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![else its cultural characteristics are ambiguous. Sometimes, sever
al groups with differing identities and politicalagendas share a
more or less equal balance of power. McAndrew cites the Catho
lics and Protestants in Northern Ireland as examples.
Other have proposed the terms mosaic or salad bowl—
instead of melting pot—
as more accurate descriptions of cultural diversity. While theme
lting pot model stresses assimilation, the mosaic or salad bowl
model highlights a peaceful coexistence of individuality. In the
mosaicmodel different groups do not merge into one and dilute t
heir cultures. Instead, each group is part of the whole while rem
aining unique andvibrant in its own right. This model might be
considered one of multiculturalism: the recognition of different
cultures within a society andthe practice of giving them equal i
mportance.
Multiculturalism suggests that no culture’s characteristics are of
greater value than those of any other culture. Thus, multicultur
alism holdsthat all values should have equal status to those of th
e majority, and any attempt to uphold majority values over other
s is a form of prejudice.Critics of a multiculturalist view argue t
hat it threatens national identity and destroys national pride. Bri
tish journalist Melanie Phillips(2004), for example, writes that
Britain should not be considered multicultural, because a mere 8
% of its population comprises ethnicminorities. In a multicultur
al view, “the very idea that they [ethnic minorities] should trans
mit a national identity is considered racist,imperialist, and exclu
sionary” (Phillips, 2004, para. 10).
Phillips opposes schools’ decision to downplay great works of E
nglish literature in favor of books that are “relevant” to a child’
s ownbackground. For Phillips, such a curriculum results in stud
ents being denied a chronological national story that allows the
m to make sense ofthe society they inhabit. In her view, the mot
ive behind these actions is political correctness toward minoriti
es and guilt over the BritishEmpire. She writes:
If there simply aren’t enough people who can identify with the c
ountry’s history, then it cannot be taught. And since anation is r](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/referenceskorgenk-230117120530-276a1f69/75/ReferencesKorgen-K-O-Atkinson-M-P-2019-Sociology-docx-49-2048.jpg)
![The power of the people
People as the supreme power in the country and the perpetual in
fluence of their opinions, prejudices,interests, and passions on t
he society. This was antithetical to European concepts of govern
ment, in whichcitizens did not have power against a strong centr
al government that spurned all attempts at localindependence.
The political power of thejudiciary
The right of judges to base their decisions on the Constitution a
nd to ignore the law if they believe it to beunconstitutional.
The sovereign states and afederal government
The establishment in the Constitution of two completely indepe
ndent social structures of sovereign statesand a federal governm
ent.
The unlimited power of themajority
The system by which the majority select others to represent the
m as executive leaders, in the publicbusiness of the state and fe
deral legislatures, and as judges and jurors to punish all offense
s against thelaws. Tocqueville saw the two chief weapons these
parties use to influence people as the public press andthe format
ion of associations.
Freedom and influence of thepress
The independence of the press from any control over the express
ion of opinion or the conduct of itsbusiness.
Unlimited associations
The ability of the American people to freely associate around an
y issue, passion, or concern. Tocquevillewas amazed by the fact
that Americans freely form associations and rely on themselves
to get things done.
Source: Based on Tocqueville, A. (1835). Democracy in Americ
a (Vol. 1 of 2). H. Reeve (Trans.). [E-
book #815]. Released January 21, 2006; last updated February 7
, 2013. Retrieved from http://www.gutenberg.org/files/815/815-
h.htm
In World War I U.S. president Woodrow Wilson gave prominen
ce to the idea of American exceptionalism by declaring “Americ
a had theinfinite privilege of fulfilling her destiny and saving th](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/referenceskorgenk-230117120530-276a1f69/75/ReferencesKorgen-K-O-Atkinson-M-P-2019-Sociology-docx-90-2048.jpg)
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- 1. References Korgen, K. O.,& Atkinson, M. P. (2019). Sociology in action (1st ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.. Ch 5: Migration, Globalization, and Cult… Previous section Next section 5 Migration, Globalization, and Cultural Diversity age fotostock/Superstock Learning Objectives By the end of this chapter, you should be able to: · Describe the most common issues or theses that arise within a s ociety as a result of increased diversity. · Distinguish among the characteristics of migrant workers, immi grants, and diasporas. · Evaluate factors that contribute to ongoing conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians and discuss the impact of thesefactors on diasporas from that region. · Explain the historical reasons for the creation of the African dia spora and the diverse cultural composition of that diaspora. · Synthesize the reasons for social stratification throughout the w orld and the challenges such stratification poses for the globalso cial environment and the global economy. ·
- 2. Analyze the relationshipsamong globalization, income inequalit y, and social stratification. · Compare concepts of diversity over the past 200 years and forec ast future avenues for understanding cultural diversity andindivi dual differences. · Differentiate between multiculturalism and pluralism in describi ng the cultures within a society.Ch 5 Introduction Previous section Next sectionIntroduction Diversity has become a dominant issue in the social, political, a nd legal environments of American life. The United States, how ever, is not theonly country with an influx of newcomers into its diverse society. Throughout history, people around the world h ave traveled from theirhomelands to settle in other geographic r egions. The arrival of foreign populations into an established cu lture compels both recent settlersand existing populations to exa mine long-held beliefs, values, norms, and behaviors. Although the specific issues raised by new settlers may vary, co mmon themes emerge as a society becomes more diverse. These themes caninclude: · the need to understand the meaning of human and cultural diver sity in society; · the favoring of some groups and the oppression of or discrimina tion against others; · difficulties in fully understanding and appreciating cultures diff erent from one’s own; · the ability to balance an appreciation for individuals’ difference s while retaining a common and unified culture; and · the ability to accept and blend diverse and sometimes conflictin
- 3. g norms andvalues within a nation, state, neighborhood, or fami ly. Social scientists believe that to understand how these issues pla y out within a specific culture requires first understanding a cult ure’shistorical and sociocultural context, as well as the historica l and sociocultural context of its new arrivals. Chapter 5 focuse s on these commonthemes relative to human diversity and cultur e around the world.5.1 Migration and Global Diversity The causes of migration are complex and varied, but some facto rs are consistent regardless of the era. Groups of people who mo ve from onegeographic region to another are most often compos ed of like- minded individuals with similar cultural backgrounds and goals. Migrantpopulation groups may be pilgrims seeking religious fre edom, nomadic bands traveling to territories occupied by indige nous people in searchof food, or groups that voluntarily relocate from their homeland in search of what they perceive to be a bet ter life. These population movements are sometimes involuntary and nef arious, such as when people are victims of a slave trade or a hu man- trafficking enterprise or are subjected to forced displacement fo r “ethnic cleansing.” New settlers can be refugees fleeing persec ution in war- torn regions or escapees from natural disasters whose homeland is no longer habitable. Whatever the reason, people who resettle as a groupin areas other than their country of origin generally s hare common values and are often homogeneous in ethnicity, rel igion, or other socialqualities. The Challenges of Resettlement Newcomers face many challenges in their adopted land. They m ay have difficulties in resettling and face prejudice if the native populationresents them for “intruding” into an established area. Finding housing and employment, adjusting to a new climate, an d assimilating into anunfamiliar culture with a possibly unknow
- 4. n language areall potential challenges, as is the emotional toll s ettlers may face from the loss oftheir homeland, their homes and possessions, and oftentimes, their relatives and friends. Likewise, the receiving societies must deal with difficulties pre sented by the newcomers’ arrival. The disruption of the prevaili ng culture andthe introduction of people with differing tradition s, lifestyles, and values can cause resentment, conflict, and incr eased competition forhousing and jobs, and it can often strain th e society’s resources. In fact, the University of Oxford found that introducing newcom ers into a culture usually transforms a society. The field of anth ropology nowrecognizes the mobility of people as a key dimensi on that shapes societies; it is a complex process that affects the sending, transiting, andreceiving geographic regions (University of Oxford, 2007). Population relocations increase cultural diver sity, which has a multitude of social,economic, and political im plications for individuals, countries, and the world. The followi ng sections touch on some of these implications. Who Is a Migrant? Social scientists and scholars use the term migration to describe the movement of human populations from one region or territor y toanother; they use the term migrant to mean a person who res ides in a country or region other than where he or she was born. Migratinggroups, or populations, are divided into four overlappi ng categories: 1. Migrant workers: people who live in a region temporarily, who have nomadic cultures, or who travel back and forth betweengeo graphic regions to work 2. Immigrants: people who migrate to a different region to live the re permanently 3. Diasporas: displaced people with a common culture who have b een either voluntarily or forcibly dispersed from their originalh
- 5. omeland to otherregions 4. Refugees: people who have been displaced due to natural disast ers, political strife, persecution, or war. Identifying the number of migrants, migrant workers, refugees, and immigrants worldwide can be difficult because countries us e their owncriteria to gather data and report it to the United Nati ons, and no uniformity exists in their definitions of these terms. Basic criteria used toidentify international migrants include citi zenship, residence, time or duration of stay, purpose of stay, an d place of birth. However, there is noconsensus about the minim um period of presence or absence from a country that should be used to consider someone a temporary orpermanent resident. Int ernational efforts to achieve greater homogeneity in the criteria and to establish definitions underlying internationalmigration st atistics began as early as the 1920s, but only limited progress ha s been made to date (United Nations, 2002). The use of the term diaspora is also disputed in the literature as scholars examine whether the movement of people constitutes a set ofrefugees or if it has resulted in a diaspora. The term itself, however, has a clear meaning and usage among scientists and s cholars and is ofgreat importance in studying cultural diversity. This chapter will later examine this group of migrants in greater detail. Migration Statistics Historically, few areas of the world have been unaffected by mi gration— either through the gain or the loss of people. Some migrations h avebeen legal; others have been illegal border crossings or the r esult of slavery or human trafficking. Societal upheaval as a result of migration is global, and in the 2 1st century, migration is increasing. During the period from 200 0 to 2010,global migration doubled compared to the previous de cade. However, in the aftermath of the global economic crisis of 2008, migration hasslowed somewhat. As of October 2013 more
- 6. than 232 millionpeople around the world were living as migran ts— about 3.2% of the globalpopulation (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development– United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 201 3). Approximately half of all international migrants reside in 10 co untries, as Table 5.1 shows. These groups have had a significant impact ontheir destination countries.Table 5.1: Countries with t he largest number of international migrants (2013) Country Number of migrants United States 45.8 million (20% of total international migrants) Russian Federation 11 million Germany 9.8 million Saudi Arabia 9.1 million United Arab Emirates 7.8 million United Kingdom 7.8 million France 7.5 million Canada 7.3 million Spain 6.5 million Australia 6.5 million Total in the above 10 countries 119.1 million (51.3% of total international migrants) Source: Compiled from data provided by Organisation for Econ omic Co-operation and Development–
- 7. United Nations Departmentof Economic and Social Affairs, 201 3.5.2 Diasporas Diasporas differ in significant ways from other migrating group s. Unlike immigrants and refugees, who gradually assimilate int o the dominantculture, individuals who are part of a diaspora ret ain a strong connection to their homeland. They generally consi der their presence in landsother than their homeland to be transi tory and cherish the idea of returning home someday. Thus, me mbers of a diaspora strive to retaintheir native institutions, relig ion, values, social norms, and narratives. The key factor that dis tinguishes diasporas from other migrations is theretention of a memory from a distinct homeland, the retention of its culture, a nd a commitment to preserving a collective identity. Key Criteria Political scientist William Safran (2005) developed the followin g list of seven key criteria to define a group as a diaspora: 1. The group of people or their ancestors have been dispersed from a specific original location to two or more foreign regions. 2. The group retains a collective memory, vision, or myth about its homeland— its physical location, history, achievements, and sufferings. 3. Group members often have uneasy relationships with the domin ant culture in the new land. They believe they are not fully acce ptedand feel partly alienated and insulated. 4. Group members regard their ancestral homeland as their true ho me and the place to which they or their descendants should even tuallyreturn. 5. Group members continue to relate to their homeland and define themselves in terms of their relationship to it. Many members m aintainongoing relationships with the homeland through cultural
