Why is Iowa often seen as being very exemplary of American culture and society? (Alton: neighborhood, live in)

[jmgg]

Originally Posted by riffle

Neither, or both

I was wondering what it means to you for a specific geography to be exemplary of the culture and society of a larger geography, in order to answer your question. Why would you choose Sheffield?

With modern mass media and migration/immigration, culture and society (at least in the United States) are arguably more uniform than in the past, and more segmented by local population density than by state. I.e. the suburbs of Des Moines have a great deal in common with the suburbs of Columbus or Little Rock or Denver.

I have previously read that Iowa (particularly central Iowa) was known in broadcasting as an area with few distinguishing characteristics to the local accent. Perhaps this is what you are thinking of. In terms of media representation, I'd argue that Iowa, Indiana, and Ohio are represented as pretty much interchangable. There are of course differences known by the people who live there or statistics in your internet research, but if you ask most Americans outside of the Midwest it's likely that they would struggle to tell you anything differentiating Iowa from Indiana.

You can tack on Northeastern Nebraska and Eastern South Dakota along with southern Minnesota and Wisconsin. You'd have a hard time telling the difference as to speech between these areas.

[Mathguy]

Originally Posted by Doughboy1918

I said they were all similar myself. I just think Iowa is a bit too sparsely populated due to lacking any metro area with a population larger than a million people, and for having less of an industrial influence throughout its history.

I'd like to interject a point for consideration.

In many states there is a war if you will between the large urban center and the more rural parts of the state. In some it's minor, in others like Illinois(Chicago) it's a real thing.

I think that creates more of an us vs. them mentality along party lines and thus more division.

You just don't get that vibe in Iowa, things are just more pragmatic and neutral....topic driven.

I am not familiar enough with Ohio or Indiana as I've never lived there so just throwing out an idea.

Iowa is the only upper midwestern state of any size that has this going on, but again I lack the experience to do anything more than just wonder about it.

[Veritas Vincit]

I suspect most people outside Iowa don't know much about it. Primary associations are probably corn fields and dead baseball players playing games amidst them.

If there is an idea of Iowa representing 'typical America', it's probably based on the romantic glorification of country living. In that sense the lack of major city probably helps because major cities tend to 'hog' the identity of a state. People identify Minnesota with the Twin Cities even though much of the state is actually pretty rural, people identify Illinois with Chicago, Ohio with Cleveland and Cincinnati etc. and of course that makes those states seem less 'romantic' and 'innocent' given that big cities are often in the news for crime, social unrest etc.

[moguldreamer]

Originally Posted by Doughboy1918

Iowa is often regarded as somewhere that very much typifies American culture and society in the media...

No, it isn't.

[JONOV]

Originally Posted by Doughboy1918

Ohio has plenty of agriculture as well, though.

No, not really. Not compared to Iowa. Iowa has 4x the agricultural output of Ohio.

[lthenderson]

Originally Posted by Mathguy

In many states there is a war if you will between the large urban center and the more rural parts of the state. In some it's minor, in others like Illinois(Chicago) it's a real thing.

What kind of war are you referring too? At least where I live in Iowa, where you live depends greatly on where you were raised. Those raised in urban environments tend to prefer urban environments and those such as myself raised in rural environments tend to stick to rural environments. I haven't seen much of a war between those too groups. In fact, the urban environments long ago won that battle (if one calls it such) as the population of Iowa, and probably all the other Midwest states being discussed on this thread, have gravitated towards the urban areas. I can't think of a town in 100 miles of where I live that hasn't lost a lot of population over the decades of my life. The only towns/cities that are growing are the less than a handful of large urban areas here in Iowa and perhaps an associated suburb or two.

[Sunbiz1]

Originally Posted by Veritas Vincit

I suspect most people outside Iowa don't know much about it. Primary associations are probably corn fields and dead baseball players playing games amidst them.

And there it is, Field of Dreams!
There's more to it though, nothing bad seems to happen in Iowa; at least nothing major in the news type events. And when I drive through it, I don't see massive speed patrols by law enforcement trying to raise revenue; which I find appealing.

[jmgg]

Originally Posted by Mathguy

I'd like to interject a point for consideration.

In many states there is a war if you will between the large urban center and the more rural parts of the state. In some it's minor, in others like Illinois(Chicago) it's a real thing.

I think that creates more of an us vs. them mentality along party lines and thus more division.

You just don't get that vibe in Iowa, things are just more pragmatic and neutral....topic driven.

I am not familiar enough with Ohio or Indiana as I've never lived there so just throwing out an idea.

Iowa is the only upper midwestern state of any size that has this going on, but again I lack the experience to do anything more than just wonder about it.

This is VERY true (bolded). People in the biggest city in Iowa which is Des Moines, pretty much all have a connectivity with the more rural people and activities of outside the city. They can still relate.

Like your example of Chicago vs Illinois I'll go one just as bad. That's the state of Minnesota vs the Twin Cities metro. The whole state is run by the Twin Cities and it is very much resented for it. It's two totally different political and social viewpoints.

Iowa, with a noted exception of Iowa City, is pretty uniform. You don't see much animosity between regions. In many ways, it's a more go-along and get-along state matching the idealism of being exemplary for America.

[westsideboy]

Originally Posted by Doughboy1918

Iowa is often regarded as somewhere that very much typifies American culture and society in the media, but personally I'm not sure why this is.

For one thing, being situated west of the Mississippi River, it was not permenantly settled by Euro-Americans until as late as the 1830s, meaning that it's history is somewhat different and partially also why it never truly industrialized at the same rate as most of the country. Consequently, it's economy largely remained agricultural and never fully diversified either.

Even it's largest metro only has 750,000 people. I could be wrong, but it would seem the average American lives in a metro of at least 2 million residents.

Although it's close to the center of the United States literally speaking, the center of the US population has always been near the Ohio River, around southern Indiana, which Iowa is quite a far away from.

Iowa to me though does seem to be very much representative of an 'old', pre-suburban sprawl era of America, which conservatives of course often idolize, but definitely not a modern template of the country.

But I don't know, what's your thoughts on this? Do you think Iowa is a microcosm of America? Let me know.

Dialect. The native dialect of Iowa is very close to "Standard American English" like the kind you find on national TV news. Add that to the Iowa Caucuses, and the sheer amount of corn, and it fits what most people think of as "Middle America." Like where Superman would have been adopted and grew up.

I'm with you though, in 2023, places that typify "American culture and society" would not be geographic so much as "transplant suburban" neighborhoods near a major metro area. That is what "modern America" is to my mind.

[skeddy]

Most people see Iowa from 38,000 feet.