Modern Studies: International Issues - the USA for ...
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Modern Studies
International Issues: The USA
[INTERMEDIATE 2]
Alison Elliott
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Acknowledgements
Learning and Teaching Scotland gratefully acknowledge this contribution to the National Qualifications support programme for Modern Studies.
The publishers gratefully acknowledge permission from the following sources to quote copyright materials: the US Census Bureau () for charts and diagrams on pp8, 11, 19, 27, 28, 29, 37, 38, 39, 41, 42, 43, 44, 51, 52, 54, 66; the US Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice for the table on p46; ThirdWorldUS/SIKozolNewYork.html for the extract on pp33/5, ‘The savage inequalities of public education in New York’, by Jonathan Kozol; The Christian Science Monitor () © 29 April 2004 The Christian Science Monitor for the extract on pp78/9, ‘After years in the suburbs, many blacks return to city life’, by Kris Axtman.
© Learning and Teaching Scotland 2006
This publication may be reproduced in whole or in part for educational purposes by educational establishments in Scotland provided that no profit accrues at any stage.
Every effort has been made to trace all the copyright holders but if any have been inadvertently overlooked the publishers will be pleased to make the necessary arrangements at the first opportunity.
Contents
Section 1: Background
Setting the scene: the USA 4
Section 2: Ethnic groups in the USA 8
American Indians and Alaska Natives 8
The White Americans 10
African Americans 10
Patterns of African American migration 12
Hispanic Americans 15
Asians and Pacific islanders 17
Mexico: case study 21
Immigration: the facts 22
Government policy and immigration 24
Section 3: Economic issues and inequalities
Economic inequalities 26
Social inequalities 31
Inequalities in health and health care 35
Housing inequalities 39
The link between family type, education and poverty 41
Inequalities: crime and the law 44
Affirmative Action 47
Section 4: The political system of the USA 49
The structure of US government 50
What has been done to encourage voting? 55
Interest groups in the USA 58
Case study: gun controls 59
Representation in the USA 61
Why are minorities under-represented? 64
Section 5: Exam practice and worksheets 66
Section 1
Setting the scene: the USA
The United States of America: a large and very powerful country
The United States of America conjures up different images and feelings in different people. What is undisputed is that it is a country which attracts attention, curiosity and interest, whether for the holiday destinations it offers or for its position of power and dominance in international politics.
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It’s a big country!
With an area of 9,632,418 square kilometres, it is slightly larger than China and almost two and a half times the size of the European Union. The United Kingdom is slightly smaller than Oregon – one of the 50 states. Washington, DC is the capital city and political centre. The USA is the world’s third-largest country by size (after Russia and Canada) and by population (after China and India); Mount McKinley is the highest point in North America and
Death Valley the lowest point on the continent. (Mount McKinley is now often referred to as Denali, ‘the great one’, which is its native American name.)
It has loads of people!
With a population of 295,734,134, it is still growing. The USA has a very diverse population. The American Indians were the first inhabitants, and then came the Europeans. More recently people have been emigrating from Asia and many come across the border from Mexico and other Central and South American countries.
It has very long borders!
The US border with Canada is 8,893 km long (including 2,477 km with Alaska). The border with Mexico is 3,141 km long.
It blows hot and cold!
From the tropical climate of Florida to the temperate regions of the Northern States; from California in the West, across the semi-arid plains to the West of the Mississippi River, to temperate New York (a bit like our climate) in the East. Not to forget the volcanic island state of Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean and Alaska on the north-western border of Canada, with its arctic tundra on the northern coastal plains, which recorded its lowest ever temperature of
–79.8°C in 1971. Its climate is mostly temperate, but tropical in Hawaii and Florida, arctic in Alaska, semi-arid in the Great Plains west of the Mississippi River, and very dry in the Great Basin of the southwest; in the winter warm winds from the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains offset the low winter temperatures in the northwest.
It has highs and lows
The USA has a vast central plain, mountains in the west, hills and low mountains in the east; rugged mountains and broad river valleys in Alaska and rugged, volcanic topography in Hawaii.
Activity 1
Using an atlas complete the names of the 50 states, listed below. Once you have completed this list collect Worksheet 1.
List of states:
Alabama Al _ _ ka Arizona Ark_ _ _ as
Calif_ _ _ _ a Colorado Conn_ _ _ _ _ut Delaware
Florida G_or_ia Hawaii Idah_ Illinois
In_ _ _na Iowa Kansas K_nt_cky L_uisi_na
M_ine Mar_la_d Massachusetts Michigan Mi_ _esota
Mississippi Mis_ou_i Mo_ta_a Nebraska Nevada
New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New Y_ _k
North Carolina N_rth Dak_ta O_ _o Oklahoma
Oregon Penn_ylv_ni_ Rhode Island South Carolina
South Dakota Te_n_s_ee _ex_s U_ _h Vermont
Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming
Now collect Worksheet 1.
Table 1: A statistical summary (2004/05)
|Gross Domestic Product (GDP) |$11.75 trillion (2004 est.) |
|GDP per capita |$41,800 |
|Death rate |8.25 deaths/1,000 population |
|Birth rate |14.14 births/1,000 population (2005 est.) |
|Literacy rates |Total population: 97% |
| |Male: 97% |
| |Female: 97% |
|Languages |English 82.1%, Spanish 10.7%, other Indo-European 3.8%, |
| |Asian and Pacific island 2.7%, other 0.7% |
|Religion |Protestant 52%, Roman Catholic 24%, Mormon 2%, Jewish |
| |1%, Muslim 1%, other 10%, none 10% |
|Life expectancy |Total population: 77.71 years Male: 74.89 years |
| |Female: 80.67 years |
|Infant mortality rate |6.5 deaths/1,000 live births |
|People living with AIDS |950,000 (2003 est.) |
|AIDS deaths |14,000 |
|Population below the poverty line |12% |
|Unemployment rate |5.5% |
|Age structure of the population |0–14 years: 20.6% |
| |15–64 years: 67% |
| |65 years and over: 12.4% |
Activity 2
Collect Worksheet 2. Using the information above, complete the pie charts.
Section 2
Ethnic groups in the USA
Population distribution
The population of the USA is made up of many different ethnic groups and cultures. English is the main language, but many people have a different language as their first language. The main minority ethnic groups will be studied, including:
• The American Indians and Alaska Natives
• The White Americans
• African Americans
• Hispanic Americans
• Asian Americans
Figure 1
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Source: US Bureau of the Census
American Indians and Alaska Natives
The American Indians were the first settlers on the land which is now the USA. Over twenty-thousand years ago, they arrived across the Bering Straits, which was at the time a land-bridge, but is now the sea which separates Russia from Alaska.
In the nineteenth century, they were pushed off their lands and massacred by white settlers. The Wounded Knee Massacre of 1890 is very well known and written about. Indians were rounded up and herded into reservations. They did not become citizens of the USA until the 1920s. Nowadays they continue to suffer discrimination and disadvantage, but have managed to retain some of their culture and traditions. The Navajo is the largest American Indian tribe in the USA. The women weave rugs and the men make silver and turquoise jewellery.
There are more than 550 American Indian tribes recognised by the federal government in the USA. Many live on reservations, which is land a tribe was allowed to keep when it gave up its lands to the US government. There are approximately 275 Indian land areas in the US administered as Indian reservations. Each reservation has its tribal government.
The American Indian group is the smallest ethnic group of the US population. The largest tribe, the Navajo nation, lives in Arizona, New Mexico and Utah. Over half (66%) of American Indians live in towns and cities. A large proportion of the American Indian group also live in California, many in Los Angeles.
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The White Americans
White Americans make up the largest of the five ethnic groups. It is estimated to be the slowest-growing group. There are around 200 million White Americans, mostly seeing themselves as Americans rather than as part of the country they were originally from. However, there are cultural differences within this group. Up to 1860, most migrants to the US were from northern Europe. European migration is said to start from when the Pilgrim Fathers set sail in 1620 from England, soon followed by the Swedes and Dutch. In the 1800s people from Ireland left their homeland fleeing famine. Other groups arrived from Spain, Italy and Eastern Europe.
According to US Census Bureau figures in 2000, most of the white population lived in the South and the Midwest.
• 34% live in the South
• 25% live in the Midwest
• 21% live in the West
• 20% live in the Northeast
However, the Midwest and the Northeast had the highest proportion of whites in their population. The Midwest’s population was 85% white and the Northeast’s was 79% white in 2000.
White Americans represented over 90% of the population in fourteen states, including Vermont (98%) and New Hampshire (97%).
White Americans represented less than 70% of the population in eight states including Hawaii, Mississippi, California and Louisiana. Only one third of the population of the District of Columbia was reported to be white.
Although whites represented only 68% of the Californian population, California has the largest white population of all the states.
African Americans
About 13% (36 million) of the American people are African American. As descendents of black slaves, who had been brought by force to work on the cotton plantations, most African Americans live in the ‘Old South’ and many live in the industrial cities of the northeast. Although there is now a significant black middle class, years of discrimination and segregation has meant that many still face a life of poverty and disadvantage. The Civil War (1860–1865), the abolition of slavery and the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s are important periods in the political history of the African Americans.