- 8. exchanges, investments, andremittances (sending money to fa mily membersat home). 6. The group wishes to survive as a distinct community by maintai ning and transmitting the cultural and religious heritage of its a ncestralhome. 7. The cultural, religious, economic, or political relationships the group has with its homeland are reflected in a significant way w ithin itscommunities and its institutions. Another factor that contributes to the formation and maintenanc e of a diaspora is continued immigration from the same geograp hic area. AsChapter 2 discussed, after a few generations in a ne w country, most immigrant groups, including refugees, usually become assimilated intothe new culture. Historically, such was t he case with various European groups who immigrated to the Un ited States. Precipitating events suchas a potato famine in Irelan d in 1845, failed revolutions in Germany in 1848, and overpopul ation and land shortages in Slovakia at the end ofthe 1800s resul ted in significant migrations to the United States within a relati vely short period. And because the Irish refugees felt the stingof prejudice in their new home, many scholars described the migra tion as an Irish diaspora. However, these groups are now enculturated into American soci ety. In modern times, on Saint Patrick’s Day, the city of Chicag o turns its rivergreen, and Boston holds a parade in celebration of the richness of the Irish populations. The distinction between a refugee and migrantdiaspora relates to the discussion in Chap ter 2 about assimilation, acculturation, and identity. When immi gration from a geographic regioncontinues over extended period s, diasporas are likely to form, as newcomers perpetuate and rei nvigorate the heritage, culture, and languageof earlier immigran ts. Members of a diaspora often feel as though they must choose be tween nationalism and citizenship in determining their identity, and thesetwo issues are intimately connected to the culture to w
- 9. hich one migrates.For example, official news of the mass exter mination of EuropeanJews during World War II reached the Am erican press in November 1942. Like others around the world, A merican Jews were horrified, andmany feared for the lives of fri ends and family in Europe. On the whole, however, the America n Jewish community did not pressure theAmerican Allies to com e to the aid of European Jews, fearing that to do so might appea r to compromise their loyalty to America. Someresearchers have attributed this inaction to the fact that, in the United States, nat ions are perceived as political and civic entities rather thancultu ral communities, as they are considered in eastern Europe and in the Middle East (LeVine & Shafir, 2012). One of the more challenging aspects of diaspora maintenance ha s been retaining language, memory, and religion as necessary el ements of thecollective identity. In most cases the home langua ge disappears from use under pressure from the dominant langua ge. Thus, homelandtraditions and cultural reproduction continue in the language of the host country, although the original langu age may endure in religiousinstitutions such as the Greek Ortho dox Church, the Armenian Apostolic churches, and Roman Cath olic churches of ethnic immigrantcommunities. Diasporas have had a significant impact on the political, social, and economic landscape of countries around the world, and kno wledge oftheir characteristics is essential to understanding cultu ral diversity. Three of the world’s largest diasporas are those in volving people ofJewish, Palestinian, and African heritage. The Jewish Diaspora The Jewish diaspora has historically been the prototype for the s cientific study of diasporas around the world. The Jewish peopl e, or the 10tribes of Israel, have been in perpetual migration thr oughout history. Biblical narratives and historians chronicle my riad stories of the exile ofJewish tribes and of their lives as refu gees. Modern theorists generally agree that the 10 tribes merged into three distinct groups during theMiddle Ages. By far the lar gest group comprises the Ashkenazi Jews, who immigrated to ce
- 10. ntral and latereastern Europe. The Sephardi Jewssettled in the I berian Peninsula and established communities throughout Spain, Portugal, and later North Africa; the Mizrahi Jews, who aredes cended from Muslim- majority communities in the Middle East, constitute the third gr oup. The displaced Ashkenazi populations grewrapidly from the 16th to the 19th centuries, with the largest diaspora population in the Polish– Lithuanian Commonwealth and the RussianEmpire. This chapter will focus largely on the modern- day diaspora and its experience in the 20th and 21st centuries. Dispersion and Diversity in the Jewish Diaspora Toward the end of the 19th century, there was a large number of Jewish people living throughout Europe, and anti- Semitism was on the rise.In the 1930s and early 1940s Nazi lead er Adolf Hitler leveraged people’s prejudice, stating that annihil ation of the Jews would better theeconomy in Europe and more i mportantly, relieve Germany of its economic depression. During what was later referred to as World War II, theJewish people w ere forced to leave their families and homes throughout Europe; some were held captive and others slain at the hands ofpolitical strife. Though more than 6 million Jews were exterminated, tho se who were able to escape became part of a new diaspora. Long after World War II had ended, anti- Semitism remained. As the Jewish people settled into their new homes, many countries accepted thepopulations, but others plac ed them in ghettos. Displaced Jews were faced with local laws t hat prohibited the open practice of Judaism. Somillions of Jews left their newfound homelands in Europe, Africa, and the former Soviet Union in search of freedom elsewhere.Figure 5.1: The 1 947 UN partition plan forPalestine Jewish settlements during the British mandate aroused Arabrese ntment and led to frequent strife. The 1947 UN partitionplan so ught to resolve this conflict.
- 11. Source: U.S. CentralIntelligence Agency. Anti- Semitism experienced by Jews in Europe underpinned the forma tion of theZionist political movement, which had several aims: t o reclaim what it considered tobe its homeland, to revive and m odernize the Hebrew language, to uphold Jewishidentity, and to oppose the assimilation of Jews into other societies. The region inwestern Asia between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, known since the5th century BCE as Palestine— part of the Ottoman territories at the time— has atumultuous history. This is the same land that the Jewish p eople consider to be theirhomeland. The region itself has been u nder the control of many different groups,including Canaanites, Assyrians, Hebrews, Persians, Romans, the British, Sunni Arabs ,modern Palestinians, and many other groups. Still, the Palestini an people had lived inthe land for centuries and shared an Arabi c heritage, cultural and political traditions,and language. Following the mass execution of Jewish people during World W ar II, the UN GeneralAssembly adopted a resolution that recom mended partitioning the land into an Arabstate and a Jewish stat e and creating a Special International Regime for the City ofJer usalem— an area sacred to Jews, Muslims, and Christians. Figure 5.1 sho ws the1947 UN partition plan. The Jewish leadership accepted the UN proposal, whereas the A rab leadershiprejected it. On May 14, 1948, the State of Israel w as established, and within 24 hoursa coalition of Arab nations at tacked the new state in what became known as the 1948Arab– Israeli War. By the end of the war, the State of Israel held more land than the UNplan had designated for it. Jordan occupied the West Bank, which Israel later annexed— an act recognized only by Britain and Pakistan. Egypt occupied and administeredthe Gaza Strip, and Jerusalem became a divide d city: Israelis held the western,Jewish- inhabited portion of the city, and Jordanians held the eastern po rtion,including the religiously significant Old City. Israel unilat
- 12. erally proclaimed WestJerusalemits capital in 1950, a move stil l unrecognized today by most of theinternational community (Gl obalSecurity.org, 2014). Described in further detail laterin this chapter, the Palestinian diaspora had begun. The conflict spilled into other nations: Major disputes between I srael and Egypterupted several times from 1956 to the 1970s ov er the Sinai Peninsula, a triangularpiece of land bordered by the Suez Canal and Egypt to the west, the MediterraneanSea to the north, and the Red Sea to the south. The Israel– Egypt Peace Treaty of 1979was signed in Washington, D.C., but outraged many Palestinians. The treaty resultedin the suspensio n of Egypt from the Arab League and the assassination of Egypt ianpresident Anwar Sadat in 1981. Despite various efforts by th e world community tohelp broker a lasting peace between the Pa lestinians and the Israelis, disputesbetween the two groups persi st to the present day. With the creation of the State of Israel in 1948, dispersed Jews t hroughout the worldbegan migrating to the newly established Je wish homeland. Figure 5.2 shows thepaths of immigration from various areas of Europe to Israel between 1946 and 1951.Figure 5.2: The European Jewish diaspora, 1946–1951 In the 6 years following World War II, almost 388,000 Jews mig rated to the new State of Israel from areas inEurope. A significa nt number of Jews also fled Europe for North and South Americ a and Australia. Source: Proudfoot, M. J. (1956). European refugees, 1939– 52: A study in forced population movement. Evanston, IL: Nort hwesternUniversity Press. The population of Israel swelled from just 806,000 people in 19 67 to an estimated 6.9 million people by 2005. Jews entered Isra el fromEurope, North Africa, and Arab countries, but the bigges t wave of Jewish migration to Israel over the past 20 years has b een from the formerSoviet Union. Approximately 900,000 Sovie t Jews have settled in Israel, and many also fled the former Sovi
- 13. et Union andimmigrated to theUnited States, Europe, and Austr alia. Still, Moscow continues to have a thriving Jewish populati on. Today Jews are dispersed in countries around the world. The lar gest Jewish populations are currently in the State of Israel and i n the UnitedStates, with smaller groups in France, Canada, the United Kingdom, and other countries (see Table 5.2).Table 5.2: Top 10 areas of largest Jewish population Rank Country Population % of Jewry 1 State of Israel 5,901,100 42.9 2 United States 5,425,000 39.5 3 France 480,000 3.5 4 Canada 375,000 2.7 5 United Kingdom 291,000 2.1 6 Russia 194,000 1.4
- 14. 7 Argentina 181,800 1.3 8 Germany 119,000 0.9 9 Australia 112,000 0.8 10 Brazil 95,300 0.7 Source: Sergio DellaPergola.“World Jewish Population, 2012.” The American Jewish Year Book (2012). Dordrecht: Springer, p p. 212–283. This widespread dispersion can help clarify the complex relatio nship among territory, culture, and identity and the diaspora’s d iversity. AsChapter 2 discussed, culture is shaped by a region’s geography and history. Culture also encompasses political views and political power, legalconsiderations, economic issues, relig ious beliefs, social values, and educational institutions. The inte gration of these factors contributes to aperson’s sense of identit y. Who Is Jewish? One consequence of the dispersion of Jews to other areas of the world as members of the diaspora, and the differences in nation ality,ethnicity, and culture among them, is the difficulty of iden tifying who is a Jew. Judaism is a religion, an ethnicity, and a c ulture. People who areborn of Jewish parents (or grandparents) and who do not follow the religion are still considered Jewish b y many Jews. People who are notborn of Jewish parents or gran
- 15. dparents but whofollow the religion are often not considered Je ws among the Jewish people. Courtesy Armitage Photography Judaism may mean something different toindividual members of the Jewish community,and some members may place stronger e mphasison religion. Certain sects of Judaism consider someone who is born of a Jew ish mother a Jew; however,the Reform movement recognizes the children of both Jewish mothers and fathers. Israel’sLaw of Ret urn, on the other hand, allows anyone who has, or whose spouse has, at least oneJewish grandparent to claim Israeli citizenship. Some Jews also consider someone whoconverts to Judaism in a ccord with the Halacha, Jewish religious law, a Jew. This defini tionangers many other Jews because they do not believe that so meone can convert to thereligion (“Who Is a Jew?,” 2014). Judaism means different things to different Jewish people. Some emphasize nationhood orculture, whereas others focus on religi on. Still others believe that people are Jewish if they“feel Jewis h,” if they identify with Jewish history and culture and a legacy of persecution, orif they share cultural traditions or certain taste s in food. For early Zionists, religiousobservance and a common Yiddish language set the Jews apart (Stern, 1998). The Jewish diaspora has a diverse makeup of people from all ov er the globe. As with otherdiasporas, the Jewish people brought customs, practices, and foods with them from theirregion of orig in. For example, American Jews (largely Ashkenazi) are known to eat bagelswith lox or chicken soup, but these are not tradition al Jewish meals for the Sephardicpopulations (living primarily i n modern Europe, Israel, Africa, and other parts of theAmericas ), who might be found eating tzimmis (root vegetables in a swee t sauce) or roastedred peppers, olive oil, and garlic. The Pew Research Center recently surveyed American Jews, wh o account for almost half theglobal total. The survey found that intermarriage between Jews and non- Jews hasskyrocketed and now predominates among the young. Is
- 16. rael does nothave a civil marriage,and rabbis will not marry a J ew and a gentile. So, many rabbis worry about the effect ofthese intermarriages on the Jewish community, both within and outsi de of Israel (“Who Is aJew?,” 2014). Others question whether Je ws who have become assimilated into Americanculture can be c onsidered Jewish at all. The struggle over the answer will shape Israel, theJewish diaspora, and Jewish culture in the future. The Palestinian Diaspora Before World War II the Arab population in the area that is now Israel was around 800,000. After the Arab– Israeli War of 1948, thePalestinian people lost more than 70% o f the Ottoman territory they were allocated during the partition plan by British mandate. More than500 Palestinian villages wer e destroyed, and almost three quarters of a million refugees wer e dispersed throughout the world (LeVine &Shafir, 2012). The mass exodus of Palestinians from Israel and surrounding Mi ddle Eastern territories after the wars resulted in a large Palesti niandiaspora. It also contributed to the collapse of a Palestinian society (Shapira, 2012). Approximately 3.97 million Palestinian refugeesregistered for assistance with the UN Relief and Works Agency, and another 1.54 million Palestinian refugees were dis placed but did notregister for assistance. The remaining Arab po pulation in the area shrank to about 160,000 people (Kruger, 20 05). At the same time, approximately 600,000 Middle Eastern and N orth African Jews immigrated to Israel, greatly diminishing the overallpercentage of Palestinian Arabs in the new Jewish state ( LeVine & Shafir, 2012). The Arabs in the State of Israel became increasinglymarginalized. For example, until 1966 they lived u nder military law, despite having Israeli citizenship; however, t hose who served in theIsraeli armed services received greater be nefits and privileges of citizenship, a fact that drove a wedge be tween them and their formerPalestinian neighbors (LeVine & Sh afir, 2012). In 1964 the leaders of seven Arab countries held a summit in Ca
