The American Connection to Individualism

This paper gives a detailed critical analysis of the United States of America’s (USA) connections with individualism, Calvinism and capitalism. In dong this, the paper will be giving definitions to the major terms before giving an in-depth background of each ideology. At the end, it will narrow it to the US context and trace its origin, development and the contemporary situation of the American society regarding them.

As we all know, USA is now the world super power in economy, democracy and military. All these are attributed to the good government policies it’s been formulating and implementing over the years. However, it is important to acknowledge that despite all this success, US was once a colonial state under the oppressive rules of the European colonizers. It is these immigrants who introduced the capitalist, individualistic and Calvinism ideologies. The paper reports that the introduction of these ideologues greatly changed the Americans’ worldview.

As a result of the oppressive and discriminative conditions they were subjected to, it became inevitable that they would engage in liberation struggles to advocate for their rights. For instance, the European Puritans who established settlements in the New England did a lot to ensure the success of Calvinism doctrines especially in that region. Later, it was spread to all the other parts where it became a very great problem. On the other hand, capitalist ideas ware introduced by the European colonizers. Many historians attribute their coming to their capitalist mercantilism ideas. Hence, they amassed a lot of land and fully took control over the means of production.

Later, these ideologies would become synonymous to the Americans. They embraced and practiced them as part of their lifestyle. This is why there were cases of selfishness in this country. As a result, there has been a high level of competition because each person is exercising their freedom and success. However, with the effort of the government, things have changed.