Since the 1970s, the Black population has included people who have come from the Caribbean, especially Jamaica and Haiti. More recently many immigrants have come from Africa to the United States because of conflict and poverty in their countries of origin.
The majority of the Black population (55.3%) lives in the South compared to only 33.3% of the White population. There is in the South far greater integration between Blacks and Whites as far as housing is concerned than there is in the cities of the North and West.
A large proportion of the Blacks who live in the Midwest are concentrated in the major industrial cities of states such as Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Missouri. Blacks make up 5% of the total population of the Western states. They are concentrated in California (mainly Los Angeles and San Francisco) and Washington (83%, mainly Seattle).
Figure 2
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Source: US Bureau of the Census
Activity 3
Using the bar graph above, compare, in detail, the difference in the proportion of the Black and White population, in each of the regions.
Patterns of African American migration
The descendants of the Black slaves
After slavery was abolished, most Blacks remained in the South. Segregation led to low levels of literacy due to a lack of educational opportunities.
The movement North
New industries grew up in the North and this attracted many of the southern Blacks to migrate north in search of job opportunities. Between 1900 and 1940 the Black population in the North had grown to 77%. The movement north continued into the 1940s and 50s during and after the Second World War where industries required labour to supply the war effort and for construction work after the war.
Reverse migration
Economic downturn in the 1970s led to a reverse migration. Industries failed to compete internationally and closed down or moved abroad. Many industries relocated in the South where wage rates were lower and the workforce was not unionised.
In the South, Blacks did not face the same segregation as they had in the past, largely due to the Civil Rights movement and Affirmative Action programmes. By the 1970s, there was less segregation than in the Northern cities.
The Northern cities
In the cities of the North, Blacks moved into cheap inner-city housing and many became trapped in inner-city ghettoes. Others made progress, finding higher-paid work; and gaining promotion they moved out to the suburbs.
But discrimination in the housing market ensured White-only sales of houses. A Black underclass grew up trapped in inner-city poverty and living in poor housing or in the ‘projects’.
Table 2: African Americans as a percentage of population in selected states
|State |% |
|Alabama |26.0 |
|Mississippi |36.3 |
|Texas |11.5 |
|New Jersey |13.6 |
|Maryland |27.9 |
|Michigan |14.2 |
|South Carolina |29.5 |
|Washington |3.2 |
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Alabama: case study
The concentration of African Americans in Alabama is much higher in some counties than others. In Alabama as a whole, African Americans make up about 25 percent of the total population.
The black population is unevenly distributed throughout the state. There are 67 counties in Alabama; blacks are a majority of the population in ten. The top four are, in rank order:
County Percent Black Population
Macon County 84.6 25,000
Greene County 80.3 10,000
Lowndes County 73.4 12,000
Bullock County 73.1 11,000
Source: 2000 Census of Population and Alabama State Data Center
Alabama’s black population is growing faster than its white population. It’s black residents are more concentrated in younger age groups, while the white population has more concentration than the black population in ages over 45. In the coming decades a larger percentage of black women than white women will be of child-bearing age.
In 1990 white women in Alabama averaged 1.8 children in their lifetime, while non-white women averaged 2.45. These fertility rates are expected to continue in the 21st century, and in this respect Alabama is following a national trend.
Activity 4
Collect Worksheet 3. Using all of the information on the distribution of the African American population:
(i) Describe, in detail, the distribution of the African American population. Make sure your answer is up-to-date and give examples.
(ii) Explain, in detail, the reasons for the distribution of the African American population.
Use Worksheet 3 to help structure your answers.
Hispanic Americans
This is the term given to people living in the USA who belong to groups who were originally Spanish speaking. It is made up of Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans and immigrants from Central and South America. In 2002, 13.3% of the US population was Hispanic, totalling 37.4 million. This the fastest-growing minority group in the USA, firstly because Hispanics tend to have large families, so there is a high birth rate; and secondly also due to immigration, particularly from Mexico.
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fmsca.images/us-mexico-border.jpg
Mexican Americans cross the border, legally and illegally, to escape poverty. They often arrive to take up work in low-paid jobs in towns or as farm labour. They make up 66.9% of the US Hispanic population. After the Mexican–American War in 1848, when the United States gained 500,000 square miles of Mexican land, many Mexicans migrated to the USA. Mexicans living in those areas were offered US citizenship and soon their families followed. Mexicans still come across the 2000 miles of border. A high proportion of the illegal immigrant population is Mexican.
The Puerto Ricans are US citizens as the island of Puerto Rico has been a US possession since 1917. Therefore, Puerto Ricans can enter the United States freely. Many live in New York. The Puerto Ricans remain one of the poorest groups in the United States and make up 8.6% of the Hispanic population. There are about 3.4 million Puerto Ricans in the total US population.
The distribution of the Hispanic population
Hispanics make up 13% of the US population. Between 1990 and 2000, the Hispanic population rose by 13 million. This increase accounted for 40 percent of the total increase in the US population.
The Mexican Hispanics number 20.6 million and are the largest Hispanic group (66.9%). The Mexican population in the USA has increased by 7.1 million since 1990.
Puerto Ricans number 3.4 million. There are 1.2 million Cubans; 1.7 million from Central America; 1.4 million from South America. The remainder come from the Dominican Republic, Spain and other Hispanic origins.
About 75% of Hispanics live across seven states: California, Texas, New York, Florida, Illinois, Arizona and New Jersey. Half of the Hispanic population live in California. New Mexico’s population has the highest proportion of Hispanics of any state (42%).
New York City’s Hispanic population is 2.2 million, of which 37% are Puerto Rican. This is the largest Hispanic population of any US city. The Puerto Ricans live in Brooklyn and the Bronx. In East Los Angeles in California, 97% of the population is Hispanic.
Why do the Hispanics live in these regions?
There are four main reasons why Hispanics live in these regions:
• They live close to their point of entry into the USA
• They settle close to people from their own culture
• They settle near existing family
• They favour a warmer climate.
The historical connection between Mexico and the USA has already been mentioned. The fact that Mexico borders the United States is an obvious reason for the high rate of migration. Mexico is a poor country; so many people leave Mexico, legally and illegally, to seek the American Dream in the USA.
After the Mexican–American War many Mexicans migrated to the United States, as we have seen. The Hispanic influence is apparent when place names in California are considered. This indicates that there has been a connection between the two countries for a long time. The high concentration of Hispanics in California has continued to attract peoples of Mexican origin into these regions. A common language, culture and family ties attract people to areas where their own ethnic group already live. People move where they will be most likely to be accepted and find work.
Cuban immigration into the USA grew during the 1950s and 60s. In 1959 there was a Communist revolution in Cuba. Around 200,000 people opposed to Fidel Castro’s communist system emigrated after the revolution. Around
125,000 Cubans migrated to the USA in the 1980s. They were the Marielitos (named after Port Mariel, the seaport from which they sailed), who the Cuban government wanted out of the country. They included many unskilled workers, criminals and mentally ill people. Until 1994, the United States welcomed Cuban immigrants as victims of the communist regime which they did not support. Cuba’s communist system was supported by the Soviet Union until 1991. The country has suffered since the collapse of the USSR.
As mentioned previously, the Puerto Ricans can enter the USA freely and most live in the New York conurbation.
Asians and Pacific islanders
Asians
There are many different groups of Asian Americans, including people originally from China, the Philippines (once a US colony), India, Pakistan, Japan, Korea and Vietnam.
Asian Americans make up 4.2% of the US population. They mostly live on the West Coast. They are one of the fastest growing groups. The US Census Bureau predicts that the Asian-American population will grow to 37.6 million by the year 2050. This would make up 9.3 percent of the total population. This growth has taken place fairly recently, although many Asians came from China, the Philippines and Japan in the nineteenth century.
Pacific islanders
Pacific islanders have origins in Hawaii, Guam, Samoa and other Pacific islands. This group is made up of people from a variety of cultures and languages.
The distribution of Asians and Pacific islanders
Around 12.5 million Asians and Pacific islanders live in the United States with 51% living in the West.
Almost all (95%) live in towns and cities.
Figure 3
Region of residence for selected groups: 2002
(Percentage distribution of population)
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Source: US Bureau of the Census
Activity 5
Task 1
Take the heading ‘Ethnic Groups in the USA: Key Facts’. Practise note-taking by summarising the key facts for each ethnic group from the text. Try to write down as many points as you can. Use the example as a guide.
Example:
American Indians
• first settlers
• arrived across a land bridge connecting what is now Russia and Alaska
• pushed off their land and massacred by white settlers
• put into reservations
• did not become citizens until the 1920s
• kept some of their own culture
• the Navajo people make up the largest American Indian tribe
Task 2
Look at the distribution of ethnic groups across the USA. Where do they live?
Draw a spider diagram to show the population and distribution of the different ethnic groups.
