117. Paper Prepared in the Office of Research, Office of Planning and Program Direction, United States Information Agency1
FOREIGN ELITE PERCEPTIONS OF AMERICAN CULTURE
Between 1973 and 1976, the Agency conducted several studies among foreign elites which touched on the image of American culture abroad. They showed that European and Japanese elites see American culture in a modern, technological sense as opposed to the more narrowly traditional character they ascribe to their own. Though varying in emphasis from country to country, Europeans generally think of film, writing, science, technology and various forms of contemporary music (e.g., pop, jazz, musicals, and modern composition) as expressive of American culture. Japanese elites perceive it much the same way except that few think of American writing in this context.
[Page 339]In contrast with this contemporary image evoked by American culture, elites tend to view their own in light of past achievements in the arts and the humanities. Europeans most often cite literature, painting, classical music, theater, and historic architectural achievements as the defining characteristics of their culture. Japanese speak of traditional arts (e.g., noh2 and bunraku3) crafts, aspects of Japanese religion and spirit, history, and their distinctive architecture.
The American Cultural Wasteland: A Myth Buried
Although elites see the essence of American culture to be very different from that of their older civilizations, they are not inclined to endorse the hoary stereotype of America as a cultural wasteland. Indeed, only small minorities subscribe to this once widespread myth. Far more have a fairly sophisticated view of the richness of contemporary American culture and readily acknowledge its contributions to the world.
Accordingly, in continental Europe, substantial majorities believe American motion pictures, writing and poetry, and architecture contributed importantly to Western culture since World War II. Moreover, they rate American achievements in these fields relatively higher than their own except for the Italians who express more esteem for their cinema and the French who consider their belles lettres superior.
Japanese elites also rank American achievements in these spheres above their own. However, while half of them grant significance to American contributions to world literature, nearly as many deprecate America’s literary accomplishments.
In Britain, American present-day achievements in writing and poetry, architecture, painting and sculpture, and serious music also drew generally positive ratings from elites who, at the same time, revealed considerable ignorance or uncertainty about American standing in the arts.
For that matter elite opinion everywhere is mixed about American contributions in painting and modern ballet, fields in which Americans have excelled since World War II. With the exception of the British, only minorities of European and Japanese elites rate American achievements in painting and sculpture important—appreciably fewer than judged their own in this way. This relatively low level of esteem for American painting in large part may reflect not so much informed critical judgment as ignorance about American movements grounded, [Page 340] as other research suggests, in an antipathy toward “modern art” in general.
Opinion is divided in evaluating American contributions to the modern theater. French and German elites rate their own relatively higher, but the Italian and Japanese accord greater importance to American achievements.
In sum, the stereotype of “uncultured America,” once thought to be pervasive, clearly does not exist among the elites of the major industrial democracies. In fact, they generally are aware of and credit America’s achievements in the contemporary arts.
Culture in the Overall U.S. Image: A Limited Role
The essentially positive American cultural image among European and Japanese elites appears to have little impact, however, on the total image the U.S. projects as a society.
Europeans who believe contemporary American artists have made significant contributions to Western culture are no more likely to hold an overall good opinion of the U.S. than elites who discount America’s cultural contributions. Similarly, perceptions of the contemporary arts in America are unrelated to interest in, or admiration for, America as a country. Nor are they apparently related to general perceptions of the dynamism of American society.
More specifically, only about one in 10 or even fewer in each of the nations studied spontaneously mentioned cultural themes as the “worst” or “best” aspects of American society. Far more in Europe and Japan associated these with U.S. foreign policy, political, economic and social conditions and the character of the American people.
Similarly, results of Agency magazine studies, mostly in developing countries, also point to the low salience of American culture with foreign audiences. These show that Agency audiences in many countries prefer information about the U.S. to be other than culture oriented. In fact, everywhere, the audience segment looking primarily for articles on art and popular culture represented only a small minority of readers.
Accordingly, foreign elite views on American culture, while generally favorable, do not carry with them implications enhancing America’s overall standing.
The Agency’s Office of Research carried out the elite surveys in Britain, Italy, West Germany, France and Japan. In the first three countries, we sampled USIS-defined priority audiences, including five comparable elites whose attitudes spanned the political spectrum: business executives, media leaders, government and political leaders, academicians and university students. In France, we sampled urban residents with at least a completed baccalauréat, the stratum from which French [Page 341] elites are recruited. In Japan, we covered the graduates of the five most prestigious universities in the country, the source of much of Japan’s leadership in government and politics, business and industry, and media.