Irish American Culture

Irish Americans are a very interesting kind of people. Like with any other culture, they posses their own sets of beliefs, values, attitudes, behaviors, and practices. It is the combination of these things that makes up their beautiful culture. For values, Irish Americans really consider the family to be very important. They have a very traditional view of the household. The father is the breadwinner and works the most of the day. The mother stays home watching the kids and is in charge of the domestic issues in the household. They also value recognizing yourself as an individual and doing everything you can to insure success for yourself. This includes items like having an education, a good job, and owning your own home. As for beliefs, Irish Americans tend to believe the same as their ancestors. They believe that "When God made time, He made plenty of it," which means that they believe time should not be of the upmost importance. They believe that it's okay to go through life slowly and take your time completing tasks. Even arriving to business meetings! However, if a foreigner in Ireland is scheduled to be at a business meeting, the individual should arrive on time. The Irish tend to have a laid back attitude. While they believe in hard work, they also consider it important to take time for you and just relax. They kind of go with the flow, and take things a day at a time not really letting them get too stressed over the little things. It's kind of a way to insure that everyone is calm and happy. While there are obviously many good characteristics of the Irish, there tend to be a lot of stereotypes and misperceptions that follow them. For example, many people believe that the Irish are just a bunch of lazy drunks. This is not true. Although it is true that alcoholism tends to run high in the Irish, they are not all lazy. After all, they really do value hard work and effort as mentioned above. All in all, the Irish are an amazing people with a