Activity 6
The American Dream – ‘The Land of Opportunity’
Why people move into the USA from other countries
Certain factors push people out of the country where they live to other countries which they perceive to have positive features that attract/pull people to live there. People move for political, social, economic and religious reasons.
Copy and complete the following table using the points below. Give yourself plenty of space as you will add to this table in the next activity. Give examples of countries where people may be affected by these factors and be attracted to live in the USA.
|Reasons |Pull factors |Push factors |Examples of countries people |
|for | | |might leave |
|moving | | | |
|Political | | | |
|Social | | | |
|Economic | | | |
|Religious | | | |
Employment Freedom of speech The right to vote
Political oppression Poverty Lack of work Peace
A better standard of living Education
Freedom to own property Hospitals Good housing
China Pushed off land Disease War
Lack of access to health care Religious intolerance
Stable government Ability to vote for political representatives
Religious freedom Cuba Mexico Puerto Rico
Mexico: case study
Population growth in Mexico is an important push factor. Mexico’s population is over 91 million and doubling every 28 years. Unemployment affects over 50% of the Mexican workforce.
Employment opportunities, particularly in agriculture, construction and the textile industry continue to attract Mexican workers into the USA.
The US economy depends on this labour at all times, but more at times of economic growth and at times of increasing unemployment. The agricultural industry in the South-West has lobbied the US Congress to be allowed to employ migrant labour and be awarded exemptions from anti-immigration laws.
Migration from Mexico into the USA can be beneficial to both countries. When people migrate and find work in the USA, they send money home to their families in Mexico. This money is then spent in Mexican local communities, stimulates their economies and even secures their survival. This is Mexico’s second largest source of income.
Mexican immigrants have also brought benefits to the US economy.
Undocumented Mexican workers are filling certain types of employment for the minimum wage or less; few North American workers are willing to consider this.
The service sector in the USA continues to expand. This sector consistently offers unstable and low-paying jobs. By having a large available workforce US employers are able to keep prices low. Mexican immigrants pay taxes for which they will never claim any benefits. Various studies have shown that immigrants contribute much more to the US economy than they take out.
The fact that Mexico–US migration is rising faster than ever has a lot to do with the North American Free Trade Agreement between the USA and Mexico. The US government has taken steps to better manage this migration until faster economic growth in Mexico slows down the pace of migration out of Mexico.
Activity 7
Do you think the push factors or pull factors are the stronger force for migration from Mexico into the USA?
Immigration: the facts
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In 2003, over half of all new legal immigrants into the USA arrived from just ten countries: Mexico (116,000), India (50,000), the Philippines (45,000), China (41,000), El Salvador (28,000), the Dominican Republic (26,000), Vietnam (22,000), Colombia (15,000), Guatemala (14,000) and Russia (14,000). They were most likely to settle in California, New York, Texas, Florida, New Jersey and Illinois.
Around 8 million or more people live in the United States illegally, and each year the number grows by an estimated 250,000. More than half come from Mexico.
In recent years, the US government has encouraged closer ties with Mexico. There has been a huge increase in the spending on border control. However, a flow of illegal immigrants still streams across the border.
The long Mexican border is impossible to patrol. Critics argue that current border policy has only managed to shift movement from a few traditional, urban crossing points to more scattered rural areas. This has caused damage to private property and farmland. Over 2,000 migrants have died since 1995 from heat and dehydration in remote areas of the desert or in sealed trucks and rail cars.
US companies need these migrant workers. There is a shrinking supply of resident US workers willing to do low-paid jobs, because the workforce in the USA is ageing and levels of education are rising.
Activity 8
The immigration debate
You and your class will take part in a debate about the arguments for and against immigration.
1. Read over all the arguments on Worksheet 4, carefully. Cut out each argument and paste it under the appropriate headings.
2. Divide the class in two – one side to argue FOR and the other to argue AGAINST immigration into the USA. The House Motion is that the USA should open its Mexican border.
Copy the following table and copy or paste the arguments under the correct heading.
FOR AGAINST
Social
Economic
Political
Environmental
Government policy and immigration
Immigration law serves as a gatekeeper for the nation’s border: it determines who may enter, how long they may stay and when they must leave.
The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 (INA)
This Act sets out who can and cannot work legally in the USA. Since 11 September 2001, it has gone through several changes. It now includes definitions of terrorist activity which would exclude a person from working in the USA. Such activities include the use of firearms, chemical or biological weapons.
The Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA)
In 1986 Congress passed the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) to tighten immigration controls.
As you found out from the debate in the last lesson, there are many different arguments for and against immigration and they can be divided into political, social, economic and environmental arguments. When the economy is strong, governments will often favour immigration to provide the labour it needs to work in its various industries. On the other hand, when there is high unemployment, government policy and the opinions of individual citizens will be different.
The influence of the economy on recent government policy is evident. However, governments and political parties wish to gain the support of the electorate. Therefore they have to know whether or not their immigration policies will gain or lose votes.
Here is an extract from President Bush’s State of the Union Address (2 February, 2005):
America’s immigration system is also outdated — unsuited to the needs of our economy and to the values of our country. We should not be content with laws that punish hardworking people who want only to provide for their families, and deny businesses willing workers, and invite chaos at our border. It is time for an immigration policy that permits temporary guest workers to fill jobs Americans will not take, that rejects amnesty, that tells us who is entering and leaving our country, and that closes the border to drug dealers and terrorists.
President Bush supports change to immigration law. He wants to
• strengthen border security to ensure legal entry
• meet the economic need for willing workers through a temporary worker programme.
Strengthen border security
Part of the work of the US Department of Homeland Security involves ‘improving the safe, legal and efficient flow of goods and people across our borders’. This department is working along with the Border Trade Alliance to ensure cross-border trade is safe. This partnership’s aim is to secure the flow of people and goods across the border, which is very important to the communities in the US–Mexican border areas. Trade is promoted between Mexico and the USA and also allows families to cross the border safely to visit relatives on the opposite side. Many temporary workers will wish to travel back and forward. At highway border crossings Secure Electronic Network for Travellers Rapid Inspection (SENTRI) lanes have been improved to speed up travel for vehicles that have had authorisation prior to reaching the border. Seven Free and Secure Trade (FAST) lanes have been opened to ease the passage of legitimate cargo across the border.
Temporary worker programme
On 7 January 2004 President Bush proposed a new temporary worker program which aimed to prevent a vulnerable underclass of illegal workers from developing. It was also intended to prevent workers from making dangerous border crossings, from being exploited by unscrupulous employers, and to help companies find willing workers.
Employers are expected to try as hard as possible to employ US workers. Employers are more likely to be prosecuted for hiring illegal immigrants. Arrangements are to be made for retirement pensions to be paid into schemes in the migrant workers’ own countries to support them when they go home and to encourage them to go home.
Activity 9
(a) In what ways will these recent changes to immigration law help both the citizens of border states and new immigrants?
(b) Discuss as a group/class the benefits and disadvantages of such a programme.
Section 3
Economic issues and inequalities
Economic inequalities
• Distribution of wealth
• Employment opportunities
• Inequalities of income
• Levels of poverty
The USA is the world’s richest country. It has a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of $11.75 trillion (2004). It has the largest and most technologically powerful economy in the world.
Table 3: A comparison of GDP selected countries
|Country |Total GDP |Comparison |Average GDP per capita |
|United States |$11.75 trillion | |$40,100 |
|China |$7.262 trillion | |$5,600 |
|Japan |$3.745 trillion | |$29,400 |
|Germany |$2.362 trillion | |$28,700 |
|United Kingdom |$1.782 trillion | |$29,600 |
|France |$1.737 trillion | |$28,700 |
Activity 1
1. Find out what is meant by Gross Domestic Product.
2. Why is per capita GDP a more useful measure of wealth than total GDP?
3. What does average GDP per capita not tell us?
4. Compare the USA’s economic growth rate with that of other developed countries. (Figure 4, overleaf)
Figure 4
Economic growth rate for selected developed countries (2004)
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What makes up an individual’s wealth?
Wealth is what people own. The main items are a person’s home, other property, small businesses, savings accounts, cash deposits and money market funds, bonds, other securities, stocks, and the value of any life insurance. From that, subtract a person’s debts. The main debt is mortgage debt. The difference between what people own and their debt is known as their ‘wealth’.
2004 income and wealth in the USA: facts
• If the financial wealth of the average US family in the bottom 80% of families were represented by a bar graph one inch high, the bar representing the financial wealth of the average family in the top 1% would be 33 feet high
• Bill Gates alone has as much wealth as the bottom 40% of US households.
• The United States is now the third most unequal industrialised society after Russia and Mexico.
• Income inequality is now near all-time highs in the USA, with over 50 percent of 2004 income going to the top fifth of households
• there are now 374 US billionaires
Activity 2
Table 4: Average wealth by ethnic group
| |1996 |2002 |
|White |$75,512 |$88,651 |
|African American |$7,140 |$5,988 |
|Hispanic |$6,958 |$7,932 |
Describe what has happened to the average wealth of each ethnic group between 1996 and 2002.
