The equivalent number of foreign-born citizens in the US is 13% according to http://www.census.gov/population/foreign/
There is a tendency to treat the US as a homogeneous culture when it is far from it in practice. Despite a common language and currency, there is probably a greater cultural distance between e.g. the Pacific Northwest and deep South in the US than there is between many European countries. People identify with their regional culture, whether it is Southern, Cascadian (aka Pacific Northwest), New England, the Sagebrush (aka Mountain states), Midwest, or California.
Laughable...
Please work on your civility.
I was wondering if you could expand on this part of your comment:
>>>I'm not the one making outrageous claims about there being bigger cultural differences between US states than between countries. It's just not true...
It seems like you are making a positive claim about the truth of the parent's statement about cultural differences.
>>>I can't provide data on it because there is no way to measure such a thing.
Now it seems like you are claiming that there is no (scientific, reality-based, data-driven) way to make any positive claims about the truth of the parent's statement about cultural differences.
Americans underestimate how much more diverse and I mean EXTREMELY diverse Europe is. Even in tiny European countries with just 10 million people, the languages, dialects, traditions, mentality, civility, are insanely different. It's hard to described until you visit a few countries yourself.
Americans who have never left the country will be quick to chime in and say "we're diverse too, especially new york". But they still don't get it.
When you compare the North American continent with the European continent on diversity, you'd be a fool to underestimate Europe. Let me put it this way, America's a melting pot. Europe is a continent with hundreds of millions of people living side by side for thousands of years and they still don't get along, or speak the same lanugage, or see eye to eye on issues, they all have their own separate countries and governments and just recently tried to form a union (EU).
Diversity is a lot more than just skin color.
I have come to realize that this is just a general psychological phenomenon. People tend to, if not overestimate the differences within their own group, then greatly underestimate the differences in outside groups.
Like how all asians look the same.
The small differences you are used to distinguish between simply doesn't exist in the other group, and you are not trained to recognize the differences they see.
This is a little overstated. Geography aside, there's a lot of similarity in the look, feel and culture of suburban USA no matter what part of the country it is. The big differences in the cultures in the USA are between the three or four largest cities and the rest of the country. There's also a handful of outlier areas like New Orleans or Honolulu that aren't really like anywhere else on the planet.
"there is probably a greater cultural distance between e.g. the Pacific Northwest and deep South in the US than there is between many European countries" Right. Making a comparison to the countries in the Balkans is very interesting here.
In Sweden, percentage of foreign born may paint a relatively accurate picture of homogeneity, whereas the same is not true in the US. Mass - immigration is very recent for the former, but not for the latter.
The US has been formed by immigration. Though at some point you should be considered assimilated. If my grand-grand parents emigrated to the US, are their descendants still Swedish? What about my grand-parents? What about my parents? What about me? From a generational standpoint that is.
I would say most parts of the US is very homogeneous. It's just that it's very segregated. Based on race and class. You don't see a lot of rich Caucasians in Compton.
I think homogeneity is about community. About feeling related. Relating to others. Empathy. State of mind.
Speaking a different language than the rest is definitely a barrier. But learning a new language doesn't take that long if you're being accepted by the community. Integration.
Immigration is not new to Sweden. Sweden is not a country built on immigration like the US, but I dare say that people have immigrated here for at least a couple of millennia. Look at the big picture. The native Americans immigrated too. All swedes did too. Is origin important, or assimilation/integration?
As far as geography goes, I see more differences within than between regions. I don't have a lot in common with people who live in very rural areas, for example. But e.g. a coffee shop in Midtown Atlanta doesn't feel that much different from a coffee shop in Brooklyn or Westwood. And the Atlanta suburbs don't feel that different from the Chicago suburbs.