- 17. iro, Egypt, topromote closer ties among the countries. At this m eeting, thePalestine Liberation Organization was founded, with i ts primary goals the dissolution of Israel— mainly through the use of armed force— andthe creation of an independent state of Palestine. ANWAR AMRO/AFP/Getty Images More than a million Palestinian refugees are dispersed across th egulf region, Arab states, and the United States. Pictured here is aPalestinian refugee camp in Lebanon’s capital, Beirut. The Palestinian diaspora grew after the Six- Day War in June 1967, whenIsrael captured the West Bank, east ern Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip andbegan building Israeli sett lements in the newly occupied land. Almost amillion additional Palestinian people fled their homes, and many of theserefugees still treasure the keys to properties they and their families onceo wned (Kruger, 2005). Today 22% of all registered Palestinian refugees live in the Gaz a Strip, a 32- mile strip of land on the Mediterranean Sea that borders Egypt o n thesouthwest and Israel on the east and north. Approximately 1.8 millionPalestinians reside in refugee camps or towns in the West Bank, alandlocked territory near the Mediterranean Sea th at includes EastJerusalem and borders Israel to the west, north, and south and Jordan andthe Dead Sea to the east. Jordan, Leba non, and Syria house an estimated 1.1million Palestinians, and t housands of Palestinians went to other Arabstates. Many played a crucial role in building modern Kuwait, where theyare widely represented in banking, as technical workers in the oil industry, and as educators. However, the Palestinian population in the gul f regiondeclined drastically when they were expelled from Kuw ait following thePersian Gulf War in 1991. The exact number of Palestinian refugees and displaced persons today is not known, but estimates are between 6 million and 7 m illion. SomePalestinian Israelis who live along Israel’s borders with Egypt, Lebanon, and Syria have full Israeli citizenship, wh
- 18. ereas Palestinians livinginthe West Bank and Gaza do not. Thos e in East Jerusalem are residents but not citizens. Court cases su rrounding status and citizenshipfrequently arise with marriage a nd movement between these communities (Kruger, 2005). Little information is available on Palestinian populations in the Americas or in Europe. In some countries census data reports do not indicatenationality or religion. For example, Arabs are repo rted as White or Caucasian in the U.S. Census (Global Exchange , 2011). Additionally, fear ofbeing considered a terrorist leads many Palestinians to disguise their nationality or ethnic heritage by using an American nickname ratherthan their given name. The dispersion of Palestinian people around the world has result ed in a broad range of characteristics and values among member s of thePalestinian diaspora. Though many Palestinians are Musl im, unlike the Jews they are not necessarily united by a religion but rather by havinglived in a geographic region. Elite Palestini ans, based largely in the Persian Gulf countries and Jordan, are very different economically andsocially from the poor inhabitan ts of those in refugee camps in neighboring states. However, reg ardless of where they have settled,Palestinians have attempted t o preserve and rebuild their identity while not relinquishing thei r desire to return— or, for those who remainedin Palestine, their steadfastness to pr eserve their culture. The African Diaspora The African diaspora is one of the largest of all population disp ersions in history. The term is used to describe not only the disl ocation andresettlement of people to the United States, South A merica, the Middle East, and the Caribbean as part of the slave t rade, but also themigration of people from African territories, o ver centuries, for various other reasons. Departures from Africa began early in recorded history, and wa ves of emigrants from the continent followed from that time on ward. Thehistory of the African diaspora is one of multiple desti nations from multiple points of origin on the African continent,
- 19. and diaspora membersoftenidentify with the specific country or even the specific town from which they emigrated (Butler, 201 0). Today there are more than 47 countries representing the African nations with a broad range of religious traditions, social traditi ons, andvalue systems. Because of this and other complexities, s cholars have resisted defining a single African past. Instead, the y have studied Africanidentity in terms of the emigrants’ specifi c areas of origin and destinations and the degree to which transp lanted peoples retained or lostAfrican cultures. The extensive pe riod of migration over several centuries and the complex dispers ion of African peoples have created veryseparate identities for African communities around the world. Thus, most scholars beli eve that the African diaspora should be studied as alayered, dive rse, yet overlapping and integral group, not merely a monolithic Black community (Butler, 2010). There is no doubt that slave trade from Africa and the institutio n of slavery in countries around the globe was one of the largest contributorsto the diaspora. In a 2004 report, UNESCO describ ed it as one of the darkest chapters in the history of the world. History and Impact of the African Diaspora To some degree, Africans have always migrated to other areas o f the world. DNA studies in recent years have allowed scientists to trace themigration of the entire human race to Africa some 8 0,000 years ago (Oppenheimer, 2011). Between the 7th and 19th centuries, Arabs droveAfricans across the Sahara Desert, and th is trans- Saharan slave trade relocated approximately 12 million people t o areas around theMediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean. In a ddition, as early as 1440 the Portuguese transported slaves from Africa to lands they explored inthe Americas (UNESCO, 2004). From the 16th to 19th centuries, an estimated 15 million to 18 m illion captive slaves were transported via trade routes across the AtlanticOcean from Africa by the Dutch, English, Spanish, and French. These slaves were deported from their homelands, prim
- 20. arily western andcentralAfrica, to Europe, the Americas, Asia, and the Middle East. More than half of the slaves were put to w ork on sugarcane plantations inthe Caribbean and in Brazil. This slave trade also profoundly shaped U.S. history in general and t he history of the U.S. South in particular. Thisperiod marked th e global dispersion and widespread creation of the African diasp ora (UNESCO, 2004). At the Berlin Conference of 1884– 1885, European countries agreed on rules for laying claim to Af rican territories. The subsequentcolonization and partitioning of the African continent was accomplished primarily through the Europeans’ gaining allies and proxies withAfrican societies and co- opting local kings and chiefs to advance their goals (Talton, 201 1). Figure 5.3 illustrates the map of Africa as it lookedaround 1 913.Figure 5.3: African colonies and protectorates, 1913 After World War II, movements for independence resulted in al most complete decolonization in Africa by 1980,with only the C anary Islands and three other islands remaining under European control today. Decolonization of Africa began after World War II, with movem ents for independence and the withdrawal of European administr ations.Critics of the decolonization movement believe that it tur ned once peaceful territories into violent and corrupt areas. Am ong those critics isMoeletsi Mbeki, brother of the second postap artheid president of South Africa (1999– 2008). Addressing a meeting of the South AfricanInstitute of Int ernational Affairs in 2004, Mbeki accused African elites of steal ing money and keeping it abroad while the average Africanbeca me poorer. That same year, a UN report showed that Africa was the only continent where poverty had increased during the prece ding 20years (British Broadcasting Corporation, 2004). African Brain Drain In the 1960s and 1970s, the volume and patterns of migrations c
- 21. hanged greatly aseducated Africans or those seeking education emigrated,generally to urban centers in the United States and Eu rope. Many West African migrants went to Italy, Germany, Spai n, and the United States.Many Egyptians settled in the Persian Gulf, and some Nigerian traders relocated to China (Olaniyan & Sweet, 2010). A number of Africanstudents chose to attend Am erican universities because they were offered substantial scholar ships (Kandé, 2011). This emigration of educated Africans has created a significant b rain drain of professionals and skilled workers from the African continent(Wiseman & Wolhuter, 2013). A 1998 study showed t hat approximately 7,000 college- educated Kenyans and 120 Ghanaian doctors emigratedto the Un ited States. Sethi (2000) reported that between 600 and 700 Gha naian physicians were practicing in the United States, a number equal to about half of the country’s total doctors. Ethiopia also faces a major health care crisis. Up to 80% of its p hysicians leave the country annually. In 2008 Ethiopia’s Ministr y of Healthdeclared emergency medicine to be a top priority. M ore Ethiopian doctors work in the United States than in Ethiopia , and approximately onethird to one half of all graduating doctor s in South Africa move to the United States, the United Kingdo m, and Canada. Faced with an ongoingexodus of trained staff an d no qualified emergency medicine practitioners or teachers, Et hiopia reached out to form a partnership withCanada to meet thi s critical need (O’Neill, 2014). Other Factors Affecting Diversity in the African Diaspora Rebecca Vassie/Associated Press Approximately 2 million displaced individuals from Darfur esca pedto neighboring countries. The 20th century also saw migrations of Africans due to famine s, diseasessuch as HIV/AIDS, and social unrest and genocide in areas such as Darfur, aregion in western Sudan that was home to about 6 million people fromnearly 100 different tribes. In a stru
- 22. ggle for politicalcontrol of the area bySudanese military and Ar ab militias, more than 400 villages throughoutDarfur were destr oyed and more than 400,000 people murdered (UnitedHuman Ri ghts Council, 2014). The United Nations accused progovernmen tmilitias of systematically killing non- Arab Darfur villagers, and anestimated 2.7 million people were forced to flee their homes. Many movedinto neighboring Chad a nd remain in displaced persons camps to thepresent day (British Broadcasting Corporation, 2013). The global dispersion of Africans throughout history from differ ent parts ofthe continent to various destinations created diverse cultural identities inthe diaspora. Unique cultures and ethnicitie s were formed through theinfluences of European culture and th e indigenous cultural and socialconditions of the destination cou ntry on the homeland culture of theAfricans themselves. For exa mple, African presence in Mexico during the16th and 17th centu ries resulted in both Spanish and Indian influences onAfrican M exicans. Linguistic borders also separate branches of the African diaspor a. These have created political units and small branches, such as the remnantsof the Dutch West India Company, which left a leg acy of Dutch- speaking populations in Suriname, Curaçao, Saint Martin, and o ther areas ofSouth America and the Caribbean. Twentieth- century migrations, however, occurred at a time when travel and communications were greatly facilitated. Immigrants couldther efore remain connected to their relatives in the African homelan d, collectively rally against atrocities committed against African peoples,and solicit support for humanitarian aid. These factors contributed to creating a pan- African consciousness and the strengthening of theAfrican diasp ora in modern times (Olaniyan & Sweet, 2010). Present-Day Africa and the African Diaspora Lack of educational opportunities as well as civil war, famine, t
- 23. he HIV/AIDS pandemic,and other diseases— most recently the Ebola virus— have all contributed to growth of the African diaspora to the pre sent day (Kandé, 2011). More than 30 million international migrants from African countr ies, including from North Africa and sub- Saharan Africa, compose themodern African diaspora. This num ber is significantly larger when second- and third- generation migrants are included. Outside of the African continent, the countries or areas of the w orld with the largest African diaspora populations today are Bra zil, the UnitedStates, Canada, western Europe, the Caribbean/W est Indies, and Papua New Guinea (World Bank, 2013). Many in the diaspora sendremittances to family in Africa, which are a li feline to the poor who remain there. Migrant remittances to Afri ca exceeded US$40 billion in2010 (Plaza & Ratha, 2011). In 1998 scholar Colin Palmer noted that a comprehensive definit ion of the term African diaspora had not been developed and pro posed thefollowing definition. Note that Palmer’s definition reje cts what some scholars consider to be an essential element of a diaspora: a desire toreturn to the homeland. The modern African diaspora, at its core, consists of the million s of peoples of African descent living in varioussocieties who ar e united by a past based significantly but not exclusively upon “ racial” oppression and the strugglesagainst it; and who, despite the cultural variations and political and other divisions among t hem, share an emotionalbond with one another and with their an cestral continent; and who also, regardless of their location, fac e broadlysimilar problems in constructing and realizing themsel ves. This definition rejects any notion of a sustained desire toe migrate to Africa by those of its peoples who currently live outs ide of that continent’s boundaries. (as cited in Butler,2010, p. 3 0) Much of the scholarship prior to Palmer’s definition tended to d efine the African diaspora as the study of Black populations, wh ich blurredthe academic distinctions between studies of the dias
