Midwestern vs. East Coast attitude (cost, state, largest, compare)
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I can't put my finger on it, but there just seems to be something different about the way people in the midwest, even in an urbanite city like Chicago think vs. the way people in east coast urban environments like Philadelphia and Boston think.
Can anyone identify what exactly this is about and why?
Really, every city in the Midwest is different. Heck, Cleveland, Cinci, and Columbus are all vastly different in attitudes and beliefs. Not to mention some Amish or person living on a farm in Indiana.
It's the same thing with the East Coast. Some people consider Wash DC the Northeast, yet it's attitudes are certainly not the same as NYC.
Basically what I'm saying is this - - the Midwest and East Coast are two large areas with an array of different lifestyles and attitude beliefs. I've lived in Cleveland for a little while now after living in Wash DC for sometime, and I can honestly say the attitudes about most things are almost identical.
^^^^^^That's ridiculous! Cleveland is nothing like the east coast cities. I was surprised that people in the midwest didn't jay walk. On the east coast, jaywalking is a way of life. Also standing on the left of an escaltor will get you yelled at.
NYC, Boston, Philly and DC are faster paced cities.
I agree that there are too many variations to make big sweeping regional generalizations. There's massive differences between Midwestern cities, and there's big differences between East Coast cities. There's more in common between, say, Chicago and DC than there is between Chicago and a small town in Ohio.
But generalizations are the only way we really undertand any differences in culture anywhere. We could never begin to talk about differences between the US and South Korea if we focused on all the micro-differences between Kansas and Utah or Taejon vs. Chejudo. We make most of our life decisions (corporate life, contractor, self-employed) based on a set of generalizations. They're useful, not because they're accurate in fine. Indeed to say a generalization has no use b/c it's not a finely detailed analysis is to miss their value to us - it's like saying walruses have no significance because they're not goldfish. Generalizations are useful, b/c they're a key mechanism in decision-making where endless micro-analysis would leave us paralyzed for the sake of accuracy and comprensiveness. I don't like Mexican food, I respond, when asked. Have I sampled every food that can be called Mexican? No. But I can make a generalization that avoids having to wade through a menu that reads to me like a minefield. On the other hand, I know Italians eat some things that I wouldn't feed a wild dog, but overall, I'm very comfortable in even a mediocre italian restaurant.
So - maybe this will help narrow it a bit. What I'm trying to get at, is why and how is the attitude coming off of people different in urban Philly, Boston, NYC corridor vs. that vibe you find in among urbanites in Oklahoma, Kansas, Iowa. There's a different approach to the world, and I'm just trying to get a handle on it. We might not accomplish that here, but I figured I'd try.
People in the Northeast seem to be more in a hurry, more aggressive and more ethnically diverse. The population density in some northeast states is over 1000 people per square mile. People in the midwest are slower paced, old fashioned, and oriented toward traditional values. Population density in the largest midwest states may approach 200 per square mile. The two regions are as different from one another as both are from the south or west. It is really not even fair to compare them. People in the northeast get a bad rap for rudeness and aggressiveness but the population density, and ethnic diversity there creates an enviroment were those behaviors will thrive.
I wasn't saying that any generalizations weren't worth valid, but do think that it's tough to compare small towns to large cities. I think narrowing it down helps a great deal, especially since there's much research out there that does show that along political lines, at least (which I think reflects broader outlooks and approaches to life) the country isn't split regionally as much as it is by where people live.
If we're looking only at cities then I'd say that in general (and among a certain part of society) the bigger East Coast cities seem to have a more rigid social structure, or at least more attention to protocol. The Midwestern cities seem more informal.
One generalization not so much about the realities of each region but about perception is that many people seem to equate Midwest with rural or small towns, while the East Coast is often thought of in terms of big cities. As a native Midwesterner with urban roots that assumption has always bugged me (same with that Midwest=conservative stereotype, which is certainly not true in MN!), although I can understand how it came about. I was reading a guidebook about Minneapolis last week and the author wrote something about how residents felt very connected to the country because most came from small towns, or else had parents that did. I think that's a highly romanticized view that doesn't really reflect reality. So.. maybe Midwesterners (big and small towns) like to play up their rural "heritage," accurate or not, while East Coast residents similarly play up their cities? Or, maybe it's more the non-residents who fall into those stereotypical views, with those from elsewhere focusing on the central image of Midwest as endless corn fields, and the East Coast image as a skyscraper.
People in the Northeast seem to be more in a hurry, more aggressive and more ethnically diverse. The population density in some northeast states is over 1000 people per square mile. People in the midwest are slower paced, old fashioned, and oriented toward traditional values. Population density in the largest midwest states may approach 200 per square mile. The two regions are as different from one another as both are from the south or west. It is really not even fair to compare them. People in the northeast get a bad rap for rudeness and aggressiveness but the population density, and ethnic diversity there creates an enviroment were those behaviors will thrive.
The population density figures on a state-by-state basis are heavily skewed, of course. If you look at NY, for example, it's not as if the state's population is evenly distributed across the entire state; much of it is as rural or spaced out as you find in the rural areas of the Midwest. The high density is focused in NYC plus to a lesser extent in other cities.
I've lived in the Midwest and on the East Coast and wouldn't say that the Midwest is any more old fashioned, "traditional," or slower paced, or even less diverse. I will say that Midwestern office hours seem to start a little earlier than on the East Coast, which doesn't seem all that slower paced to me. Give me a 9:00 am start any day! In the urban areas I think the level of progressiveness is about equal between the two regions. I suppose on the topic of "traditional" you could say that in general people in Midwestern cities seem to buy homes earlier in life than those in the East Coast cities (and there seems to be a greater stigma in renting), which I assume is entirely a factor of housing costs.
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