The past decades have seen the growth of a variety of heated controversies about culture, history, and social structure in the United States. A number of factors have contributed to this development: the awareness that U.S. history is a creation of many different peoples and interests, the perception that social forms are the product of contest as well as consensus, the elaboration in different disciplines of new methods and perspectives for the study of U.S. society, culture, and history, and the realization that a changing global setting has a great deal to do with the changing characters and characteristics of different nations.<br><br>The aim of this major is to develop a multifaceted understanding of the societies of the United States and its hemispheric neighbors: their origins, their histories, their economic, social, and political institutions, their philosophies, their distinctive cultures, their global settings and connections, and their artistic and intellectual achievements. American Studies is an interdisciplinary major, offering students the opportunity to design an individualized course of study in a number of subject areas, thereby enabling them to obtain a broad knowledge of the cultures, histories, and societies of the Western hemisphere.