- 24. pora and “Blackstudies” in general. The definition Palmer prop osed gives a broaderperspective to the components of the Africa n diaspora (Butler, 2010). Diasporas and Cultural Diversity Some population migrations happen naturally because people ar e curious to explore other regions of the world. Sometimes peop le migrate tolearn about new cultures or to help communities in need. With refugees and in diasporas, however, questions about whether to assimilateinto a new culture become complex. As thi s chapter has discussed, many groups are forced to leave their h omeland. For many of these people,the desire to assimilate to a new culture is overshadowed by the strong sense of identificatio n with a culture left behind. The decision tomaintain traditions i s fraught with memories of oppression and segregation mixed w ith joy and contentment. Though this section hasexplored the thr ee largest of the global diasporas, certainly other important dias pora populations live and work throughout the world. As thecha pter considers the topic of multiplexity and human diversity, re member that many of the populations today are in differing stag es ofassimilation, and they may hold on to traditions, customs, a nd culture for a variety of reasons. Involuntary migrations cause refugees and many members of dia sporas to come to their new host country with minimal materialp ossessions, few financial resources, and often, no job opportunit ies. These conditions contribute greatly to issues of globalizatio n andincome inequality, which the chapter discusses next.5.3 Gl obalization and Income Inequality As people migrate among nations, these populations affect the e conomy of the host regions. The economic structure of a society influenceshow people spend and value resources (including mo ney) in their new land. When people move from lands where tra ding or bartering ofcommodities is the norm to gold- or other currency- based economies, the interactions between people change. The s ame is true when peoplemove, for example, from Communist or
- 25. Socialist economies tocapitalist communities. This dispersion o f people throughout the world createseconomic challenges as nat ions engage with one another in the efficient and effective trans fer of goods and services. Globalization refers to the concept that— regardless of ethnic diversity or the retention of cultural differe nces— the world is developing anincreasingly singular economy. This global economy primarily results from advancing technology an d communications, free trade, free flow ofcapital, and the use of foreign labor markets. Globalization has both positive and negative consequences for i ndividuals and for countries as a whole. Among the advantages, increasingtrade between nations often results in expanding econ omic freedom. In turn, free trade and globalization increase com petition, productivity,and economic growth rates. The competiti on to produce goods and services more efficiently often requires economies to adapt and becomemore entrepreneurial and innov ative. Globalization, too, has its downsides. Competition also increase s social and economic inequalities, since not everyone benefits equally from adynamic market. Competition produces “winners” and “losers” in the economic arena. Globalization of labor mar kets may not be the onlycause of increasingly unequal income, b ut it has certainly exacerbated it. With globalization, tradable g oods and services are imported toadvanced capitalist societies fr om less advanced societies, where labor costs are lower. As the production of manufactured goods isoutsourced to countries wit h lower wages, the wages of the relatively unskilled and uneduc ated in advanced capitalist societies declinefurther. The term social stratification describes the division of members of a society into various groups or classes, based on social or ec onomiccriteria, and the disparities between those at different so cial and economic levels in a society. Historical Perspective on Social Stratification
- 26. Prior to thegrowth of capitalism and market- oriented societies, feudal social structures were the norm. In feu dal structures relationshipsderived from the holding of land in e xchange for service or labor. An individual’s social and econom ic position was governed by traditionalcommunal, political, and religious structures. The social class to which a person belonged as well as the individual’s political position andaccompanying economic benefits were determined by birthright or by whim of the ruling party. This type of social structure determined the choices and destinie s of individuals and their families. Change was kept to a minim um, impedingpeople’s progress in the society while also protecti ng them from many of life’s challenges. Feudal societies were g enerally self- sufficient,producing what they consumed and consuming what t hey produced, whether food, clothing, or baskets. If those in po wer consumed morethan they produced, they bartered with other s for desired goods and services. In the 16th century the feudal system began to break down, as la nd was increasingly concentrated in the hands of fewer landlord s. Capitalism,a free- enterprise system, began to take hold around the world as an ec onomic structure operated for profit and based on capitalaccumu lation, competitive markets, and wage labor. Historians attribute the development of capitalism in Europe between the 16th and 18thcenturies to three primary factors: 1. the disruption of feudal societies starting with the Black Death pandemic in the 14th century; 2. migration, increased global trade, and exposure to the agricultur al and manufactured products of other societies; and 3. economic growth stimulated by the Industrial Revolution. The advent of capitalism expanded what was originally a Europ ean economy into a global economy with different regions. Som e of theseregions, primarily empires in Europe, became colonize
- 27. rs; other regions,such as lands on the continent of Africa, were exploited for labor(Prak, 2000). As capitalism and trade between nations grew, slavery began to be abolished and globalization began to occur. Individuals obtai ned morecontrol over and responsibility for their own lives and their ability to change their social, political, and economic posit ions— both to progressand to regress. Fortune, hard work, personal con nections, and other factors became important determiners of a p erson’s position in the newsocietal stratification. One of the outgrowths of this move from feudalism toward capit alism was a shift in the source of insecurity for human populatio ns. Whereasunder the feudal system everyone was dependent on nature for prosperity, under capitalism people became subject to the whim andfluctuations of the economy and individual choice s. The ability to move from one income and social class to anoth er was now possible, butdifferences in income among members of the culture could be more devastating to a person’s ability to survive and prosper. Income Inequality and Income Mobility One of the most controversial topics in economics and sociolog y, about which people have been fighting for centuries, is incom e inequality.Relatively little has been written about a related top ic, income mobility. However, both terms are important to under stand when we discussincome distribution among members of a society. Austrian economic historian Joseph Schumpeter likened income distribution to a hotel in which some rooms are luxurious, those in themiddle are ordinary, and those in the basement are small and shabby. When the rooms are all occupied on a given night, t he occupants of thehotel experience inequality in their accommo dations. Income equality is a similar concept where people occu py different positions relative toone another on an income distri bution scale. Income mobility, on the other hand, refers to the a ssurance that the luxurious rooms will notalways be occupied by
- 28. the same individualsand that those in the shabby rooms will ha ve the opportunity to move to better ones. Thus, the frequency with which people move between rooms (or between income categories) is income mobility— and it is an importantmeasure of fairness and equity. Some belie ve it is the defining characteristic of a democratic economy (U. S. Department of the Treasury,2007). However, people have the mobility to move from a luxurious room to a shabby one as well (Fields, 2004). In fact, according to William McBride (2014) of Washington, D. C.’s Tax Foundation, income mobility is exactly what has been happening since1987 in the United States. In 1987 Forbes listed the 400 wealthiest individuals in the United States. Of those ind ividuals, 327 have dropped offthe list since 1987. The remainin g 73 people are generally self- made entrepreneurs and investors— not heirs of their fortunes. The role ofinheritance has diminishe d dramatically over the past generation, and the share of the For bes 400 who grew up wealthy has fallen from 60%in 1982 to 32 % today. The statistics McBride (2014) reports sharply contrast with a co ntroversial best- selling book, Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the Twenty- FirstCentury, first published in France in 2013 and translated in to English in April 2014. Piketty studied 20 countries around th e world to discoverwho owns what and who earns what today. H e concluded that income inequality is not an accident, but rather a feature of capitalism that canonly be reversed through govern ment intervention. The book depicts the wealthy as heirs with pr ivileged access to high rates of return.Piketty contends that it is almost inevitable that inherited wealth will accumulate more rap idly than money earned from a lifetime of labor.The Forbes list, however, suggests that Piketty’s findings do not describe wealt h in the United States. Income mobility as a result ofentreprene urial and investment successes is very prevalent in this country. The findings of a 2007 U.S. Department of the Treasury reportp
- 29. rovide some interestingsupporting statistics: · More than half of taxpayers moved to a different income quintil e from 1996 to 2005. · Roughly half of taxpayers who began in the bottom income quin tile moved to a higher income group by 2005. · The degree of mobility among income groups was unchanged fr om the prior decade (1987 to 1996). · Among those with the very highest incomes in 1996, the top 1/1 00 of 1%, only 25% remained in this group in 2005. Moreover, t hemedian real income of these taxpayers declined over this peri od. The fact of income mobility notwithstanding, some troubling tre nds in income inequality have been taking shape around the wor ld, which thefollowing section will discuss. Factors That Affect Income Inequality and Immobility Studies have documented the long- term trend of increasing income inequality in capitalist countrie s among those at higher and lower societaleconomic levels, and many theories have been advanced as to its causes. Historian Jer ry Z. Muller (2013) believes that it is an inevitableproduct of de mocratic capitalism and market operations. Some economists cit e as explanation other factors, such as higher level skills andedu cation among those in upper income brackets as well as a shorta ge in the overall supply of highly educated workers. Increasingl yglobalized labor markets and the outsourcing of products and s ervices, often to foreign countries, is also thought to contribute to incomeinequality, along with a decline in unionization and in creased immigration and competition for jobs (U.S. Department of the Treasury, 2007). In some areas of the world, formal or informal barriers block ce rtain sectors of the population, such as women, minorities, and t
- 30. he poor, fromadvancing.However, in many Western countries, t hose barriers have gradually been lowered or removed, so that e qual opportunity is morewidely available now than ever before. Valerijs Kostreckis/iStock/Thinkstock Income inequality is still an issue in many of the world’s nation s.Sweden is one of the countries that have seen a rise in inequal ityduring the past 25 years. Income inequality around the world continues to rise despite inc reasedopportunity in many nations. In 2011 the Organisation for Economic Co- operation and Development conducted a study of household inco me in 30of its member countries. The study found that in the pa st 25 years, the rateof inequality had risen in 18 countries, staye d roughly constant in 7, andfallen in only 5. The biggest growth in inequality took place in countrieswhere it had historically be en low: Finland, the Czech Republic, andSweden. The decline in inequality happened in poorer countries where ithad been high, such as Chile and Greece (Julius, 2012). The 2011 study also compared the rise in household incomes of the 10poorest countries with those of the richest. Surprisingly, t he poor did notget poorer, except in Japan. However, the rich ga ined wealth faster than thepoor did in nearly all countries, inclu ding Scandinavia, where incomes aregenerally more equal and h igh taxes fund generous social benefits (Julius,2012). An even more striking trend from the study revealed how the to p 1% ofhouseholds have pulled away from the rest. Those house holds’ share oftotal income rose in all 19 countries where data was available. In theUnited States this group accounted for near ly 18% of national income;however, it also paid 40% of the cou ntry’s income tax revenues. In Britain the richest 1% accounted for 14.3% of national income and paid24% of the country’s pers onal income tax revenues. Poverty Rates The Global Monitoring Report 2014/2015: Ending Poverty and
- 31. Sharing Prosperity, ajoint publication of the World Bank Group and theInternational Monetary Fund (2015), recently examined poverty and ways to improve the lives of the world’s poor. The report cites economicgrowth as paramount. Beyond growth, the report examines the extent to which all members of a society sh are in the benefits of that growth.In April 2014 the World Bank Group adopted two goals: (a) to end extreme poverty by 2030 an d (b) to promote shared prosperity for thepoorest 40% of the po pulation in developing countries. The results over the past decade appear encouraging. Globally, extreme poverty declined from 1.25 billion people (18.6% of the world’spopulation) in 2008 to 1.0 billion (14.5%) in 2011. Add itionally, in 58 of 86 countries for which the report had adequat e data, the incomes ofthe poorest 40% of populations grew faste r than for the population as a whole between 2006 and 2011. In 13 additional countries, income orconsumption of the poorest 40 % grew by more than 7% annually for the same period. In 18 co untries, however, incomes actually declinedamong the poorest 4 0% of the population. The Global Monitoring Report 2014/2015 also notes that gaps in living standards between wealthier households and low- income households,as measured by access to education and heal th services, have narrowed over the decade from 2001 to 2011. However, living standards of low- income households still remain below that of 60% of wealthy ho useholds. Share of Prosperity Although poverty rates are relatively easy to track, the ability o f all segments of a society to share in prosperity is much more d ifficult tomeasure. Shared prosperity is a relative concept. For e xample, the average household in the bottom 40% of the income distribution in theUnited States would be among the richest 10 % in Brazil. Similarly, the average household in the bottom 40% in Brazil would fall into aboutthe 90th percentile of income in I ndia.
