Contemporary United States



Contemporary Immigration and the Technology Revolution

Standard VUS.15 The student will demonstrate knowledge of economic, social, cultural, and political developments in recent decades and today by

b) Analyzing the changing patterns of immigration, the reasons new immigrants choose to come to this country, their contributions to contemporary America, and the debates over immigration policies

c) Explaining the media influence on contemporary American culture and how scientific and technological advances affect the workplace, health care, and education

American society has undergone important economic, social, and cultural changes during the last fifty years. Many of these changes have resulted from the effect of a new wave of immigration to the United States and the impact of scientific and technological advances. Rising immigration has increased American diversity and redefined American identity. Dramatic advances in technology have affected life in America in many significant areas.

New immigrant groups have been a major factor causing social and cultural change in the United States in recent decades. Since 1970, these new immigrant groups have arrived in increasing numbers. This upsurge in immigration to the United States has occurred from many diverse (different) countries, especially from nations located in Asia and Latin America. These contemporary immigrant groups have expanded American diversity and redefined the American character. Recent immigrants have come to America for the same reasons as many of their predecessors. When Fidel Castro led his successful communist revolution in Cuba in 1959, thousands of Cubans fled to south Florida in search of both political freedom and economic opportunity. As the South Vietnamese government crumbled in the mid-1970s, tens of thousands of Asian immigrants also fled to the United States to gain political freedom and economic opportunity. Economic opportunity has served as the primary reason why hundreds of thousands of Latin Americans, especially Mexicans, have flocked to the United States during the last three decades. During the 1980s, eight million immigrants came from Latin America, nearly equal to the total figure of European immigrants who came to the United States during the first decade of the 20th century.

This contemporary immigration has raised several important issues related to American immigration policy. First, the massive immigration of recent decades has placed a strain on government services. For example, state governments must permit children of illegal immigrants to attend public schools, even though their parents pay few taxes to support education. Second, contemporary immigrants often fill necessary but low-paying jobs in the economy, which most native-born Americans find unappealing. For example, Mexican immigrants have historically worked on American farms, harvesting crops by hand. Latino immigrants also provide many of the lowest paid workers on construction and landscape crews. Third, border issues have become a major topic of concern in states that border Mexico. Policing the borders to prevent illegal immigrants from crossing into the United States has become an expensive function of local law enforcement agencies in such Southwestern states as Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. Fourth, the subject of the pathway to citizenship has become a chief concern of both illegal immigrants, who wish to settle permanently in the United States, and native born Americans, who fear these illegal families will take away job opportunities from themselves and their children. Fifth, bilingual education has become a major issue in the public education systems of several states, especially those with large Hispanic populations. Training and hiring bilingual teachers is an expensive proposition for state and local school governments, and critics believe bilingual education permits immigrant children to avoid learning English. Finally, recent immigration has resulted in a heightened awareness of increasing cultural diversity in the United States. Many cities have found it necessary to post signs in Spanish on highways and in public places. The increasing size of Latino populations in many cities and states has led those Latino communities to demand recognition and respect for their role in society.

Undoubtedly, recent immigrants, just like those of previous centuries, have made lasting contributions to American culture. These immigrants’ cultural experiences have added to the diversity of American music, the visual arts, and American literature. For example, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences has presented the Grammy Awards for outstanding achievements in the record industry since 1959. In 2007, the academy awarded Grammies in seven separate categories in the field of Latin music and one Grammy in the field of reggae music. As noted earlier, in recent decades immigrants have played a critical role in the American labor force, by supplying workers for jobs experiencing a labor shortage. For example, contemporary immigrants, especially those from Asia and Eastern Europe, have provided an expanded source of scientists and engineers for the American economy. These immigrants are responsible for important achievements in science, engineering, and other fields.

The technology revolution of the late twentieth century has forever changed American culture and society. The American space program was a triumph of American technological prowess (ability). In the early 1960s, President John F. Kennedy pledged increased support for the American space program. The race to the moon between the United States and the Soviet Union continued throughout the sixties. In 1962 United States astronaut John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth. In 1969, American astronaut Neil Armstrong was the first person to step onto the moon’s surface. Armstrong proclaimed, “That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.” Sally Ride, the first female astronaut in the United States, became the first American woman in space when she orbited the earth in 1983 as a member of a space shuttle crew.

Dramatic advances in technology in the closing years of the twentieth century have affected life in America in many significant areas. Three examples of technological advances are robotics, space exploration, and communications. Robotics is the technology connected with using computer-controlled robots to perform tasks. Technological advances related to space exploration have included the space shuttle, the Mars rover, the Voyager missions, and the Hubble telescope. NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, developed the space shuttle for its manned missions into space, the Mars rover for robotic exploration of the planet Mars, and the Voyager missions for unmanned exploration to the outer planets. The Hubble Space Telescope was deployed from the space shuttle Discovery in 1990. Hubble imagery has rewritten astronomy textbooks with its discoveries.

Technology has made communication and information more accessible or easier to get. Over the past three decades, improved technology and media have brought about better access to communication and information for businesses and individuals in both urban and rural areas. As a result, many more Americans have access to global information and viewpoints.

Technology improvements in communications have resulted from the use of satellites, the Global Positioning System (GPS), and the development of a variety of personal communications devices including cell phones, the iPhone, and the iPad. Late 20th century technological advances witnessed the development of cable television with twenty-four hour news channels like CNN, personal computers, cellular phones, and the World Wide Web. These advances brought changes in work, school, and health care. Telecommuting through the Internet allowed workers to do their jobs from home. The Internet opened up educational possibilities through distance learning by means of on-line course work. Rapid change in the technology field resulted in the growth of service industries. These service industries created thousands of jobs in the American economy related to such areas of employment as computer technicians, on-line retail sales, customer service, and on-line business transactions.

Scientific and technological advances since the second half of the twentieth century have led to important breakthroughs in medical research. In recent years, Americans have benefitted from improved medical diagnostic and imaging technologies, as well as medical robotics. For example, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a noninvasive medical test that helps physicians diagnose and treat medical conditions. MR imaging uses a powerful magnetic field, radio frequency pulses and a computer to produce detailed pictures of organs, soft tissues, bone, and virtually all other internal body structures. Detailed MR images allow physicians to evaluate better various parts of the body and determine the presence of certain diseases.

Unfortunately, these same technological advances have hurt the American worker in two ways. First, modern telecommunications have enabled American corporations to use outsourcing and off-shoring to hire overseas employees, who are willing to accept lower wages than their American counterparts. Second, although the technological development of robotics has made American industry more efficient by increasing productivity, it has simultaneously reduced the need for workers in American factories.

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download