What is income?
Income refers to money that is being earned by an individual such as wages, salary, interest that is earned on savings, and Social Security benefits. Table 5 shows the average weekly earnings by ethnic group and gender.
Table 5: Average weekly earnings by ethnic group and gender ($)
| |2004 |2005 |
|All |639 |643 |
|White (All) |655 |663 |
|Men |714 |713 |
|Women |572 |580 |
|African American (All) |536 |518 |
|Men |598 |565 |
|Women |504 |487 |
|Asian (All) |720 |743 |
|Men |807 |810 |
|Women |653 |664 |
|Hispanic (All) |451 |473 |
|Men |477 |487 |
|Women |414 |437 |
Activity 3
(a) Which ethnic group earns the highest average weekly wage?
(b) Which ethnic group earns the lowest average weekly wage?
(c) By roughly how much more a week does the highest average weekly wage exceed the lowest? Express this figure as a percentage of the lowest wage.
(d) How do women’s average weekly wages compare to men’s?
(Give figures.)
(e) Why do you think there is such a difference in average weekly earnings among ethnic groups? Discuss within your group.
Employment and unemployment
Table 6: Unemployment rates
| |Aug 2004 |Aug 2005 |
|White |4.7 |4.2 |
|African American |10.5 |9.6 |
|Asian |3.6 |3.6 |
|Hispanic |6.7 |5.8 |
(f) Using Table 6, describe in detail the unemployment rates for the various ethnic groups between August 2004 and August 2005.
(g) Is the pattern of inequality similar to that for average weekly earnings in Table 5 above? Give figures to support your answer.
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)
TANF is a $16.5 billion block grant for states to provide assistance to low-income families. The program was created by the Clinton administration, replacing Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC).
TANF funds are used by the states to provide cash assistance (‘Welfare’) to eligible families. In 2003, the average maximum welfare benefit for a family of three was $412 per month. Because this is insufficient to pay for housing, many of the families on TANF cash assistance live in poor housing conditions or can end up on the streets. TANF recipients have high rates of evictions, falling behind in rent or electricity and gas payments, and doubling up with other families in order to afford rent, bringing about the complications of living in overcrowded accommodation.
People who receive TANF are supposed to find work, and sanctions are imposed when parents do not meet those work requirements. This involves a reduction in the money they receive. States are also unable to use federal TANF resources to provide assistance to some immigrants who are legally residing in the country. They are also unable to give it to families for more than five years.
TANF funds are also used by the states to finance services and supports that help low-income parents prepare for moving into work. Such supports can include child care, help with transport, and help accessing mental health counselling, substance abuse treatment and literacy.
Penalties for recipients who refuse to cooperate
The TANF Work Program is designed to be flexible to meet the varying needs of welfare recipients seeking employment: but it also provides severe penalties for those who refuse to cooperate. Welfare clients who refuse to work or look for a job or appropriate training stand to lose 50% of their cash payment the first month, and if they fail a second month, they will lose their entire cash payment for at least one month.
Activity 4
Read the above information on Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of this programme.
What problems can poor, overcrowded housing lead to?
Family poverty
Thirty years after the introduction of Civil Rights legislation, a significant proportion of ethnic minorities still live in poverty.
The fact that poverty rates for one-parent families are significantly higher than for two-parent families is particularly important for African Americans.
The poverty rate has increased since 2000 significantly among children and adults; it has been especially notable for African American children. The overall US poverty rate increased to 12.7% in 2004. During that time, 5.4 million people have been thrown into poverty. The poverty rate for African Americans was 24.7% in 2004 and 21.9% for Hispanics. The poverty rates for Black and Hispanic children were even higher (33.2% and 28.9% respectively).
Poverty has increased not only because of the economy but also because income support programmes like Unemployment Insurance (UI) and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) are helping fewer individuals. Although the number of children living in poverty has increased by 12.4% since 2000, the number of children receiving TANF has moved in the opposite direction, declining by 10.9% in the same period.
Social inequalities
• Education
• Health
• Housing
• Crime
Inequalities in education
As of October 2001, there were approximately 3,774,000 high-school dropouts between the ages of 16 and 24 in the United States. This translates into a total dropout rate of 10.7 percent for youth in this age group, a rate that has remained fairly stable since 1992.
Since 1970, Hispanic students have had the highest dropout rates, representing well over a quarter of Hispanic young adults. The high Hispanic dropout rate (27 percent) is partly driven by the significantly higher dropout rate among foreign-born Hispanics of 43.4 percent in 2001. The corresponding rates for White and Black students were 7.3 percent and 10.9 percent respectively. Although the gap in the dropout rate between Blacks
and Whites narrowed between the 1970s and 1980s, the gap has remained constant since 1990.
According to the National Centre for Education Statistics, students who drop out of high school are more likely to be unemployed and earn less when employed, compared to students who complete high school.
Figure 6
Dropout rates among high-school students ages 16–24, by race/ethnicity: 1991–2001
[pic]
Activity 5
(a) Describe the trends in dropout rates for:
• Hispanics
• Blacks (non-Hispanic)
• Whites (non-Hispanic)
(b) Compare the dropout rates of the different groups.
New York: case study
These are excerpts from the book The Savage Inequalities of Public Education in New York, by Jonathan Kozol:
‘New York City’s public schools are subdivided into 32 school districts. District 10 encompasses a large part of the Bronx but is, effectively, two separate districts. One of these districts, Riverdale, is in the northwest section of the Bronx. Home to many of the city’s most sophisticated and well-educated families, its elementary schools have relatively few low-income students. The other section, to the south and east, is poor and heavily non-white.’
‘The poorest districts in this city get approximately 90 cents per pupil from these legislative grants, while the richest districts have been given $14 for each pupil.’
In one of the poorest districts the conditions of a school are described as follows: ‘Blackboards at the school, according to the New York Times, are ‘so badly cracked that teachers are afraid to let students write on them for fear they’ll cut themselves. Some mornings, fallen chips of paint cover classrooms like snow. . . Teachers and students have come to see humor in the waterfall that courses down six flights of stairs after a heavy rain.’
One classroom, we are told, has been sealed off ‘because of a gaping hole in the floor.’ In the band room, ‘chairs are positioned where acoustic tiles don’t fall quite so often.’ In many places, ‘plaster and ceramic tile have peeled off’ the walls, leaving the external brick wall of the school exposed. ‘There isn’t much between us and the great outdoors,’ the principal reports.
A ‘landscape of hopelessness’ – ’burnt-out apartments, boarded windows, vacant lot upon garbage-strewn vacant lot’ – surrounds the school. Statistics tell us, says the Times, that the South Bronx is ‘the poorest congressional district in the United States.’ But statistics cannot tell us ‘what it means to a child to leave his often hellish home and go to a school – his hope for a transcendent future – that is literally falling apart.’
The head of school facilities for the Board of Education speaks of classrooms unrepaired years after having been destroyed by fire. ‘What’s really sad,’ she notes, ‘is that so many kids come from places that look as bad as our schools – and we have nothing better to offer them.’
A year later, when I visit Morris High, most of these conditions are unchanged. Water still cascades down the stairs. Plaster is still falling from the walls. Female students tell me that they shower after school to wash the plaster from their hair. Entering ninth grade children at the school, I’m told, read about four years behind grade level.
From the street, the school looks like a medieval castle; its turreted tower rises high above the devastated lots below. A plaque in the principal’s office tells a visitor that this is the oldest high school in the Bronx.
Read this conversation between some school boys and the researcher: Alexander, a 16-year-old student who was brought here by his parents from Jamaica just a year ago, says this: ‘You can understand things better when you go among the wealthy. You look around you at their school, although it’s impolite to do that, and you take a deep breath at the sight of all those beautiful surroundings. Then you come back home and see that these are things you do not have. You think of the difference. Not at first. It takes a while to settle in.’ I ask him why these differences exist.
‘Let me answer that,’ says Israel, a small, wiry Puerto Rican boy. ‘If you threw us all into some different place, some ugly land, and put white children in this building in our place, this school would start to shine. No question. The parents would say: “This building sucks. It’s ugly. Fix it up.” They’d fix it fast – no question.
‘People on the outside,’ he goes on, ‘may think that we don’t know what it is like for other students, but we visit other schools and we have eyes and we have brains. You cannot hide the differences. You see it and compare...
‘Most of the students in this school won’t go to college. Many of them will join the military. If there’s a war, we have to fight. Why should I go to war and fight for opportunities I can’t enjoy – for things rich people value, for their freedom, but I do not have that freedom and I can’t go to their schools?
‘You tell your friends, “I go to Morris High”,’ Carissa says. ‘They make a face. How does that make you feel?’ She points to the floor beside the water barrel. ‘I found wild mushrooms growing in that corner.’ ‘Big fat ugly things with hairs,’ says Victor.
