The United States of AmericaA CivilizationBy Sebastian Laboy

There are seven characteristics that apply to a civilization

1. Stable food supply

2. Government

3. Religion

4. Writing

5. Technology

6. Social structure

7. Highly developed way of life

Stable Food Supply

Certain civilizations, such as many pre Inca societies in Peru, disappeared because of a lack of a stable food supply. The United States has a diverse and highly developed food supply, with enough food to ship to other countries.

Government

The USA has a federal government that is over 200 years, with 3 branches, including:

Legislative Executive Judicial

The US also has state, county, and city or municipal governments.

Government (continued)

The US government is a democracy in which people elect the executive and legislative leaders. Our next presidential election is in November of this year.

One third of the senators and the entire house of representatives are also being decided in this election.

Many state and municipal governments have local elections as well.

Religion

The United States constitution protects the right of our citizens to practice religion, free of persecution.

Our society has many religions and the government is not allowed to have an official religion to impose on its people.

Writing

The USA has both a predominant spoken and a written language.

English is the commonly language in our society, however there are many languages spoken all over the country.

“The Second Edition of the 20-volume  Oxford English Dictionary contains full entries for 171,476 words in current use, and 47,156 obsolete words…” Because the English language adapted words from the Germanic and French languages (as well as its Latin base), English has more words than most comparable languages (source: www.oxforddictionary.com)

Technology

The United States of America has probably been the most important developer of new technologies and inventions since the industrial revolution.

This country attracts innovators and inventors from around the world and in many fields of science and technology.

Social Structure There are many ways to classify how class works in the United States.

Occupation, education, income, and wealth are commonly used to understand social structure.

The New York Times (NYT) classifies the U.S. population in 5 groups:

. The Top Fifth has the high prestige jobs and usually have college degrees.

s The Upper Middle has some college education and according to the NYT earns under $60,000 per year

0 The Middle Class is High School graduates and earns under $40,000

r The Lower Middle is some high school education and makes under $30,000

o The Lower Fifth has 10th grade or lower education and the lowest income

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/national/20050515_CLASS_GRAPHIC/index_01.html

Highly Developed Way of Life

The USA has a highly developed way of life, meaning that our cities are very modern in terms of infrastructure (running water, electricity, communication), transportation systems, architecture, science, art, music etc.

Highly Developed Way of Life (continued)

Thank you!!!!!