Economic Revolutions

• “Information age” followed World War II which marked by industry of storing, organizing, and processing data

• New communication tools threatened to eliminate jobs including post office workers, store clerks, and teachers

• There were more scientific advancements which led to social and moral questions

Affluence and Inequality

• Americans’ salaries increased during 1990s and 2000’s

  • America didn’t have the world’s high per-capita income like they did 25 years after World War II

• Economic gap between rich and poor increased between 1990s and 2000s as richest 20% of Americans made half the nation’s income which caused by decrease in number of high-paying manufacturing jobs for skilled workers, higher pay for educated workers in high-tech industry, decline of unions, growth of part-time workers, and an increase in the number of immigrants

  • This was also caused by highly paid men and women marrying and pooling their income

The Feminist Revolution

• By 1990s, half of all workers were women

  • Women began to enter male-dominated fields such as airline pilots, lawyers, and such

  • Women still made less money than money in equivalent positions with them still being minorities in the traditionally male-dominated fields

• Gender gap was caused by discrimination and the large burdens placed on women by families

• Congress passed a Family Leave Bill to provide job protection in 1993 for working fathers and mothers that needed to take time off of work for their families

New Families and Old

• During the 1990s, 50% of all marriages ended in divorce

• The relative number of adults that lived alone tripled by the 1990s

• ¼ children in the United States grew up in a household without two parents by the 1990s

The Aging of America

• By the 1990s the lifespan of Americans increased due to advances in medicine with the male life expectancy being 76 and the female life expectancy being 83

• The number of elderly increased, with this leading to the percentage of the GNP spent on healthcare for the elderly being doubled after the creation of Medicare

• Social Security system was strained due to ratio of active workers to retirees decreasing dramatically which led to increased taxes on workers

The New Immigration

• During the 1980s and 1990s, immigration from Asia and Latin America increased

• Immigrants came to America looking for jobs and opportunities

• Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 made it illegal for employers to hire undocumented immigrants and granted amnesty to many illegal immigrants that were already in the U.S.

• Anti-immigration sentiment swept over America due to people being concerned that the U.S. couldn’t handle the influx of immigrants

• Studies proved that immigrants actually took jobs Americans didn’t want with the immigrants also paying more money in taxes than what they received in welfare

Beyond the Melting Pot

• Hispanic-Americans became a larger minority in the U.S. during the 1990s and 2000s

  • Hispanic-Americans also became more politically organized with Cesar Chavez improving working conditions for Mexican-american field laborers of the American West

• Asian-Americans were the fastest growing minority with them becoming more prosperous than many Americans as they earned 20% more than the typical white household

• Native Americans continued to experience discrimnation and poverty

Cities and Suburbs

• Violent crime rates heightened during the 1980s with them hitting an all time high and leveling off in the 1990s with this trend causing middle income Americans to flee cities for suburbs with a majority of Americans living in the suburbs by 1990s

• Some major cities started to rebound due to commercial redevelopment increasing in the cities, by the 2000s

Minority America

• The problems in the cities were compounded by racial and ethnic tensions

• A mostly white jury acquitted several white police officers who were videotaped beating Rodney King, in 1992

• Acquittal sparked riots by angry African-Americasn in Los Angeles

• OJ Simpson was found not guilty of killing his former wife and another victim in 1995

• African-Americans felt the verdict to be just while white Americasn believed that Simpson was guilty

• Cities were mostly made up of lower-income minorities by the 1990s

  • Whites had fled to the suburbs and consequently cities didn’t have the tax revenue to support schools and small business and thus were full of drug addiction and lack of hope and resources

• 40% of African-americans were in the middle class by 1990s

• Most African-American politicians were being elected at local, state, and federal levels

  • Supreme Court upheld affirmative action by ruling that University of Michigan could use race as a factor in the admissions process in 2003

E Pluribus Plures

• Americans began to stress and need to preserve and promote ethnic and racial cultures in the late 20th century

• Americans became more interracial as racial barriers were broken down

The Life of the Mind

• More Americans were receiving college degree with this expanding population of educated individuals increasing interest in liberal arts

• American West became a popular literary focal point

• The number of popular authors and artists who were minorities increased

• New York became the art capital of the world after WWII

• Ford Foundation and federal government supported the arts

• Due to the building boom, an interest in architecture also increased after World War II

The American Prospect

• In the early 21st century, solar panels, wind turbines, and electric cars became prominent

• September 11th attacks started America’s war on terrorism, helping isolate it from rest of the world

• American citizens’ liberties were threatened by America’s increasing interest in protecting its borders