By Aleksey Bashtavenko

Academic Composition 

When Sigmund Freud first came to the US, he noticed something interesting about the country – he said it was filled with “Puritans and savages.” Surprisingly, this observation is even more relevant today than it was almost a century ago when he visited in the 1920s. The United States is a highly divided nation, where people often choose to separate themselves based on race, ethnicity, class, religion, political beliefs, and even moral values.

It’s not uncommon to see real estate companies targeting conservative clients who prefer rural or suburban areas in Texas. On the other hand, progressive agencies might use the image of a transgender person to attract liberal clients to fancy neighborhoods in prosperous cities. This kind of self-segregation happens quite frequently.

But what really defines the American identity? According to Freud, it seems like the “puritans” he referred to are the WASP (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant) people, while the “savages” are those who deviated from the norm back in the 1920s. To understand the core American identity at that time, we can turn to Max Weber’s “Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism.”

Weber explains that Calvinists became the dominant religious group in late 19th-century America, and they often encouraged financial success as a sign of salvation. They believed that working hard and accumulating wealth was important, but it wasn’t enough. Calvinists also practiced an ascetic way of life, avoiding indulgence in pleasures that displeased God. Instead of spending money, they saved, invested, and continued to accumulate wealth to demonstrate their salvation.

It’s important to note that Calvinism in America was different from traditional religions like Orthodoxy, Catholicism, or Judaism. Calvinism had a more exclusive character, with high expectations for its members. They intervened in personal lives to empower individuals to achieve higher spiritual purity and moral probity.

In “The Wayward Puritans,” Kai Erickson explores how the strict moral code of Puritanism often led Americans to defy those very norms. He introduces the concept of “reactance,” where people rebel against rigid moral codes when faced with pressure to conform. Erickson argues that immorality isn’t the sole cause of deviance. In fact, those who engaged in the most unconventional behaviors often had their own strict moral codes, just like the Puritans.

Considering this perspective, it becomes clear that Freud’s labeling of deviant individuals as “savages” missed the mark. Many advocates of temperance and the women’s suffrage movement were not libertines, despite what some might think. Even notorious gang leaders, like Al Capone during the Great Depression, engaged in charitable activities such as opening soup kitchens.

It seems that these “wayward” groups often go to great lengths to demonstrate their integrity and counter the constant attacks on their character from the mainstream “Puritan” establishment. They have their own set of values and stand up against societal norms in their own unique ways.

Today, we see the woke movement advocate for their cause with far greater missionary zeal than that of the American Christian fundamentalists. Just as many devout American Christians believe that sin arises with impure thoughts rather than with actions, many advocates of the politically correct movement believe that entertaining potentially racist, sexist, or transphobic thoughts constitutes a moral transgression.