ABSTRACT
Since the 1930s a remarkable procession of writers have attempted the bold task of identifying a modern American character. They have argued that, for all the nation’s famous differences of region, ethnic group, ‘life-style,’ and so forth, Americans tend to share a distinctive bundle, of values, attitudes, and feelings about themselves. For some writers on modern American character, the main standard of comparison is the character of non-Americans, usually Europeans. For others, the main comparison is with a past American character: they are interested in how Americans have changed. Discussion of American character goes back to puritan New England and the early Republic. Religious and social thinkers wondered if the people would show the qualities Providence required of them for their special tasks in the New World. In the 1930s and early 1940s, social scientists largely took over the pursuit of social character.
