review on "Who are we?" by Samuel Huntington, 2004

review on "Who are we? " by Samuel Huntington, 2004

In “WHO ARE WE?” Huntington has argued about some critical questions facing American national identity. Huntington argues about some elements which are threats for American consciousness; globalization, cosmopolitanism, immigration, sub nationalism, and anti-nationalism. Because of all these elements and without mentioning the word “American” it is possible to categorize “people those live in America” into various racial, religious, tribal, and ethnic groups. In the America the concept of “denationalization” or “cosmopolitan identity” are more meaningful than the statement “American national identity”.
The Huntington's thesis is that the core of American national identity is Anglo-protestant culture and political Creed of liberty and democracy which traced from peoples of the colonies and states in the last half of eighteen century. He argues that in the last years of 20th century some struggles weakened American identity; the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the ideology of multiculturalism, the wave of immigration from Latin America and Asia, and the Spanish-speaking immigrants.
He focuses on “immigration” and “American creed” as two key elements of American national identity and the important distinction between "settlers" and "immigrants". America is a nation of immigrants and political principles unify the diverse ethnicities produced by immigration. Thus these elements create partial identities.
“Racist nation” is another concept that is said to United States. Americans, historically, distinguished themselves from Indians, Blacks, Asians, and Mexicans. The root of this assumption is that, the founding fathers believed that the survival of republican government depended on high levels of racial, religious, and ethnic homogeneity. Because of this racial division, Anglo-Americans remained the dominant group. While the Anglo-Americans did not remain pure and joined by Irish, Italian, German, Jewish , and other Americans, the Anglo- protestant culture survived as a the paramount defining element of American identity. Protestant was shaper of American unique nation in seventeen, eighteen century and during nineteen century. One of the impacts of this protestant culture was individualism. On the other hand, because protestant was the religion of work, working became the principle of status. In the 1990s Americans remained people of work and identified themselves with their work more than others. Individually Americans should achieve to the results of hardworking and collectively they should create their unique promised land.
The surprising factoid is that descendants of the original settler peoples remained a majority of the population of the US until the middle of the twentieth century. It is not until a massive wave of new immigration began in the 1960s, that the original Anglo-Protestant stock became a minority over the subsequent 40 years. Americans repudiated their Anglo inheritance with the separation of church and state and their rejection of the class-based hierarchies. The result was a radically new nation based on a Universalist conception and open to anyone including millions of non-Anglo immigrants. While Americans defined their identity in opposition to Catholicism, newcomers changed America from a protestant country into a Christian country with protestant values. Therefore, the balance between Protestants and Catholics shifted over the years, but in overall, Americans identified themselves as Christians. Noticeably civil religion enables Americans to bring together their secular politics and their religious society.
As history demonstrates in the last years of twentieth century, there was nothing fixed about nations and nation-states. American nation became fragile. The Twentieth century was the century in which national identity dominated other identities and in which Americans were nationalist and patriotic began to fade in 1960s. In the later decades of the twentieth century cultural and political fragmentation has increased. It had some principal manifestations; 1) the popularity of multiculturalism and diversity and acceptance of racial, ethnic, gender, and other sub national identities instead of national identity. 2) Independents identity of immigrants. 3) Hispanization and the transformation of American into a bilingual, bicultural society.

If it is said that old American identity was faded and a new one is creating, it should be said four trends are shaping this new American identity. 1) The disappearance of ethnicity as a source of identity for white Americans 2) fading salience of racial identities 3) More influence of Hispanic community and trend toward a bilingual and bicultural Americas.
The results of all these changes were melting pots including Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish on one hand, English, Norwegian, Italian, Irish, German, and Russian on the other hand. Also, racism as a social and political construction was considered. Racial identities, in the twenty first century, are evolving in some ways; differences in socioeconomic status, individual multiracialism, weakening the importance of race rather than other elements of personal identity. In sum, at present, race still matters but it matters less in many parts of national life, except for those who found declining salience as a threat to the place of whites in America. Declining salience has created “white nativism” which has found it (Declining salience) a threat to white culture, language, and power.
September 11 was a turning point that changed the concept of American identity in 21 century. It was the beginning of a new era in which people define themselves in terms of culture and religion. Americans found Islam and Chinese nationalism as their enemies. In that condition religion became the most prominent element of their identity.
Now, some years after September 11, United States experiences the process of renewing the trends dominating pre-September 11. America as an open society welcomes the world and encourages racial, ethnic, and cultural identities. It is multiethnic, multicultural, and multiracial. On the other hand America is the superpower in the whole world in the 21 century. Cosmopolitanism an imperialism attempt to reduce social, political, and cultural differences between America and other societies, in spite of the fact, Anglo-protestant culture and religiosity identifies Americans.