Who is this Average American we speak of?

I came across the term “the average American” multiple times recently when reading about results from studies and surveys — and decided to skip ahead on my list of podcast topics to hit this one briefly.

Our reliance on averages — and the default stance that an average is really what we want — gives me heartburn on a daily basis. But, for now, we might as well start the discussion of averages on this blog by trying to get to know this average American. Who are they? Well, let’s try some ice-breaker questions:

What pronoun do they prefer when referring to themselves? Where do they live — city? suburb? rural town? Where do they lie politically in our highly divisive current political structure? How tall are they? What health problems do they have? What does their family structure look like? What type of employment do they have? Where on the earth are their ancestors from? What are their religious beliefs?

Should we keep going?

Let’s be clear — an average “score” calculated over a group of potentially very diverse Americans, or even worse a group of not very diverse Americans, does not apply to, or define, an average American. Using language as if this score applies to some “normal” person in the United States is misleading at best. It is not just semantics.