- 32. Recent trends inshared prosperity have been positive but vary c onsiderably across countries. Thus, cross- country comparisons are difficultto make. Still, the report notes that income distribution has deteriorated in the vast majority of high- income countries around the world,including the United States. In other words, the gap between the richest 10% of the populati on and the poorest 10% of the populationwidened in most high- income countries between 1976 and 2007, primarily due to a gro wing concentration of income among top- incomeearners. Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom also have widening income gaps. Interestingly, the wi dening income gapwas found even among traditionally egalitari an societies such as Denmark, Germany, and Sweden. Thus, bei ng near the bottom or near thetop income category is more cons equential today than it has been in the past.Addressing Global P overty Many organizations work to end worldwide poverty, such as the World Bank and the Global Poverty Project, which aims to end extreme poverty by 2030. Using the following sites, design a str ategic approach you would take to end world poverty. http://www.globalpovertyproject.com http://www.worldbank.org http://www.pewresearch.org http://www.bls.gov/home.htm Critical Thinking Questions 1. How does economics impact individuals, cultures, and societies ? Do you think there should be efforts to tighten the gap betwee nrich and poor? Are you comfortable with income disparities? P lease explain with a strategy. 2. What actions must be taken for your strategy to be successful? 3. What countries, groups, leaders, or individuals would need to su
- 33. pport your strategy?What happens if they do not? Can thestrate gy work without everyone’s buy-in? 4. How could you work around those who do not wish to cooperate ? The Effects of Globalization Research suggests that two separate dynamics—job- skill requirements and technology— are driving the growing worldwide incomeinequality— and both point to globalization rather than national policies as t he cause. Recent studies show that if workers in rich countriesar e unskilled, or have skills that are in ample supply but that can be obtained more cheaply somewhere else, globalization depress es theseworkers’ incomes (Julius, 2012). In high- income countries the most important driver of widening income inequality has been technological progress. Such progress benef itshigher skilled workers more. Thus, workers with skills in info rmation and communications technology or financial services ha ve enjoyedsignificant income gains, while lower skill individual s have fallen behind. As a consequence, the earning gap betwee n high- and low- skilledworkers has widened significantly. In some countries, inc luding the United States, labor demands have been for higher sk illed workers. Yetthe supply of such individuals has not kept pa ce with rising demand, as the growth in higher education attain ment has slowed (World Bank &International Monetary Fund, 2 015). The United States has witnessed this dynamic play out in the ma nufacturing sector, as jobs have been relocated and wages depre ssed bycompetition from poorer countries. From a consumer sta ndpoint, this situation represents an advantage: Buyers face low er prices andworkers in poorer countries enjoy jobs that they ot herwise would not have. At a disadvantage, on the other hand, a re the original, higher paidemployees in the richer countries wh
- 34. o may losetheir jobs. Technology has also influenced the globalization trend. The Inte rnet has allowed many information-processing and technical- support jobs tobe outsourced to countries like India, where a gro wing supply of educated workers are available to employ at a lo wer cost. Among people at the top of the income distribution, globalizatio n works in the opposite manner. One report explains the effect t his way: Quality rather than cost drives demand for top performers. Cost is easy to measure; in many fields, quality is not.Purchasers mu st rely on reputation and track record. This often creates a wide gap between best and second- best. Afootball manager knows that the rewards for winning a ti tle are many times greater than for being runner- up, sowants to recruit the best players regardless of cost. . . . Su ch behavior is akin to an arms race where competing sidesincrea se salaries towards an equilibrium that is higher than it need be, but hard to escape. (Julius, 2012, para. 9) With globalization, the search for talent in areas that require sp ecialized education or skills can be extensive. It is true that lang uage andculture limit the market for some countries to obtain tal ent. German and Japanese companies, for example, generally re cruit from within theirown countries. However, the widespread use of English means that the United States and many other cou ntries can search worldwide forskilled workforces. Culture, Politics, and Religion In some areas of the world, cultural, political, and religious stru ctures continue to impede some members of a society from chan ging theirsocial or economic status. Lack of access to education for girls and women, for example, hinders the improvement of t heir economic position.In other areas of the globe, military conf licts or an unstable political environment make survival, safety, and security—not income generation— the primary concerns of the population.
- 35. In the UnitedStates geography and regional culture may also pl ay a role. Research shows that some parts of the United States, particularly theSoutheast, have persistently lower income- level mobility over time than, for example, the Mountain West ( Tankersley, 2014). Thus, the gapwidens between the top and the bottom income strata. Human Capital and Education Many economists and historians believe that income disparity to day derives less from unequal access to opportunity than it does fromunequal ability to exploit the opportunity. This inequality stems from differences in inherent human potential, education, a nd the ways inwhich families and communities enable and enco urage that human potential to flourish. Brink Lindsey (2013b), a senior scholar at theKauffman Foundation and senior fellow at the Cato Institute, believes that the poor are trapped in a vicious cycle in which their lack of human capital— commercially valuable knowledge and skills— leads to family breakdown, unemployment, and poverty. Wherea s one culturemay look to education as a means for people to assi milate and succeed, other cultures may not understand education as an option. Lindsey (2013b) argues that that economic expansion is creating an increasingly complex world in which a minority with the rig ht knowledgeand skills—the right human capital— reaps the majority of the economic rewards. The rise of social c omplexity, in his view, has causedpopulations to develop cognit ive capabilities. The successful, Lindsey explains, are making e ver- greater investments in education, personaldevelopment, and oth er ways of increasing human capital. In addition, work in general has shifted from jobs that were dee ply dependent on manual labor to those more heavily reliant on intellectualskills. Beginning in the 1990s the share of total empl oyment rose for the highest and lowest skill jobs while declinin g for middle skillpositions, as computers took over many of thes
- 36. e mid- level jobs.Lower skilled jobs have also declined as a share of t otal employment. Lindsey(2013b) cites this growing complexity in today’s economy as the reason for income inequity. Our com plex postindustrial world, he argues,makes ever- greater demands on us to use critical thinking and to continually upgrade our skills and knowledge to keep pace withtechnologic al advances. In Lindsey’s view, economic growth today means a more intrica te and more highly specialized division of labor, and success in terms ofsocioeconomic status in that environment is directly rel ated to a person’s ability to handle the demands of a complex, c ontemporary society.Successful individuals, he suggests, have t he means to invest in education and expand cognitive skills, lea ding to still higher levels of skill andeconomic achievement. To invest in education, though, people must know how to obtain the means to make the investment. And, althoughsome cultures hav e historically had open pathways to education, the system has n ot always been open for all. Historically, education and a family’s emphasis on it have facto red greatly into economic success. In the 19th century education in the Westwas a means of maintaining social distance between the classes and sexes. The spread of industrial capitalism made it more difficult to recruitsufficient numbers of skilled and educ ated workers from within the ranks of the privileged. Particularl y after World War II, education becamenot only an investment i n economic growth but also a means of promoting social justice (Brown & Lauder, 2001). Labor quality and skill levels benefited from increases in the nu mber of people seeking higher education in the 20th century. Re cently,however, gains in educational attainment have slowed an d, in some areas, moved into reverse. The high school graduatio n rate is actuallylower today than it was in the early 1970s, and the college graduation rate since 1980 has risen more slowly tha n in prior decades. In fact,labor quality growth is projected to d ecline further because fewer people are acquiring degrees than p
- 37. reviously (Lindsey, 2013a). Moneyalso matters, but it is often less significant than these lar gely nonmonetary factors. The prevalence of books in a househo ld is a betterpredictor of higher test scores than family income, and over time, family endowments and market rewards tend to c onverge. As the gapbetween high-income and low- income families has increased, the educational and employment achievement gaps between the children ofthese families has incr eased even more (Muller, 2013). The result is a polarized American culture and socioeconomic cl ass divisions defined along the lines of educational achievement . Muller(2013) believes that this cultural polarization is most ob vious in the divergent trends in family structure. As the elite up per third or socontinue to take advantage of growing opportuniti es, most American children are raised in an environment that is less favorable fordeveloping human capital than that in which th eir parents were raised. The Importance of Family Economists and social scientists find again and again that the re sources transmitted by the family tend to be highly determinativ e of successin school and in the workplace. Economist Friedrich Hayek pointed out half a century ago that the main impediment to true equality ofopportunity is that there is no substitute for in telligent parents or for an emotionally nurturing family (as cited in Muller, 2013). Hereditary endowments come in a variety of forms: genetics, pr enatal and postnatal nurture, and the cultural orientations conve yed withinthe family. A 2003 study by economists Pedro Carnei ro and James Heckman found that socioeconomic differences in cognitive andnoncognitive abilities appear early in life and wide n over the life cycle of the child (as cited in Webbink, Vujic, K oning, & Martin, 2012). In the United States among the most striking developments affe cting household- income disparity in recent decades has been the stratificationof
- 38. marriage patterns. Whendivorce laws were loosened in the 1960 s, divorce rates rose among all economic classes. But by the 198 0s divorceamong the more educated members of the populace w as in decline, but rates among the less educated continued to ris e. In addition, thebetter educated and more well-to- do were more likely to wed, whereas the less educated were less likely to do so. Over the past 50 years, American society has seen a dramatic ris e in single- parent families (Lindsey, 2013b). Children born to single mothe rshave soared from 10% of the total number of children in 1969 to 41% in 2008. The share of children living with two married p arents hasfallen from 77% in 1980 to 65% in 2011. These statist ics reveal huge disparities along the lines of education and race. As of 2011, 87% of children who have a parent with a bachelor’ s or higher degree were living with two married parents. The co rrespondingfigures for high school graduates and high school dr opouts were 53% and 47%, respectively. Divorce rates are also t raditionally lower forcollege- educated couples than for the rest of the population. Parenting s tyles also differ among different classes. College- educated parents aremore likely to foster and assess their childr en’s talents, opinions, and skills and schedule them for activitie s. These represent efforts tostimulate their development and cult ivate their cognitive and social skills. When race is considered, 29% of White, non- Hispanic children were born to single mothers in 2008, compare d to 53% of Hispanic childrenand 72% of Black children. And i n 2011, 75% of White, non- Hispanic children were living with two married parents, wherea s among Hispanicchildren the figure was 60% and among Black children, only 33%. This conflict between economics and culture, Lindsey fears, pos es a serious threat that widening disparities will prompt a politi cal backlashagainst the economic structure and social system an d lead to policy changes that undermine future economic growth
- 39. and limit furthersocialprogress. The answer, in his view, is to create public policies that encourage healthy cultural change. A s this text has discussed, however, andLindsay reiterates, cultur e is passed on from one generation to another and is difficult to alter. Income Inequality in the United States In September 2014 the U.S. Census Bureau released a report tha t presents data on income and poverty in the United States. This report wasbased on information collected in the 2014 and earlie r Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Suppl ements conducted by theU.S. Census Bureau. The report indicat es real median household income (adjusted for inflation) increas ed for Hispanic households,households maintained by a noncitiz en, and households maintained by a householder aged 15 to 24 o r aged 65 and older (DaNavas-Walt &Proctor, 2014). Additionally, the report shows that 2013 poverty rates decreased for Hispanics, males and females, children under age 18, the fo reign- born,people outside metropolitan statistical areas, all families, a nd married- couple families. As the text has discussed previously, however,c ontroversy persists about the best approach to measuring income and poverty (DaNavas-Walt & Proctor, 2014). Despite the widening income gap the chapter earlier discussed, i n examining the United States specifically, social conditions su ggest thatmobility has remained fairly steady. Though social mo vements in the United States have provided better career opport unities for women andminorities, one factor has stayed constant: Those growing up poor today appear to have the same odds of s taying poor in adulthood that theirgrandparents did. While some people believe that it is harder to climb out of poverty than it w as 50 years ago, one study reports that mobilityfrom one level o f economic stratification to another is virtually unchanged from 50 years ago. In other words, children growing up in theUnited States today are no more and no less likely to climb into higher
