Underclass
The underclass in America is made up of mostly blacks and minorities living in the ghettoes of old industrial cities. This is due to all the minority groups that settled in the old industrial cities while most whites and upper class blacks moved away from the big cities at the end of the twentieth century. Without a middle class in the cities, the underclass suffered. They had poor schooling, unemployment, drug addiction, and a lack of hope.
stagflation
Took place in the 1970's and was the product of high inflation and high unemployment rates.
Cultural nationalism
In the 1980's new social issues came up as conservatives fought new-right activists. During this time, many Americans with different cultural backgrounds (like the Japanese, Chinese, etc.) began to seek rights like the African-Americans had in the 1960's. They often fought such things as unfair laws and segregation.
Immigration and Nationality Act
This act was signed by Johnson in 1965. It abolished the national origins system, this new act stated that no more than 20,000 people from any one country could immigrate over to America in a year.
Equal Rights Amendment
In 1923, the National Women's Party campaigned for the equal rights of women in the work place. It was never passed.
International Economy
Beginning in the 1920's and continuing to the present day, the U.S. has become a mass consumer economy with heavy machinery and automobile corporations. The "information age" developed, and technology has become and industry in itself. Communication to businessmen became much quicker and also made business transactions in different areas of the world much easier. The U.S. has become more and more involved with foreign trade as technology and communication has advanced.
Information superhighway
A phrase associated with the new computer age. It refers to the communication revolution that occurred in the 1990's that involved the Internet.
"classrooms without walls"
The idea that supports having classrooms in which students are able to use a computer to do their studies without a teacher giving a lecture but there to be more of a mediator.
biological engineering
A modern scientific question in America is about whether or not the human gene pool should be engineered and conformed with how scientists want it to be. The question may never be answered, but biological engineering is the manipulation of human genes to produce the desired outcome.
Family Leave Bill
In 1993, Congress passed this to mandate job protection for working fathers as well as mothers who needed to take time off work for family-related reasons.
Electronic Revolution
The electronic revolution was in the 1970's. The information economy brought the large use of computers to America. The silicon chip, made in 1959, is a small one quarter of an inch square that can hold incredible amounts of information. This is called a microchip, and it helped to cause the electronic revolution.
Immigration and Nationality Act
(1965) This law made it easier for entire families to migrate and established "special categories" for political refugees. This act increased the amount of immigration.
United Farm Workers
Organizing Committee Headed by Cesar Chavez, it succeeded in helping to improve working conditions. It was organized to help mainly the Chicano population.
Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986
Passed to decrease the number of illegal aliens in US; penalized employers of aliens and granted amnesty to aliens already in US
OJ Simpson Trial
This case gained world wide exposure because OJ was a star football player and was accused of murdering his wife. The main issue in this case that may have caused turmoil was the allowing cameras in the courtroom.
Comparable Worth
The principle that states the people should receive equal pay for work that is different form, but just as demanding as, other types of work. This idea has been applied to many discrimination cases including race, age, and gender discrimination.
IBM
IBM, International Business Machines, was part of the historic shift to a mass consumer economy after World War II, and symbolized another momentous transformation to the fast-paced "Information Age."
Microsoft
This computer company sent the U.S. down an information superhighway. The internet and computer discs allowed for more information to be available to anyone at the click of a button
OPEC
(the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) Through the OPEC Middle Eastern Sheiks quadrupled the price for crude oil in 1974, disrupting the balance of international trade for the U.S. This helped show the U.S. government that they could never have economic isolation.
New Immigration
The New Immigrates in the 1980's and 1990's came from Asia, Latin America and mostly from Mexico. These new immigrates came for many of the same reasons that the old immigrates came such as growth in population, and to look for jobs. They mostly settled in the Southwest. During this time nearly a million people came to America each year.
gated communities
These were suburban housing communities with gates and guards that started to gain popularity in the later half of this century
Ceser Chavez
Leader of the United Farm Workers Organizing Committee who improved working conditions for Chicano workers.
