The Digital Evolution of an American Identity

Abstract

The American culture is at risk because digital communication technologies insidiously undermine the concept of American individualism. As explained by Herbert J. Gans (1988),At its most basic, individualism is the pursuit of personal freedom and of personal control over the social and natural environment. It is also an ideology – a set of beliefs, values, and goals – and probably the most widely shared ideology in the U.S. (p. 1).

Citation

Waite Phelan, C. (2011), "The Digital Evolution of an American Identity", Denzin, N.K. and Faust, T. (Ed.) Studies in Symbolic Interaction (Studies in Symbolic Interaction, Vol. 37), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 223-235. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0163-2396(2011)0000037012