- 40. economic levels thanchildren born more than a half century ago (ascited in Tankersley, 2014). The study also suggests that any advances in opportunity provid ed by expanded social programs have been offset by other chang es ineconomic conditions. Increased trade and advanced technol ogy, for instance, have closed off traditional sources of middle- income jobs.Additionally, the gap between the top and the botto m economic categories is greater today— and growing. The chapter has looked at some ofthe issues relate d to income equality around the world; what perpetuates this ga p between the rich and the poor? Consequences of Income Stratification Income stratification around the world has been the impetus for labor uprisings, violent demonstrations, and protest movements such asOccupy Wall Street in 2011 in New York City. These act ions are popular responses to income and wealth inequities and t he perceived greed,corruption, and undue influence of corporati ons such as financial institutions on government policies. Recent political debate in the United States and many European democracies has centered on three primary issues surrounding e conomicstratification: the increasing disparity between high- and low- income levels in a society, the equity or fairness of such inequal ities, and thedegree of government intervention needed to resolv e these issues. Muller (2013) acknowledges the increasingly unequal income in the postindustrial capitalist world, but he argues that the appro aches of boththe political left and the political right in the Unite d States are misguided. The left focuses on increased governme nt taxing and spending athome and abroad in an attempt to rever se the growing social stratification; the right focuses on decreas ed taxing and spending to ensureeconomic dynamism and the gr owth of the market economy. The view of those on the right, acc ording to Muller, is akin to the belief that arising tide will raise all boats—
- 41. that a dynamiceconomy will benefit all the nation’s residents. Muller (2013) argues that the challenge is to merge the left and right viewpoints— to maintain the economic dynamism that increasesbenefits for al l while at the same time paying for the social welfare programs that make citizens’ lives bearable under increasing inequality.Fa ilure to address this income gap disparity, in Muller’s view, is d angerous for everyone in a society, not just the poor. History ha s shown thatif the issue of income inequality is left unaddressed , rising inequality and economic insecurity will erode social ord er and generate a populistbacklash against the capitalist system at large. Thus, Muller and Lindsey agree that escalating social u nrest in the United States is a realdanger if government does not take steps to resolve the country’s stratification issues. Although a great deal of attention has been placed on the conseq uences of income stratification on those at the lowest levels, risi ng inequalityhas consequences as well for those in the middle cl ass and for the affluent. As late as the 1980s, companies offered employees defined- benefitpension plans, with the risks involved assumed by the co mpanies themselves. However, as the U.S. economy grew more competitive,corporate profits became more uncertain and pensio n accounting requirements became more complex. Companies at tempted to shift the riskby moving pension funds into the hands of professional money managers at Wall Street investment bank s, which were expected to generatesignificant profits. As a cons equence, American employees’ retirement incomes no longer de pended on the profits of their employers but onthe returns of the invested pension funds. Traditional investment banks transformed themselves into publi cly traded corporations. They began to invest not just their own funds butother people’s money and tied the bonuses of their part ners and employees to annual profits. The outcome was a highly competitive financialsystem. Employees were paid according to their ability to outperform their peers, and fund managers soug ht to maximize short-
- 42. term returnsand toboost immediate profits at the expense of lon ger term investments. When financial markets experienced down turns in the 1990s, thisstrategy had dire consequences for the pe nsions of many Americans. Solving Income Inequality Economists’ projections for the future of the global economy ar e generally pessimistic. Some economists argue that the worldw ide slowdownin economic growth and median income gains over the past few decades is the new normal. Others such as Lindsey (2013a) believe thatinnovation or other strategies and factors c ould come to the rescue. Lindsey, though, finds no evidence that major growth throughtechnological innovation is currently und erway. samer chand/iStock/Thinkstock Some argue that continued innovation in the fields of science an dtechnology could help encourage economic innovation and wou ldbenefit everyone. Americans may have to prepare for a future in which children w ill not be aswell off as their parents. Lindsey points out that cur rent public policies inthe United States contain multiple barriers to entrepreneurship,competition, and growth; policies also restr ict new entries into entrenchedmarkets and levy taxes that blunt incentive to innovate and take risks.Perhaps in the future some of these barriers may be lifted to stimulateeconomic growth. Lindsey also observes that the rise of online social networks has introduced collaborative enterprises where no money changes ha nds—such as Wikipedia and open- source software. He touts this phenomenon aspromising new eco nomic avenues that are unrelated to the possession oflarge amou nts of capital. Whether the global economy does well or continues to stagnate, thepresent problem of income inequality remains unresolved; ef fectivelyaddressing it has proved to be a difficult challenge arou nd the world.French president François Hollande has proposed a
- 43. s a solutionraising taxrates above 50% on those with higher inc omes. Economist DeAnne Juliuswarns that such measures only l ead to substantial declines in tax revenueas the wealthy simply move money into tax shelters. However, most taxloopholes that benefit the rich are the consequence of different tax rates on inc ome from different sources. Julius (2012) argues that a flat tax — a single tax rate for individual income, corporate income, and c apital gains—would close the biggest loopholes. Some suggest doing more to increase opportunities for those at l ower levels of income. Expanding welfare benefits for poorer ho useholds hasbeen shown to lessen inequality, but increasing wel fare is expensive and reduces social mobility by creating a disin centive to work (Julius,2012). Another proposed solution in man y U.S. states is raising the minimum wage. Other efforts to impr ove the lot of the less fortunate thathave been proposed include increasing social- welfare programs, such as unemployment insurance and food sta mps, and requiring businessesto hire certain percentages of min ority and other disadvantaged workers. Redistribution of income from the wealthy to those who are eco nomically disadvantaged has also been suggested. In a capitalist society,however, redistribution of income through taxation poli cies has been argued to impede the drivers of economic growth, leaving the forcesthat created the inequality unchanged. The sol ution to income equality remains elusive. In Muller’s (2013) view, political leaders must find ways to shie ld members of the society from the consequences of poverty whi le preservingthe dynamism that produces capitalism’s economic and cultural benefits. He argues that only the creation of the mo dern welfare state in themiddle of the 20th century enabled capi talism and democracy to coexist. Nonetheless, Muller contends t hat attempting to create equalopportunity for everyone to partici pate in economic activity is not a viable solution. Such a course might only increase stratification— becausesome individuals and communities are not able to benefi
- 44. t as muchas others or to exploit those opportunities. A U.S. Department of the Treasury (2007) report confirms Mull er’s assessment. Using the analogy of an escalator, the report cit es the extentto which all income rises over time with an expandi ng economy. (Some researchers use the analogy of people in a s ociety moving up or downan economic ladder; this analogy is fl awed because it implies that all progress is the result of individ ual effort.) According to the TreasuryDepartment, incomes can i ncrease over time with the growth of the overall economy. The direction of the escalator determines a certainamount of upward or downward mobility. No matter which step individuals are on, they will move up or down based on the movement of theescala tor itself. If, however, the escalator is moving up, a person can move ahead faster by walking up the steps. The issues of income stratification and inequality and the soluti ons to these issues are complex and not easily solved. The large r implicationsfor U.S. society and the appropriate course of acti on remain obscure. Should the country increase social programs to provide a lifeline forsome segments of the population, or do t hese social programs create a disincentive for people to work, d ampening economic growth as aresult? The answer may not be a zero-sum one, but a middle- way solution is perhaps one approach. For example, government programs suchas Social Security, unemployment insurance, foo d stamps, Medicare, and Medicaid are arguably essential to supp ort those who cannot benefitfrom economic gains. Even so, thes e programs may need restructuring. Other social programs, such as Pell Grants and Head Start, that havefailed to promote upwar d mobility could be discontinued. The impact of global economic stratification has natural conseq uences for equality. People hold a variety of beliefs about succe ss and what itmeans. As the chapter has discussed, access to eco nomic success is greatly improved through education. The acces s key to education differsfrom nation to nation; for some countri es it is monetary, and in other places it might be test scores. Ed ucation and economic freedom may runparallel, but obtaining ac
- 45. cess to educationis another matter, one that depends very much on where and how a person lives. No rule bookexists that descri bes how to manage economically in a new culture, and economi c and social stratification correlate. People who migrateacross n ations may take several generations to adjust to the economic an d social rules of the new nation. 5.4 Evolution in the Field of Diversity Studies At this point in this text’s study of the “ecology of diversity,” m ultiplexity, culture, and individual differences, two primary but contrastingconcepts of people and their behavior have emerged. One concept emphasizes the biological or genetic contributions to human behavior,individual psychology, and the effects of the physical environment and geography on societies and individual s. The other concept focuses onpeople in context— social constructs and information, the cultural milieu, and the in fluence of social, economic, and political factors onindividual a nd group identity and behavior. Perspectives on human diversity within societies and among the scholars who have studied them have evolved considerably over the past 100years as knowledge and understanding of the huma n species and societal dynamics continue to expand. So, too, ha ve the ways in whichsocieties have dealt with diversity. At certain times in American history, immigrants were invited t o come to this country. The sonnet “The New Colossus,” written by poet EmmaLazarus (2006) and displayed in the museum at t he base of the Statue of Liberty, reads, “Give me your tired, you r poor, your huddled massesyearning to breathe free” (p. 184). L azarus’s words exemplify this invitation. Assimilation, which th e text discussed earlier, was also often aconscious strategy. Whe n immigrants arrived, it was commonly expected that they woul d leave their differences behind as quickly as possibleto “fit in. ” At other times in the history of this country, exclusion, or closi ng the door to various groups— whether for reasons of race, skin color orfeatures (Blacks, Asian s during World War II, Muslims after 9/11, etc.), religion, or se
- 46. xual orientation— was, forsome, an acceptable Americanpractice. The evolution o f diversity perspectives in this country is summarized as follows . Late 19th- and Early 20th- Century Inferiority Concept of Diversity As the evolution of thought concerning human nature, nurture, i ndividual differences, and culture changed over time, concepts of diversitychanged as well. As Chapter 3 discussed, in the late 19th and early 20th century, the dominant image of diversity am ong scholars in the fieldsof anthropology, psychology, sociolog y, linguistics, and other disciplines was based on anatomical dif ferences and deviance from the norm— and deviance meant inferiority. Physical differences were often viewed as determinants of mental differences. Mental measurem ents,particularly the assessment of intelligence and the connecti ons between intelligence, race, ethnicity, and gender, consumed much of theattention of psychologists and sociologists in the 20t h century. Mid-20th-Century Deficit Model of Diversity Not until the latter half of the 20th century did environmental fa ctors replace innate inferiority and genetic explanations as theor iesexplaining any underlying deficits among people. The social turmoil of the 1960s and 1970s and the progress of the civil righ ts and women’smovements at that time highlighted social inequa lities. The era’s legal challenges to hiring practices resulted in c hanges in public policy thatpromoted more inclusion (Trickett, Watts, & Birman, 1994). Certain people’s inability to move ahe ad despite more opportunities to do so wasoften attributed to ec onomic factors, family dynamics, early childhood education, cul tural values or norms, and other aspects of the socialenvironmen t. In the mid- 20th century, studies of these contextual issues began to determi ne how such deficits might be addressed to increasediversity. The deficit model is a social- behavioral model that emerged and focused on the poor and the