Alexander then begins an explanation of the way that inequality becomes ensconced. ‘See,’ he says, ‘the parents of rich children have the money to get into better schools. Then, after a while, they begin to say, “Well, I have this. Why not keep it for my children?” In other words, it locks them into the idea
of always having something more. After that, these things – the extra things they have – are seen like an inheritance. They feel it’s theirs and they don’t understand why we should question it.
‘See, that’s where the trouble starts. They get used to what they have. They think it’s theirs by rights because they had it from the start. So it leaves those children with a legacy of greed. I don’t think most people understand this.’
One of the counsellors, who sits nearby, looks at me and then at Alexander. Later he says, ‘It’s quite remarkable how much these children see. You wouldn’t know it from their academic work. Most of them write poorly. There is a tremendous gulf between their skills and capabilities. This gulf, this dissonance, is frightening. I mean, it says so much about the squandering of human worth...’
Activity 6
You are a member of an interest group campaigning for greater equality in education. A new Mayor is soon to be elected. Write a letter to the Democratic Party and Republican Party candidates for Mayor of New York City. In your letter you must outline:
• the problems with the schools in the Bronx
• what improvements you would like to see
• why you think this is important.
Inequalities in health and health care
Ethnic minority groups often have less access to health care. Often the care they receive is inferior. They have higher morbidity (rates of illness), lower life expectancy and higher infant mortality rates. Inequalities in health result for many reasons, including discrimination, bias, language barriers; but access to health care is the most significant.
Although there are many differences in culture and traditions among ethnic groups in the USA, they face similar problems which prevent access to good health care.
Activity 7
Using a mind map like the one below, explore the following ideas:
[pic]
Either individually or as a group, add to your map as many reasons as possible why access to health care improves your chances of living healthily and longer. Information on economic inequalities (pp 26–31) will help as will parts of the section on social inequalities (pp 31–2). When constructing mind maps you can use a whole page or even a double page of your jotter. You might find you want to come back to it later and add to your diagram. Diagrams like this are very useful for revision.
Health inequalities in the USA: fact-file
• African Americans are twice as likely to have diabetes as Whites.
• American Indians and Native Alaskans have diabetes rates nearly three times the national average.
• Hispanic women who were recently diagnosed with lung or breast cancer were diagnosed in later stages and had lower survival rates than White women with similar conditions.
• Ethnic minorities make up one third of the total US population, but they make up 52% of the uninsured population.
• Nearly 6 in 10 (59.9%) Hispanics and 4 in 10 (42.9%) African Americans were uninsured for all or part of 2002 and 2003, compared to roughly 2 in 10 (23.5%) Whites.
• The uninsured rate did not change for Blacks (about 19.5 percent) or Asians (about 18.7 percent) between 2002 and 2003. (The health insurance coverage rates of Blacks and Asians were not different between 2002 and 2003.)
• Non-Hispanic whites saw their uninsured rate increase from 10.7 percent to 11.1 percent in the same period.
• The uninsured rate for Hispanics was 32.7 percent in 2003 – unchanged from 2002.
• 27.5 percent of American Indians and Alaskan natives were without health insurance coverage, lower than the uninsured rate for Hispanics (32.8 percent) but higher than that of the other race groups.
• The uninsured rate for American Indians and Alaskan natives did not change between 2002 and 2003.
Table 7: Death rates
| |2002 |2003 |
|White |8.4 |8.3 |
|African American |10.9 |10.7 |
|American Indian |6.7 |6.8 |
|Asians/Pacific Islanders |4.7 |4.6 |
|Hispanic |6.3 |6.1 |
Table 8: Infant mortality rates
| |2000 |2001 |2002 |2003 |
|White |5.7 |5.7 |5.8 |5.8 |
|African American |13.6 |13.5 |13.9 |14.1 |
|Hispanic |5.6 |5.4 |5.6 |5.9 |
How government has attempted to tackle inequalities in health
Medicaid is the health-care programme in the USA. It provides health care for 50 million low-income individuals and families. These people would otherwise be unable to afford adequate health care as they would not be able to make health-insurance payments.
Many people from ethnic minorities depend on this programme. In fact, Medicaid affords coverage to roughly one in five non-elderly Hispanics, African Americans, American Indians and Alaska Natives and to about one in 10 non-elderly Asian Americans. Without this safety net, the numbers of uninsured individuals would be much higher.
Employer-sponsored health insurance: staying healthy on the job and in life
Employer-sponsored health insurance is very important to many people in the USA. Two-thirds of working-age Americans receive health insurance through their employers. But many people who work in positions that do not offer these benefits are disadvantaged. They may work in companies that are too small to be able to afford to finance health insurance for their employees; or more likely they may have periods of unemployment. African Americans and Hispanics are more likely than Whites to be caught in these situations.
Medicare: keeping the elderly and people with disabilities healthy
Medicare is an important federal health-insurance programme that provides health coverage for more than 40 million adults aged 65 and older and for people with disabilities. Roughly one in five elderly Medicare beneficiaries is a member of a racial or ethnic minority group. By 2030, that proportion is expected to rise to one in four. Recent changes to Medicare have resulted in some treatments not being covered by this programme.
Housing inequalities
Homeownership in the USA
Table 9: Rates by race and ethnicity of householder
| |1998 |1999 |2000 |2002 |
|White |70.0 |70.5 |71.1 |71.8 |
|African American |45.6 |46.3 |47.2 |47.3 |
|Asian and Pacific Islander |52.6 |53.1 |52.8 |54.7 |
|Hispanic |44.7 |45.5 |46.3 |48.2 |
|US total |66.3 |66.8 |67.4 |67.9 |
Residential segregation in the USA
The history of segregation in the USA forced African Americans and other minority groups in the USA to live in ghettos. At times, this force was upheld by law, and at other times by prejudice and discrimination in society.
African Americans were refused mortgages or were victims of intimidation. In the 1970s housing policies made the situation worse. Studies show that residential segregation is still widespread in the USA. The most segregated city is New York. Other highly segregated cities are San Francisco, Los Angeles and Detroit. In metropolitan areas there has been little change in segregation since the 1990s. White neighbourhoods look very different from those where African Americans, Hispanics and Asians live. A typical white person lives in a neighbourhood that is 83% white and 7% black. Seventy percent of whites live in residential suburbs compared to 40% African Americans.
Half of the Hispanic population live in ghettos. Some studies show that Hispanics and Asians today are slightly more isolated than in the 1990s.
African American, Hispanic and Asian children are being brought up increasingly separated from white children. In New York City segregation has increased by 6% since 1990. New York now ranks third in levels of segregation of black and white children. This means that children grow up without experience of different cultures.
The reasons for African American and Hispanic segregation differ. For African Americans the main cause is still prejudice and discrimination. Even today some apartments are shown to some people and not to others. Whites
move out of neighbourhoods if they feel the racial balance is changing. For Hispanics, it is that they are often drawn into communities populated by those of their own group. Culture and language draw people together. The Spanish language is something that binds the various Hispanic groups together.
Activity 8
1. Describe the trends in homeownership between 1998 and 2002.
2. What does segregation mean?
3. Name some of the most segregated cities in the USA.
4. What is the difference in the ethnic composition of white areas and non-white areas?
5. Has segregation improved much since the 1970s?
6. From the passage above and from your own knowledge or experience, what problems are created when children are brought up in areas separated from other cultures?
7. To what extent do the reasons for African American and Hispanic segregation differ?
8. Collect Worksheet 5. On a blank page in your notebook make the heading: Housing Segregation in the USA. Divide your page in two, on one side putting the heading ‘problems’ and on the other ‘progress’. Then, using the information above and in the worksheet, under each heading list as many points as you can.
|Problems |Progress |
| | |
The link between family type, education and poverty
Social and economic inequalities are interrelated. It is difficult to decide which comes first. The following exercise helps to show the links.
Figure 7
Poverty rate by age and race – 2001 (%)
[pic]
Source: US Census Bureau, Annual Demographic Supplement to the March 2002 Current Population Survey.
Activity 9
Compare the poverty rates of the black and non-Hispanic white population. Which age group has the highest poverty rates?
Activity 10
Figure 8
Educational attainment by gender and race – 2002
[pic]
Complete the next paragraph using the graphs above (by deleting the wrong italicised words):
More/fewer black men than black women have earned at least a bachelor’s degree. In 2002 a higher/lower percentage of blacks had earned a high-school diploma. The proportion of all non-Hispanic whites with at least a bachelor’s degree was higher/lower than that of all blacks.
Do you think there is a link between poverty and educational attainment? Give reasons for your answer.
Family type and size
Fewer black families are married couples, with 43% of black families being headed by a female single parent. This compares with 13% of white families headed by a female single parent.
Activity 11
Figure 9
Family income by family type and race of householder – 2001
[pic]
Source: US Census Bureau, Annual Demographic Supplement to the March 2002 Current Population Survey.
This barchart contains a lot of information. To interpret the graphs you need to take a step-by-step approach.
• Read the key carefully. What does it tell you? Look at the headings.
• Which two ethnic groups are being compared?
