or didn\u2019t believe) about God, something like Puritan values seemed to be guiding their moral judgments.<\/p>\n

Protestant attitudes about work may also influence how Americans treat their co-workers. Calvin argued that socializing while on the job was a distraction from the assignment God gave you. The psychologist Jeffrey Sanchez-Burks has found that Protestants \u2014 but not Catholics \u2014 become less sensitive to others\u2019 emotions when reminded of work, possibly indicating a tendency to judge fraternizing as unproductive and unprofessional. He and collaborators have also found that Americans have a culturally specific tendency to view family photos and other personal items as unprofessional presences in the office.<\/p>\n

Not all of the legacy of Puritanism suggests moral uprightness. Studies since the \u201970s have also found that Americans who score high on a Protestant Ethic Scale (emphasizing self-reliance and self-discipline) or similar metric show marked prejudice against racial minorities and the poor; hostility toward social welfare efforts; and, among obese women, self-denigration.<\/p>\n

Why the persistence of Puritanism in American life? \u201cNew England exercised a disproportionate influence on American ideals,\u201d the historian John Coffey says, \u201cthanks to a powerful intellectual tradition disseminated through its universities, its dynamic print culture and the writings of its famous clergy.\u201d He also notes the power of Evangelicalism as a carrier of Puritan values and America\u2019s resistance, compared with other largely Protestant nations, to secularization.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to say for sure that any given element of the American psyche results from our Puritan founders. \u201cThe direct lines are few,\u201d stresses David D. Hall, a professor of New England church history, \u201cmostly because of industrialization and immigration\u201d and other factors that have led to immense social change.<\/p>\n

But were Tocqueville to land on our shores today, with a bit of squinting he would probably see some of the same evidence of our Puritan destiny as he did nearly two centuries ago.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Article: Are Americans Still Puritan? by Matthew Hutson in The New York Times. The Text: \u201cI THINK I can see the whole destiny of America contained in the first Puritan who landed on those shores,\u201d the French political thinker Alexis de Tocqueville wrote after visiting the United States in the 1830s. Was he right? […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[259],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nPuritans Still In America?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Was de Tocqueville correct in his assertion that the entirety of America would be shaped by those pesky Puritans?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/article-of-the-day\/09\/05\/puritans-in-america\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Puritans Still In America?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Was de Tocqueville correct in his assertion that the entirety of America would be shaped by those pesky Puritans?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/article-of-the-day\/09\/05\/puritans-in-america\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Prose Before Hos\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-09-05T14:00:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-12-26T21:03:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Article of the Day\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@pbhnetwork\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@pbhnetwork\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Article of the Day\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/article-of-the-day\/09\/05\/puritans-in-america\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/article-of-the-day\/09\/05\/puritans-in-america\/\",\"name\":\"Puritans Still In America?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-09-05T14:00:12+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-12-26T21:03:42+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/#\/schema\/person\/1e19d7cf2b1a9aea1805fd7b4b4b2b4e\"},\"description\":\"Was de Tocqueville correct in his assertion that the entirety of America would be shaped by those pesky Puritans?\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/article-of-the-day\/09\/05\/puritans-in-america\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/article-of-the-day\/09\/05\/puritans-in-america\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/article-of-the-day\/09\/05\/puritans-in-america\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Puritans Still In America?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/\",\"name\":\"Prose Before Hos\",\"description\":\"The Far Side Of Politics\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/#\/schema\/person\/1e19d7cf2b1a9aea1805fd7b4b4b2b4e\",\"name\":\"Article of the Day\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/pbhnetwork\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/author\/article-of-the-day\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Puritans Still In America?","description":"Was de Tocqueville correct in his assertion that the entirety of America would be shaped by those pesky Puritans?","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/article-of-the-day\/09\/05\/puritans-in-america\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Puritans Still In America?","og_description":"Was de Tocqueville correct in his assertion that the entirety of America would be shaped by those pesky Puritans?","og_url":"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/article-of-the-day\/09\/05\/puritans-in-america\/","og_site_name":"Prose Before Hos","article_published_time":"2012-09-05T14:00:12+00:00","article_modified_time":"2012-12-26T21:03:42+00:00","author":"Article of the Day","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@pbhnetwork","twitter_site":"@pbhnetwork","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Article of the Day","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/article-of-the-day\/09\/05\/puritans-in-america\/","url":"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/article-of-the-day\/09\/05\/puritans-in-america\/","name":"Puritans Still In America?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-09-05T14:00:12+00:00","dateModified":"2012-12-26T21:03:42+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/#\/schema\/person\/1e19d7cf2b1a9aea1805fd7b4b4b2b4e"},"description":"Was de Tocqueville correct in his assertion that the entirety of America would be shaped by those pesky Puritans?","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/article-of-the-day\/09\/05\/puritans-in-america\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/article-of-the-day\/09\/05\/puritans-in-america\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/article-of-the-day\/09\/05\/puritans-in-america\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Puritans Still In America?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/","name":"Prose Before Hos","description":"The Far Side Of Politics","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/#\/schema\/person\/1e19d7cf2b1a9aea1805fd7b4b4b2b4e","name":"Article of the Day","sameAs":["https:\/\/twitter.com\/pbhnetwork"],"url":"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/author\/article-of-the-day\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131718"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131718"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131718\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":133484,"href":"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131718\/revisions\/133484"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}