Abstract

Individualism, as the core of American culture, shapes the connotation and content under the format of the American culture. Therefore, great attention has been paid from scholars and experts around the globe on this topic, and among their researches, they generally relate the Puritanism to the American individualism; they generally hold the opinion that American individualism derives from the Puritanism. Most of the Americanized behaviors and habits, thus, cannot be separated from it.
    The thesis aims to explore the Puritanism root which remains in the American individualism culture, and also attempts to find out its original causes. By writing this paper, the author wants to uncover the cultural custom of American people and find out an appropriate way about how to communicate with American people and how to cooperate with people from United States. By getting to know American people’s thinking method, we could build a more culturally compatible environment where people are able to communicate with fewer barriers. Beginning with the origin and development of Puritanism, the thesis stresses the American individualism with the purpose of having an initial concept of Puritanism. At the same time, it clarifies the profound influence of Puritanism to the development of American individualism. Meanwhile, in order to protrude the sharp-cut character of American individualism, the author also figures out the American behavior pattern and makes a comparison between the east and west for a further understanding. Getting to know the American individualism will help us to know the American culture better and improve our skills on the cross-culture communication.

Keyword: Puritanism; individualism; culture root; cross-culture communication

摘要

    个人主义，构成了美国文化模式的基本内涵和主要内容，是美国文化的核心。一直受到世界各地的专家学者的广泛关注，并且一直作为研究美国文化学者的主要研究对象，在研究美国个人主义历史，演变和起源的过程中，学者们普遍会提及清教与个人主义的联想，并且把清教作为美国个人主义发展的源泉。大多数美国式的行为习惯也通常被认为与清教有着密不可分的联系。本论文旨在探索美国个人主义文化之中的清教之根，清教之源。通过撰述本文，能够找出美国人的文化习性，并且通过了解该习性，营造出一个更好的跨文化交际环境，找到与之正确的交流沟通的方法，能够进行更好的沟通合作，使中国在文化的世界化浪潮中做到更好。
    本文就清教的发展和起源入手，阐述了清教主义对美国个人主义发展和形成过程中的的深远影响，指出了个人主义思想引导下的美式行为模式，并通过对照东西方交流方式的不同来突出美国个人主义的鲜明特征和文化习性，通过本文的分析和阐述有助于我们更加深刻的理解美国文化，提高我们的跨文化交际能力。

关键字：个人主义；清教；文化根源；跨文化交际