• Looking closely at the information, draw conclusions about the following:
– the income of black and non-Hispanic white married couples
– the income of married couples compared to single-parent households
– the income of black single-parent households compared to white single-parent households
– the income of female single-parent households compared to male single-parent households.
• What overall conclusions can you draw about the link between family type and income?
Inequalities: Crime and the law
Table 10: Death Row statistics by race and gender, 14 July 2005
|Ethnic group |Female |Male |Total |
|White |4 |124 |128 |
| |44.4% |30.8% |31.1% |
|African American |5 |165 |170 |
| |55.6% |40.9% |41.3% |
|Hispanic |0 |110 |110 |
| |0% |27.3% |26.7% |
|Other |0 |4 |4 |
| |0% |1.0% |1.0% |
Read the following article and copy the main points into your notebook.
A US Supreme Court decision that warns against bias in death-penalty cases is the latest indication that it may be losing confidence in Texas, the state that executes more people than any other, legal experts say.
In Monday’s 6–3 decision, the Court sided with black murder suspects in Texas and California who said their juries had been unfairly stacked with whites. It was the fourth time in two years that the Court has intervened in a Texas death-penalty case.
In the Texas case, the Court ordered a new trial for Thomas Miller-El, who had been convicted for the 1985 murder of a 25-year-old Dallas motel clerk.
Long history of exclusion
Miller-El contends that Dallas County prosecutors had a long history of excluding blacks from juries and pointed to training manuals that were distributed to prosecutors from the 1960s into the early 1980s. The manuals advised prosecutors to remove blacks or Jews from death penalty juries on the theory that those groups would be more sympathetic to criminal defendants.
At trial, Miller-El was convicted by a 12-member jury that included one black. Prosecutors struck 10 of the 11 blacks eligible to serve.
The Texas attorney general’s office, which takes over death-row appeals when the cases get to the federal courts, referred comment to the Dallas County district attorney’s office. District Attorney Bill Hill, who was not in office when Miller-El was convicted, said his office does not tolerate illegal discrimination during jury selection.
Last year, the Supreme Court overturned the sentences of two Texas death-row inmates because jurors were not told of their learning disabilities. The Supreme Court overruled another death sentence because of what justices determined was prosecutorial misconduct.
‘To have in the space of two terms as many interventions by the Supreme Court in the Texas death penalty, as we’ve seen, is unprecedented,’ said Dow, who has represented a number of Texas death-row inmates in their appeals.
Activity 12
1. Study the Death Row statistics in Table 10. Compare the numbers and percentages of White, African American and Hispanic people on Death Row.
Then compare the proportions in comparison to the proportion of each of these groups in the total population (Table 11 below).
2. What suggests that the Supreme Court is losing confidence in the Texas justice system?
3. What decision did the Supreme Court make that highlights this loss of confidence?
4. What did the training manuals advise from the 1960s till the early 1980s?
5. Why did the Supreme Court overturn sentences of two Texas prisoners?
The total number of persons in prison in the USA at the end of 2004 was 1,496,629. The overall total in prison that year was 2,267,787. During that year the prison population grew by 1.9%.
Table 11: Percentage of prisoners by ethnic group
| |1995 |2003 |2004 |
|Hispanic |17.6% |19% |19.2% |
|White |33.5% |35% |34.3% |
|African American |45.7% | |40.7% |
|Other |3.2% |1.9% |2.9% |
Bureau of Justice statistics, October 2005
African Americans and Hispanics represented 60% of the prison population at the end of 2004. African American males in their twenties and thirties have higher rates of imprisonment than other groups. About 8.4% of black males between the ages of 25 and 29 were in prison compared to 2.5% of Hispanic males and 1.2% of white males. Although rates of imprisonment drop with age, the percentage of black male prisoners aged 45 to 54 remains twice as high as for white males in the same age group.
Although the proportion of the prison population that is female is low relative to the male rate, the rates for African American and Hispanic females share similar patterns to their male counterparts. African American females were twice as likely as Hispanic females and four times as likely as white females to be in prison in 2004.
Activity 13
Why are the rates of imprisonment higher for African Americans and Hispanics than for whites?
From your study of social and economic inequalities can you suggest reasons for these high rates of imprisonment?
Affirmative Action
Affirmative-action programmes first appeared in the 1960s. Affirmative action occurs when governments take steps to promote equality to redress the inequalities or injustices of the past. Affirmative-action programmes might attempt to ensure equal opportunities for ethnic minorities to gain access to educational institutions and well-paid employment as well as promoting opportunities for progression within a workplace into management positions.
Examples of programmes of affirmative action are:
Quotas and targets
Businesses were required to have a certain quota (minimum percentage) of each ethnic minority group in their workforce; e.g. African Americans made up 12% of the population, so African Americans would have to make up 12% of the workforce in any one company.
Minority admissions schemes
A number of university places were kept aside for members of ethnic minorities. This was designed to ensure that these groups made up a similar percentage of university entrants as their percentage of the country’s overall population
Busing
Schools in inner-city areas tend to be poorer than those in the suburbs. Since African Americans and Hispanics largely dominate these areas, they were seen to be at a severe disadvantage when it came to getting a good education.
Busing meant that some pupils were transported in buses to schools in other areas in order to give these pupils a chance of a better education. African Americans were bused out of the inner-city ghettos and white Americans were bused into them.
Public housing desegregation
Low-cost public housing (Council Housing) was built by the government outside of the city centres. This was intended to break down the segregation of ethnic minorities and white Americans in the inner-city areas.
How successful have affirmative action policies been?
Affirmative Action has helped reverse centuries of discrimination against ethnic minorities and has helped create a large African American and Hispanic middle class.
However, many people in America feel that it has not actually been a good thing. Many white Americans feel resentful that they might have been passed over for jobs or university places, when they could even have been the better candidate. Many members of ethnic minorities also feel that it has failed to end discrimination and only served to make race relations worse.
Activity 14
Collect Worksheet 6. Prepare for a class debate on Affirmative Action, and its pros and cons.
Section 4
The political system of the United States of America
The Declaration of Independence
[pic]
George Washington, First President of the USA (1789–1797)
1776 On 2 July, the Continental Congress voted to declare the independence of the American colonies from British rule. The Declaration of Independence was approved two days later: thus the Fourth of July became ‘Independence Day’.
1787 On 17 September, the Constitution of the United States, the supreme law of the United States of America, was adopted.
The oldest written national constitution still in force, it was later ratified by the thirteen new United States.
1791 In December, the Bill of Rights was adopted and became part of the Constitution.
The Bill of Rights
• Freedom of speech
• The right to bear arms
• The right to own property
• Justice and a jury
• Forbids cruel and unusual punishment
The structure of US government
The three branches of the federal government in the USA
The first branch of government in the USA is called Congress. This branch of government is responsible for the passage of laws. Bills, or suggestions for laws, must pass through the legislative process before they become law: so this branch is also called the Legislature. The Congress also approves presidential appointments. The Congress is a bicameral parliament: that means it has two chambers. In the USA these are called the House of Representatives and the Senate. There are 435 members of the House of Representatives or Lower House. Each of the fifty states has a number of representatives depending on the size of its population. The House is completely re-elected every two years. The Senate (or Upper House) has 100 members: two from each state. One-third of senate seats are elected every two years. Each senator serves a term of six years.
The second branch of government is the Executive. The Executive carries out and, therefore, interprets laws passed by Congress. The Executive includes the President and the Executive Office with its various government departments.
The third branch of government is called the Judiciary. The Supreme Court is the judicial ‘guardian of the Constitution’. Before a piece of legislation becomes law it has to be considered constitutional by the Supreme Court.
Checks are built into the system to ensure no branch has too much power. Checks include the ability, right and responsibility of each branch to monitor the activities of the others. Balances include the ability to limit the powers of the others.
The government of the States
Each of the fifty states has its own government with its own written constitution and laws on such areas as health, education and marriage. Each state has a legislature and a judiciary. The Governor is the elected position at the head of each state government.
Local government
Town, city or county levels make laws that affect their particular area. Laws that may be decided at the local level include traffic and the sale of alcohol. The mayor is the highest elected official of a town or city.
Opportunities for political participation in the USA
• voter registration
• voter turnout
• political party activity
• interest group membership and activity
Voter registration
In the USA registering to vote is a more complicated procedure than in the UK. US voters may register to vote at any time of the year. However, to participate in an upcoming election a registration application must be received by either the local registration office or the State Board of Elections by the specified registration deadlines. Voters can register at many different places, from government offices to libraries. Voter registration forms are fairly complicated and failure to complete them properly could prevent a person from being registered before the deadlines for each election. Registration requirements inhibit people from voting, especially the poor and those facing language barriers.
Over the years, registration procedures have been made easier. In 1993 President Clinton signed the ‘Motor Voter’ bill to ease registration by allowing citizens to register when they applied for driving licences, and also in public offices and military recruitment centres.