- 47. disenfranchised. This modelbecomecontroversial because for m any people, it contained an implicit assumption that minority in dividuals lacked the ability to live a successful life.As a result o f people believing in the model, however, there was an increasin g focus on social, political, or economic factors such asoppressi on, prejudice, and societal inequities. Although some still belie ved that the reason for inequity was genetic inferiority, the stud iesoverwhelmingly uncovered environmental factors leading to s ocietal deficit. In the deficit model, the culture itself might be deficient— perhaps it does not emphasize the necessary values for success. This ethnocentricview, for example, might compare an immigra nt population to the larger population of European or Puritan set tlers and judge the immigrantgroup as permissive and failing to instill a strong work ethic in its members. Historically, many ex amples of population differences in IQ werecited as evidence of one population’s inherent superiority over another— failing to consider that context, theory, or measurement mightac count for statistical differences (Trickett et al., 1994). The normative standard of evaluation during the mid- 20th century, however, remained the same as in earlier years, pa rticularly in Europeand the United States— that of the dominant culture. The deficit model focused attentio n on the needs of disenfranchised and underservedpeople and in fluenced social and political policy to mobilize resources to hel p them. This era also initiated dialogue about the implications o foppression on Blacks and other people of color, women, the ga y and lesbian communities, the poor, and other disenfranchised groups. Late 20th-Century Affirmations of Cultural Identity In their book Human Diversity: Perspectives on People in Conte xt, Trickett, Watts, and Birman (1994) proposed two major area s of focus theybelieve transformed the study of diversity from t he late 1970s to the end of the 20th century. The first was an em phasis on the implications ofoppression and how sociopolitical i nstitutions and public policy had perpetuated discrimination aga
- 48. inst specific groups. Thesecond major focus was the antithesis of the deficit perspec tive of diversity— an emphasis on the positive aspects of cultural and groupidentit y. For example, Trickett, Watts, and Birman (1994) cite the Bla ck- consciousness movement, with its slogan “Black Is Beautiful,” a s theimpetus for scholars to study the experience of specific gro ups on their own terms rather than in contrast to the dominant c ulture. These“affirmative diversity” studies focused on the soci ocultural contexts of different groups and the varied opportuniti es and constraintsoperating within them. Contemporary Views of Human Diversity Thus far, the text has discussed the prevailing view of cultural d iversity for more than 100 years as containing an implicit assum ption thatcountries or nations have a dominant culture that exert s its economic, linguistic, and sociocultural power. Others who have migrated into theculture are generally minorities in the soc iety, and cultural challenges or clashes occur as the minority po pulations attempt to assimilate intothe dominant culture. This model of cultural change around the world, particularly in t he United States, has been described for decades as a “melting p ot” in whichthe dominant culture and ongoing waves of differen t immigrant groups strive to meld their disparate characteristics and assimilate to form anintegrated society. The chapter also ex amined diasporas, as exceptions to this rule, whose members ch allenge the assumption about meldingcultures and instead strive to retain all or some aspects of their original culture. Multiculturalism as a Model Some contemporary researchers have argued for the need to ado pt new models for talking about the merging of different cultura l or ethnicgroups. In Fragile Majorities and Education: Belgium, Catalonia, Northern Ireland, and Quebec, Marie McAndrew (20 12) suggests that clearethnic dominance is seldom found in the r eal world. In fact, in many societies, the identification of a dom inant culture or a single majoritygroup is nearly impossible, or
- 49. else its culturalcharacteristics are ambiguous. Sometimes, sever al groups with differing identities and politicalagendas share a more or less equal balance of power. McAndrew cites the Catho lics and Protestants in Northern Ireland as examples. Other have proposed the terms mosaic or salad bowl— instead of melting pot— as more accurate descriptions of cultural diversity. While theme lting pot model stresses assimilation, the mosaic or salad bowl model highlights a peaceful coexistence of individuality. In the mosaicmodel different groups do not merge into one and dilute t heir cultures. Instead, each group is part of the whole while rem aining unique andvibrant in its own right. This model might be considered one of multiculturalism: the recognition of different cultures within a society andthe practice of giving them equal i mportance. Multiculturalism suggests that no culture’s characteristics are of greater value than those of any other culture. Thus, multicultur alism holdsthat all values should have equal status to those of th e majority, and any attempt to uphold majority values over other s is a form of prejudice.Critics of a multiculturalist view argue t hat it threatens national identity and destroys national pride. Bri tish journalist Melanie Phillips(2004), for example, writes that Britain should not be considered multicultural, because a mere 8 % of its population comprises ethnicminorities. In a multicultur al view, “the very idea that they [ethnic minorities] should trans mit a national identity is considered racist,imperialist, and exclu sionary” (Phillips, 2004, para. 10). Phillips opposes schools’ decision to downplay great works of E nglish literature in favor of books that are “relevant” to a child’ s ownbackground. For Phillips, such a curriculum results in stud ents being denied a chronological national story that allows the m to make sense ofthe society they inhabit. In her view, the mot ive behind these actions is political correctness toward minoriti es and guilt over the BritishEmpire. She writes: If there simply aren’t enough people who can identify with the c ountry’s history, then it cannot be taught. And since anation is r
- 50. ooted in history,its identity then unravels. It becomes no longer even a question of being ashamed of ourcountry’s past. There i s no longer any sense that there’s a “we” to have a past at all. (P hillips, 2004, para. 15) One of the most significant contemporary shifts in the view of h uman diversity, however, happened during the 1980s with a foc us on“celebrating diversity” or “valuing diversity,” or “the cele bration of the fundamental value of human diversity in society, with the belief thatenhancing diversity increases rather than dim inishes quality” (Jones, as cited in Trickett et al., 1994, p. 15). This focus on the positiveaffirmation of human diversity is abou t positivity as opposed to (a version of) the deficit model where individuals have to be compensated (insome fashion) for past in equities— hence the advent of programs such as Affirmative Action. Multicultural studies are defined differently than multicultural a pproaches to education. The first examines multiple cultures an d looks forparallels to discuss the virtue of them being brought t ogether to increase the diversity of world perspectives and appr oaches to culturalconflict; the latter discusses how to teach to di fferent audiences and whether taking different approaches to ea ch cultural difference helpsstudents learn better. These perspect ives on what is multiculturalism are, in part, the challenges with the deficit model— on the one hand, ittalks about righting past wrongs (in which ca se it is not the fault of the depressed group); on the other, it ask s how to teach students whohave different “deficits” or “lack of ” things, such as access to computers, inconsistent nutrition, thr eatening neighborhoods, overstimulationof technology, or even t he cultural difference. Recognizing the multiplicity of different cultures within human society is self- evident in a world comprising at least 600 languages, 500ethnoc ultural groups, and innumerable religions spread across nearly 2 00 recognized sovereign states. Diversity is an inescapable featu re ofhuman society. Almost every society must come to terms w
- 51. ith the diversitythat occurs with cycles of migration and the ch allenges of socialand political integration that occur within thes e cycles. The European Union’s current struggles with this issue are refle cted in the upsurge in international terrorism during the past dec ade and theglobal financial crises of recent years. European cou ntries adopt different approaches and policy priorities with resp ect to the integration ofmigrants. The governments of some imm igration hosts, such as France, Netherlands, and Denmark, view assimilation as the way forward.Still, in 2004 both the Dutch an d the Danes unveiled stringent new policies in an attempt to ste m unprecedented new waves of immigration. The United Kingdom, on the other hand, has been oriented towa rd multiculturalism. This view is shifting: Prime Minister David Camerondeclared in 2011 that multiculturalism had failed in th at country, as did Chancellor Angela Merkel in Germany. As a r esult of thesedeclarations, nations in southern Europe, such as G reece, Italy, and Spain, are reluctant to open up their borders to immigrants, concernedabout the impact of migration on their lab or markets and social cohesion (Triandafyllidou, Modood, & Me er, 2011). For Europe, the problemof multiculturalism in turbule nt times remains largely unresolved. A view that stands in contrast to that of multiculturalism is that of pluralism, which the next section explores. Pluralism as a Model An alternative approach to diversity in society, one that differs from multiculturalism, is pluralism, a term used extensively in t he literaturetoday. The terms diversity, multiculturalism, and pl uralism are often used synonymously. However, in the opinion o f Diana L. Eck (2006),director of the Harvard Pluralism Project and others, pluralism is not diversity alone, but “the energetic e ngagement with diversity” (para 2). Pluralism might be defined as the condition within a society in which numerous diverse ethnic, religious, social, or cultural gro ups areaccepted and maintain their special interests. What differ entiates pluralism from the mere existence of diversity or multic
- 52. ulturalism is notjustacceptance of difference, but “the active se eking of understanding across lines of difference” (Eck, 2006, p ara. 3) and the belief thatdiversity or multiculturalism is desirab le and socially beneficial. Pluralism is not a given; it requires active engagement and ongo ing work and commitment. It must be achieved through dialogue , give andtake, criticism, and self- criticism. In Eck’s (2006) words, “Dialogue does not mean ever yone at the ‘table’ will agree with one another.Pluralism involv es the commitment to being at the table— with one’s commitments” (para. 5). In a follow- up article written in 2013, Eck elaborated on the concept of plur alism and the view that without real encounters and relationship samong diverse people, tensions among different groups will exi st and grow. As an example, she cites the fact that on the same s treet in SilverSpring, Maryland, are found a Vietnamese Catholi c church, a Cambodian Buddhist temple, a Ukrainian Orthodox church, a Muslim communitycenter, a Hispanic First Church of God, and a Hindu temple. The street is certainly an example of diversity; however, without any engagementor relationship amo ng the members of each of these religious institutions, pluralism does not exist. Pluralism is one possible response to thisdiversi ty. Other responses are for worshippers to feel threatened by or harbor animosity or hostility toward those outside their chosenr eligion. The pluralist, meanwhile, invites people to come as they are and be themselves, with all their differences and particularities, ple dged only tothe common civic demands of American citizenship and willing to contribute in their own distinctive way to Ameri can society (Eck, 2013). Phillips believes that pluralism is the essence of a liberal societ y. Pluralism, in her view, allows for many different groups but, unlikemulticulturalism, does not try to impose one uniform statu s on all of them. Instead, it “allows a thousand flowers to bloom , with minoritiesforming communities of faith, ethnicity, or cult
- 53. ure within asociety— under the overarching umbrella of a national identity to whose c orevalues everyone signs up” (Phillips, 2007, “What Are the Li mits of Tolerance?,” para. 1). Pluralism is an ideal. Because it requires active engagement wit h others, listening as well as speaking, and bridge building, it is not an easytask. It is more than simply tolerance for differences ; it requires knowledge of them and acknowledgement that other s think and behavedifferently. It is based not on consensus abou t all issues, but rather on a commitment to ongoing debate and d iscussionSummary and Resources Chapter Summary · Migration of people from their homelands to other geographic r egions has occurred for various reasons around the world throug houtrecorded history. · The arrival of foreign populations into an established culture aff ects the recent settlers, the geographic areas through which they travel,and the population in the territory in which they settle. I n most instances the impact is one of social transformation. · People who migrate to other areas as a group generally share co mmon values and often are homogeneous in ethnicity, religion, or othersocial factors. · Scholars use the terms migrant workers, immigrants, and diaspo ras to differentiate among different types of migrating groups or populations. · Few areas of the world have been unaffected by migration; how ever, approximately half of all international migrants reside in 1 0countries. Diasporas differ in significant ways from other migr ating groups. Members consider their presence in a foreign land to betransitory, and they retain a connection to their homeland a
