American Friendships

Americans are perceived as not forming deep friendships because the deep friendships formed are not as explicit as relationships in other countries: in other words, we do not come out and acknowledge very close friendships as such. That does not mean that such friendships do not exist- it is ridiculous to assume that people, by virtue of living in the United States, don't form meaningful relationships.
One challenge in asserting statements such as the shallowness of American friendship is that of generalization. The world's premiere cultural, economic, and military power, with a population of over 300 million, is not easily encapsulated by any one statement, much less one so deeply personal. Cultural differences undoubtedly exist (although the cultural diffusion in the US minimizes even these) but deep social relations are not consistently different.