Table 12: Presidential election voter registration by ethnic group (%)
| |1996 |2000 |2004 |
|African Americans |63.5 |64.3 |64.4 |
|Asian and Pacific Islanders |32.6 |30.7 |35.0 |
|Hispanics |35.7 |34.9 |34.3 |
|Whites |67.7 |70.0 |67.9 |
Voter turnout
Turnout in US elections is measured in various ways. To be sure you are comparing like with like it is important to know which measurement is being used. Turnout in the 2004 presidential election comprised:
70.4% of registered voters
60.7% of the citizen voting-age population
55.3% of the voting-age population.
Using the Voting Age Population (VAP) method (Presidential election years are in bold):
Table 13
|1990 |1992 |1994 |1996 |1998 |2000 |2002 |2004 |
|36.5 |55.1 |38.8 |49.1 |36.4 |51.3 |37.0 |55.3 |
Activity 1
1. Describe the trend and levels of voting in Presidential Elections between 1992 and 2004.
2. Describe the trend and levels of voting in mid-term Congressional elections from 1990 to 2002.
Why do people turn out to vote?
This is a good question. It takes a lot of analysis of information to work it out. Why do people bother? They have to use their own time and effort. They have to listen to endless news coverage. Then they have to think about the different parties’ policies in order to make an informed decision.
Levels of turnout in US elections are low by international comparison. Turnout in the 1996 presidential election was 49.1%. The proportion turning out was considerably higher in the 19th century. It has already been mentioned that one reason for the fall in turnout is because of the introduction of registered voting. Registration was one of the ‘progressive’ reforms. These registration requirements not only reduce the numbers turning out but change the composition of the electorate: those who turn out tend to be better off, better educated and less likely to be from ethnic minority groups. Voter registration has increased since the Motor Voter Law was introduced, but voter turnout has not risen to the same extent.
The fact that political parties are weaker in the USA is another reason why voters are less likely to turn out. The political party machines no longer employ the numbers of workers needed to get voters out to the polling station. The middle classes are more likely to feel that their lives will be affected by the outcome of the vote; for example, they will be concerned about tax and mortgage rates and the health of the economy.
Activity 2
List all the factors which would influence you to turn out and vote.
Voter apathy
Some voters might say, ‘Why should I vote? It’s more bother than it’s worth?’ There is a lot in that argument. Some might say it’s not asking a lot; all you have to do is put a cross in a box beside a party name. However, if you think about it more closely, you can see why some people think it’s more bother than it’s worth.
Activity 3
Under the following numbered headings, place the reasons people give for not turning out to vote.
1. Too much information
2. Too many elections
3. Voting procedures
4. Social explanations
5. People just don’t feel part of the system
6. Perhaps some are just too happy
Read about candidates Presidential election every four years
Congressional elections State elections Levels of education
Learn about policies Registering to vote in USA is complicated
Well-off/middle classes more likely to vote
Difficult voting and registration procedures
Citizens are turned off, apathetic Citizens are generally happy
Engaged in other forms of political activity
Table 14: Voter turnout by ethnic group (%)
| |1996 |2000 |2004 |
|African Americans |50.6 |54.1 |56.3 |
|Asian and Pacific Islanders |25.7 |25.4 |29.8 |
|Hispanics |26.7 |27.5 |28.0 |
|Whites |56.0 |60.4 |60.3 |
Activity 4
1. Describe the trends in voter turnout between 1996 and 2004 for each ethnic group.
2. For which groups did turnout increase/decrease?
Young people and turnout
The 2004 election saw a substantial increase in young people turning out to vote. In 1992, 47.9% of voters aged 18–29 turned out to vote compared to 34.9% in 1996, while in 2004 the figure rose to 51.6% (around 20.9 million). The turnout of young voters was especially high in the marginal or battleground states. African American youths in particular increased their turnout by a significant 8%.
Very young (18–24 year olds) Hispanic men are the least likely of the youth voters to turn out (33% in 2004), but in the 18–29 year old group, it is the Asian Americans who are the least likely to turn out. The proportion of young African Americans voting is now 50%, or only 2% behind the proportion of young white Americans. Young Native Americans (35%) and Asian Americans (36%) were the second and third least likely to vote respectively.
Activity 5
In discussion with your teacher and the class, using the information on social and economic inequalities and any other knowledge:
Write down as many reasons as you can why certain ethnic groups might be less likely to vote than others.
What has the US Government done to encourage voting?
The Motor Voter Law
This is law that enables prospective voters to register when they obtain or renew a driver’s licence. The National Voter Registration Act of 1993 made it easier for all Americans to register to vote and to maintain their registration. Voter registration did increase. But the first election after the law was introduced saw a fall in turnout. It was estimated that without the motor voter law, it would have dropped even lower! Studies showed that it was the Black, Hispanic and the poorer voters who had failed to turn out – the very voters the policy had intended to encourage. Some groups increased their vote – but the increase was from within the groups who already had higher voter turnout rates.
Participation in political party activity in the USA
Presidential elections are held every four years. They are held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. The last Presidential election was in November 2004. The result of the 2000 US Presidential election was particularly interesting, because it was so close. While individual citizens have the right to vote for the president, an electoral college makes the final decision.
US citizens can participate in the Presidential Primary
Primaries give the ordinary voters a say in the process of nominating a candidate for election. New Hampshire has held the first primary in presidential elections since 1920. Candidates hold rallies, and shake a lot of hands in the months leading up to the big day in January. The main goal in New Hampshire is to get an edge on the other contenders by attracting media attention. There are two types of primary election, the closed primary and the open primary. Participation in a closed primary is limited to voters who have declared their attachment to a party. In an open primary, voters can declare their attachment on the day of the primary election. The open primary allows the voter to consider candidates’ personalities and policies.
The big day for primaries is the first Tuesday in March, or Super Tuesday. On 2 March 2004, voters in California, Connecticut, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington voted in their primaries.
The following Tuesday, four Southern states held their primaries: Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas. By that stage, the bandwagon is rolling.
Once the state-by-state nomination process is over, each state party sends delegates to a national convention. At these lavish affairs, with music blaring and speeches and razzmatazz, one candidate is chosen by each party’s
national convention, but usually by this time everyone knows who it will be. Afterwards, one candidate from each party goes back to the campaign trail hoping to be elected the President of the United States.
US citizens can stand for election
Running for President – the election campaign
In the United States, most elected officials are Democrats or Republicans. Third-party candidates, such as for the Green Party, do not have much chance of being elected. Presidential elections are becoming more about what the candidate stands for, rather than what the party stands for. Elections in the USA are candidate-centred rather than party-centred. This is very much because of the process of nomination for the Primaries. In the Primaries, candidates from the same party have to run against each other and therefore have to form campaign teams to support themselves. They have to raise finance for the primaries and then for the presidential campaign, where the successful candidates from each party will have to travel across all the states to gather support.
However, many voters also identify with a particular party. So they vote for the Republican candidate just because of the party that the candidate represents. Many Democrats vote similarly.
A candidate will have to win swing voters to win the election. These are the people who usually decide the outcome of an election. They will be listening to each candidate’s policies before they decide how to cast their vote. But the candidate has to be careful that in trying to capture the swing voter s/he does not put off the voters who usually vote for that party.
Table 15: Presidential election results 2004
|Candidate |Total popular vote |
|George W Bush (Republican) |62,039,073 |
|John F Kerry (Democrat) |59,027,478 |
|Ralph Nader |240,896 |
|Michael Badnarik |353,265 |
|Other |563,698 |
The Electoral College
When US citizens go to the polls on election day in November they are not directly voting for presidential candidates. They are voting for a ‘slate’ of delegates. These delegates have been appointed to their various positions beforehand. The delegates have promised to support their own party’s presidential candidate. In each state, the slate that wins casts all its votes for its party’s candidate. Each state is entitled to a number of electoral college votes equal to the number of state senators and representatives combined.
This adds up to 538 electoral college votes for the fifty states plus the District of Columbia.
Each state is allocated a number of electors equal to the number of its US Senators (always 2) plus the number of its US Representatives.
The number of people in each State is established by the Federal census, which is taken every ten years and includes a count of every State’s population. So the 2000 Federal census determined the number of electors allocated per State in the 2004 Presidential Election.
It can happen that an elector breaks his/her pledge and votes for the other party’s candidate. The electors of the winning slate go to the state capital and cast their votes. The votes are sent to Washington, and counted by Congress in January. The winner is then formally declared.
Activity 6
1. How often and when are Presidential elections held?
2. What are primaries?
3. Describe the different types of primaries.
4. In what ways can US citizens participate in primaries?
5. Which state holds the first primary?
6. What is ‘Super Tuesday’?
7. Where and when are the successful candidates declared?
8. Collect Worksheet 7 and complete the ‘Electoral College’ exercise.
Interest groups in the USA
Many different kinds of interest groups exist in the USA, representing a diverse set of issues.
