Thick and thin cultures 🐘

Chris Arnade on X (Feb 14, 2026):

… for the U.S., our thick culture is largely inherited from Western Europe, mostly England, and is best summarized as Careerist Protestant Christianity—a prosperity theology manifest as the American Dream, which synthesizes a moral order built on the Ten Commandments, overlaid with a heavy dose of Lockean individualism and Enlightenment rationalism. Thin culture gets all the attention, but it is the thick culture that makes a nation and determines its long-term path.

The US is unique (and arguably successful) because it has a high acceptance for a lot of thin cultural differences — as long as you buy into the thick culture. That is, you can live how you want, as long as you ultimately believe in making mint through hard work and playing by the rules.

Or, thick culture is the plot we follow, and thin the stage settings.

This concept of “think and thin cultures” can also be seen in:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thick_description
• Thick vs Thin societies