Table 16
|Type of interest |Interest group |
|Broad economic interests |National Petroleum Refiners Association; American Farm Bureau |
| |Federation; National Federation of Independent Business (small |
| |business owners) |
|Particular economic interests |Disney; Shell Oil; IBM; General Motors; Microsoft |
|‘Labor’ Organisations |AFL–CIO (American Federation of |
|(trade unions) |Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations); the United Mine |
| |Workers and Teamsters are two unions that lobby on behalf of |
| |organised ‘labor’. Recently groups have formed to represent public|
| |employees: American Federation of State, County and Municipal |
| |Employees |
|Professional associations |American Bar Association; |
| |American Medical Association |
|Financial institutions |American Bankers Association; |
| |National Savings and Loan League |
|Public interest lobbies |The National Resource Defense Council; |
| |Union of Concerned Scientists; |
| |Common Cause |
Interest groups work to represent and promote common goals and the interests of their members. For example, the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) promotes the interests of senior citizens and at the same time offers them insurance benefits and commercial discounts. Most interest groups rely on annual membership fees and voluntary contributions for their funding.
Who are members of pressure groups?
People with higher incomes, higher levels of education and management or professional occupations are much more likely to become members. They have the money, the education and the skills to play a role. Also membership provides personal contacts and access to information that can help advance their careers. Generally the interests served are the interests of the better off.
Those in the lower socio-economic classes are represented to a greater degree by political parties. Parties can organise and mobilise large numbers of people who may have few resources.
Political parties have declined in influence in recent years, while interest groups have become much more numerous, active and influential. This does not bode well for the interests of the lower income groups.
Case study: gun control
The pro-gun lobby
The National Rifle Association’s (NRA) membership rose to 4.3 million in 2002. This organisation has been highly effective in blocking attempts to enact gun control measures in the USA. Although the NRA is supported by a minority of citizens, it is highly organised and therefore effective.
Why are they so influential?
The NRA and other gun rights groups have an enormous amount of influence in Washington. The National Rifle Association has contributed more than $14 million over the past 15 years to election candidates and political parties.
The gun-control lobby
Even though gun control measures are supported by 80% of Americans, the anti-gun group is not well organised and does not campaign intensively.
The Brady Bill was enacted requiring a waiting time for firearms purchases, and in 1994 a bill banned the sale of certain types of assault weapons. In 1997, the NRA won a partial victory when the Supreme Court struck down the requirement of background checks on gun purchasers.
The leading contributor among gun control advocates is the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, formerly known as Handgun Control, which has given $1.5 million over the past 15 years. The Brady Campaign to Prevent
Gun Violence spent under $2 million on lobbying from 1997 to 2003, and the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence spent $580,000.
Activity 7
1. Why is the pro-gun lobby more influential than the gun-control lobby?
2. List all the methods pressure groups can use, both legal and illegal.
3. Choose two or three examples of interest groups in the USA and write a report on the following statement: Some interest groups are more effective than others.
Give examples and include:
• Introduction
• Describe the methods used by each group
• Discuss the relative advantages and disadvantages of the various methods
• Conclusion
Representation in the USA
Inequalities of representation at the Federal Congress level
Table 17: US House of Representatives (435 members)
| |105th |108th |109th |
| |Congress |Congress |Congress |
| |(1996) |(2002) |(2004) |
|Hispanics |18 |25 |26 |
|African Americans |37 |39 |42 |
|Asians and Pacific Islanders |0 |5 |6 |
|Native Americans |0 |2 |1 |
|Whites |380 |364 |364 |
Table 18: US Senate (100 members)
| |107th |108th |109th |
| |Congress |Congress |Congress |
| |(2000) |(2002) |(2004) |
|Hispanics |0 |0 |2 |
|African Americans |0 |0 |1 |
|Asians and Pacific Islanders |0 |2 |2 |
|Native Americans |1 |1 |0 |
|Whites |99 |97 |95 |
Activity 8
Using the above information describe the progress of each minority group in the House and in the Senate.
Inequalities of representation at the state level
In 2001 there was a total of 9,101 Black elected officials across the United States. In 1970 the number was 1,469.
Table 19: Number of Black elected officials, 1998–2001
| |1998 |1999 |2000 |2001 |
|Male |5,944 |5,939 |5,921 |5,881 |
|Female |2,924 (33%) |2,997 (33.5%) |3,119 (34.5%) |3,220 (35.4%) |
The percentage of Black women in elected positions has increased significantly. The number increased by 101 or 3.2% since 2000. The number of male office holders decreased by 40 (0.7%). Therefore women account for the increase between 2000 and 2001.
At the state level too, the number of Black legislators has increased significantly since 1970.
Table 20: Black state legislators, 1970–2001
|1970 |1975 |1980 |1985 |1990 |1995 |2000 |2001 |
|169 |281 |323 |396 |423 |576 |598 |609 |
At the county level the number of Black elected officials has risen from 92 in 1970 to 975 in 2001.
Activity 9
1. At the level of state government what has happened to the number of Black elected officials?
2. What change took place in the number of Black male elected officials between 2000 and 2001?
3. What change took place in the number of Black female elected officials between 2000 and 2001?
4. What happens to the numbers of Black elected officials as we move down the levels of government from federal, to state, to county level?
Top five states for percentage of Black elected officials
Table 21: State representatives
| |% Blacks in |% Black |% Female |
| |voting age |elected |(of Black |
| |population |officials |total) |
|Mississippi |33.1 |28.7 |22.9 |
|Alabama |24.0 |25.7 |18.5 |
|Louisiana |29.7 |21.0 |27.3 |
|Maryland |26.4 |20.6 |37.9 |
|South Carolina |27.2 |19.4 |20.8 |
Table 22: State senators
| |% Blacks in |% Black |% Female |
| |voting age |elected |(of Black |
| |population |officials |total) |
|Louisiana |29.7 |23.1 |22.2 |
|Alabama |24.0 |22.9 |25.0 |
|Georgia |26.6 |19.6 |54.5 |
|Mississippi |33.1 |19.2 |20.0 |
|Maryland |26.4 |19.1 |33.3 |
5. Which state has the highest proportion of Black state representatives?
6. Which state has the highest proportion of Black state senators?
7. Which state has the highest proportion of Black female state representatives?
8. Which state has the highest proportion of Black female state senators?
Why are minorities under-represented?
Women
Women are often reluctant to stand for election. They do not put themselves forward as candidates. Conservative attitudes which still put women at the centre of family life as the carers for the children and home-makers prevent participation in politics. People who are already in post have a much better chance of winning re-election and most of them are men. It is difficult for new people to break into politics. The political arena is still male dominated. So although there has been significant progress, the representation of women is still well below the 51% that it should be if it is to reflect the proportion of the population that is female.
Ethnic minorities
African Americans and Hispanics
According to a Supreme Court ruling, minorities must be given the best opportunity to elect representatives from their own groups. The creation of minority–majority districts (see next page) increased the number of Black and Hispanic members of Congress. However, this has proved to be a double-edged sword.
The creation of minority–majority districts has also had the effect of reducing the number of ethnic minority candidates in Congress as the concentration of the ethnic minority population in the surrounding districts is reduced.
Asian Americans
The Asian vote is spread across the country and not particularly concentrated in certain areas. Asian candidates seek support from across the population.
What has been done to improve ethnic minority representation?
Every US state is divided into electoral districts. Each district elects a number of members to the House of Representatives in proportion to its population size. This means that, after a census, districts may need to be redrawn.
The term ‘gerrymandering’ is used when a district is redrawn to give advantage to a political party. Gerrymandering may also be used to favour particular social groups on the basis of race, ethnicity or social class.
Creating majority–minority districts
A new district may be created to increase ethnic-minority concentration in certain districts. This can give the minority a better chance of electing someone to best represent their specific interests – probably someone from their own ethnic group.
But if boundaries are redrawn in this way, what happens to the surrounding districts?
The minority concentrations in the surrounding districts are reduced. So although one ethnic-minority candidate may be elected from the gerrymandered district, it becomes less likely that candidates from that ethnic minority background will be elected from the surrounding districts.
Although court cases have ruled against these districts if the only reason for redrawing the boundaries is to favour an ethnic minority, they have been ruled acceptable when considered along with other issues.
If having a greater concentration of an ethnic minority in a district means that candidates for election are more likely to want to represent their interests in order to capture their vote, then we might be led to conclude that this will lead to more minority-friendly laws being passed in Congress.
But this does not follow if gerrymandering leads to lower concentrations of ethnic minorities in surrounding districts. So the influence of that minority group will diminish in these areas and therefore the representatives elected from the surrounding districts will be less inclined to vote along sympathetic lines in Congress.
Is one or other of the main political parties more likely to lose out from this process? Why?
Activity 10
What has been done to increase representation of ethnic minorities in US politics?
-----------------------
Texas
The West
Northeast
Midwest
White 67%
African American 12%
Hispanic 14%
Asian and Pacific Islanders 4%
American Indian/Native Islanders 1%
Others 2%
California
Florida
US population
The Continental Congress
The Continental Congress was the federal legislature of the Thirteen Colonies and later of the United States from 1774 to 1789. There were two Continental Congresses.
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