- 54. nd hope toreturn there some day. Thus, diasporas strive to retai n theirnative institutions, religion, values, social norms, narrati ves, and collective identities. · The Jewish, Palestinian, and African diasporas are the largest in world history and have had a tremendous influence on almost e verycountry of the world. Their histories are lengthy and compl ex and have social, cultural, economic, and political implication s. · Migrating populations are a significant factor in the developmen t of globalization. Globalization is the concept that the world is developing an increasingly integrated single economy as a resul t of improved technology and communications, free trade, free f low ofcapital, and the use of foreign labor markets. · In the 16th century capitalism began to replace the feudal syste m as a result of three factors: (a) the aftermath of the Black Dea thpandemic; (b) migration, increased global trade, and exposure to products from other societies; and (c) the Industrial Revoluti on. · With capitalism and globalization, the manufacture of goods is outsourced to countries with lower wages, and the wages of ther elatively unskilled and uneducated in advanced capitalist societi es decline. · Social stratification describes the division of members of a soci ety into various groups or classes based on social or economic c riteriaand the disparities between those at different social and e conomic levels. · Both income inequality and income mobility are important facto rs to consider in understanding income distribution and socialstr atification. · Job-
- 55. skill requirements andtechnology are driving growing, worldwi de income inequality— and both point to globalization rather thannational policies as th e cause. · Social inequality and stratification are so complex and have suc h numerous causes and consequences that historians, social scie nceresearchers, economists, and political leaders disagree about possible solutions. Many researchers consider human capital, ed ucation,and family structure to be important considerations in s olving inequality issues. · The study of cultural diversity has evolved from an inferiority c oncept to a deficit model to late 20th- century affirmations of culturalidentity to contemporary views o f diversity that include both multiculturalism and pluralism. Reflections on Diversity Who Controls the Money? Exploring Wealth Inequities, Stereot ypes In 1996 the film Jerry Maguire popularized the phrase “show me the money.” While not a new concept, the idea of “showing” m oney bears nosmall resemblance to “showing off” how much mo ney a person has accumulated. This chapter discussed affluence and poverty and how thoseaffect an individual’s ability to succe ed throughout life. However, perceptions remain that certain gro ups in society have more money thanothers. Jewish people are a ssociated with affluence and money- management skills. Blacks and Latinos are connected with pove rty andgovernment assistance. Stereotypes about who should have or who has money are exten sive. Political debates regarding how much government assistan ce should beprovided and to whom it should be distributed are major points of contention for heads of state, yet politicians aro und the globe are some ofthe highest paid individuals in their co
- 56. untries (Werman, 2013).In the Roman Catholic Church, priests take a vow of poverty, mirroring the lifeof Christ; however, the Vatican’s wealth is estimated at $8 billion (Jamieson, 2013). Co nsumer spending is tracked around the world todetermine how much individuals are willing to purchase based on their disposa ble income. Purchasing power is assessed as a measure ofhow m uch products and services should cost in relation to how much p eople are willing to consume (Michelangeli, Peluso, & Trannoy, 2011).Those who spend more than they earn are said to live out side of their means. Others are accused of overspending what m oney they do have,such as women being stereotyped as paying t oo much for shoes and handbags. Meanwhile, others exacerbate these stereotypes and profitfrom perpetuating them. These stere otypes are reflected in the titles of many books that aim to assis t women with their spending. Recentbooks on money manageme nt targeted to women include: 1. Shoo, Jimmy Choo!: The Modern Girl’s Guide to Spending Less and Saving More, by Catey Hill 2. Does This Make My Assets Look Fat? A Woman’s Guide to Fin ding Financial Empowerment and Success, by Susan L. Hirshma n 3. Addicted to Shopping and Other Issues Women Have with Mone y, by Karen O’Connor 4. Divanomics: How to Still Be Fabulous When You’re Broke, by Michelle McKinney Hammond 5. How to Shop for Free: Shopping Secrets for Smart Women Who Love to Get Something for Nothing, by Kathy Spencer and Sam antha Rose Additional stereotypes are applied to the affluent. For example, Sommerfield (n.d.) notes that the rich are often seen as lonely, b elieving thatthey are better than everyone else, greedy, money-
- 57. obsessed, and miserly,or as lacking self- initiative because their wealth was inherited. Eachone of those d escriptors influences how individuals approach those whom they believe are wealthier than themselves. Think about thecomment s you or others make daily: · How can they afford to eat out every day? · He doesn’t look like he is a homeowner. . . . · You would think with the money he makes he would wear better shoes. . . . · You make too much money as it is. . . . · Must be nice to. . . . (implying that someone can do something y ou cannot). Ask Yourself: 1. Review the comments made above. Have you ever made a comm ent about someone else’s wealth? Did it perpetuate a stereotype ? If so,which one? 2. When does a stereotype become a norm? If enough individuals f all into a specific stereotypical category, is it therefore true? Fo rexample, if the majority of women overspend on shoes, is it ac ceptable to say that, or is it still a stereotype? 3. Which is more acceptable, stereotypes about those with wealth o r the impoverished? Please explain. Discussion Questions 1. This chapter stresses the need for understanding historical persp ectives on social stratification as it applies to current social ine quities.We do not think regularly about some of our advantages. For example, daily access to food, clothing, or the ability to rea d this text areadvantages that we do not always view as privileg
- 58. es. Consider yoursituation. What were some of the advantages or disadvantages youexperienced in your childhood? Did you ha ve adult’s and children’s books in your home that were read reg ularly? Are you part of a dual-or single- parent household, or were you raised by other caretakers such as foster parents, grandparents, uncles, or aunts? Did yourschool h ave computers in every room? Did you have access to a compute r at home? Did your family get government or financialassistanc e? 2. Think about the many situations you have encountered in your li fe. We look at our pasts from different perspectives. For exampl e,although some may think of living with two parents as an adva ntage, others might view a home life with two parents who are i n avolatile relationship as a disadvantage. How did your past, fr om an educational, familial, socioeconomic, or other perspectiv e influenceyou? 3. The definition of multiculturalism varies. Find two peer- reviewed, scholarly articles that discuss different definitions or perspectives ofmulticulturalism. Compare and contrast the articl es and share your thoughts on which you believe has the more a ppropriate approachto multiculturalism. Additional Resources Media http://youtu.be/IRdjFpr2-m0 We Are IOM http://youtu.be/t2XFh_tD2RA Is America Dreaming? Understanding Social Mobility http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674430006 Capital in the Twenty-First Century, by Thomas Piketty Web Links http://www.brookings.edu/research/essays/2014/saving-horatio- alger?cid=01US0201300003010090004#
- 59. Saving Horatio Alger:Equality, Opportunity, and the American Dream http://www.pewtrusts.org/en/archived-projects/economic- mobility-project Economic Mobility Project http://www.pluralism.org Pluralism Project at Harvard University Key Terms anti-Semitism brain drain diaspora exclusion globalization human capital immigrants migrants migrant workers migration multiculturalism outsourcing pluralism refugees social stratification 6History of Diversity in the United States Photos.com/Thinkstock
- 60. Learning Objectives By theend of this chapter, you should be able to: · Describe the diversity of cultures of people indigenous to the U nited States and the interactions of these groups with laterimmig rants. · Identify key groups’ contributions to the founding of the United States, the establishment of a national identity, and thedevelop ment of regional subcultures. · Analyze the impact of European hegemony on the Americas ove r time. · Be able both to criticize and defend the concept of American ex ceptionalism in shaping U.S. culture and explain its influence o nthe U.S. political process. · Explain the American dream and evaluate its accuracy and relev ance in contemporary American society. · Describe the development of diversity in the United States durin g the 20th and 21st centuries. · Evaluate the issue of economic disparity in the United States to day. Introduction Prior to the 15th century, Europeans were largely unaware of th e North and South American continents. Early explorers such as 11th- centuryNorse seaman Leif Eriksson had glimpsed parts of the co ntinents on their voyages. However, it was not until Marco Polo and others returnedbearing exotic spices and textiles from their overland expeditions to Asia that Europeans began to dream of trade with the Far East and tosearch for faster and safer routes t
- 61. o Asia bysea. These explorations resulted in the unexpected “discovery” of th e Americas and Caribbean islands. Voyages to these lands inclu dedinteractions with, and later exploitation and subjugation of, native peoples who had lived there for hundreds or even thousan ds of years. The initial colonization of North America brought together peop le from three continents who had very different cultures: the ind igenousNorth American peoples, Europeans, and Africans. In th e years that followed, other immigrant groups arrived. These mo vements brought arich legacy of artistic, religious, linguistic, an d cultural qualities that formed the foundations of what would b ecome known as U.S. culture.Because of different settlement pa tterns and the variety of cultures among those settlers, strong an d vastly different regional subculturesdeveloped in the United S tates as well. To understand the diverse populations that resulted in the multic ultural makeup of the United States today, the first half of this c haptersummarizes the history of U.S. colonization and expansio n. The chapter concludes by examining today’s primary U.S. cul ture, regionalsubcultures, and the elements of national identity. 6.1 Indigenous Groups of North America By the 1300s thriving agricultural societies and substantial citie s with extensive cultural and religious structures existed in what is nowMexico, Central America, and South America. These civi lizations included the Aztec, the Maya, and other groups in Mes oamerica, and theInca in Peru. In North American lands that later became the United States and Canada, native people developed less elaborate but significant civilizationsand political systems based on hunting, gathering, a nd/or fishing. Historians have had difficulty determining the nu mber of Native Americantribes in North America or their tribal populations. Most societies had only an oral tradition, and exce pt when tensions and skirmishes arosebetween them, the Europe an settlers showed little interest in the native tribes and were lar gely ignorant of these groups and their cultures.The earliest writ
- 62. ten accounts ofNative Americans by European observers simply categorized the local people according to their perceivedattitud es toward the newcomers—as hostile or loving. However, evidence from the settlers’ records and from archaeol ogical discoveries point toward the existence of vast and compli cated socialand political worlds and numerous distinct cultures. These cultures varied considerably from one geographic region t o another. Mesoamerican Civilizations Anthropologists and historians use the term Mesoamerica to des cribe a region of North America that extends from about what is now centralMexico to Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Hondura s, Nicaragua, and northern Costa Rica. A number of different cu ltures flourished in thisregion prior to the voyages of Columbus in the late 1400s. Pre-Columbian Maya and Olmec The earliest of the Mesoamerican cultures included the sophistic ated culture of the Maya, believed to have been in Mesoamerica from about2000 BCE to the arrival of the Spanish in the early 1 5th century CE. The Maya were the only culture in the region k nown to have developed awritten language. They also created a numerical system, a calendar, and an advanced agricultural syst em that included cultivation of cropssuch as maize, sweet potato es, tomatoes, manioc (the root of the yucca plant), beans, and sq uashes. The Mayan population eventuallynumbered in the millio ns, and they established elaborate cities and ceremonial structur es and an elaborate social and political networkamong their regi onal societies (Bellwood, 2014). In about 1500 BCE another cultural group, the Olmec, transform ed swamplands near the coast of the Gulf of Mexico to producti ve agriculturalland to grow maize. The Olmec were the first cult ure in Central America to produce architecture out of stone, and they later constructed thecity of San Lorenzo, which had substa ntial reservoirs and drainage systems integrated into a palatial i
- 63. nner- city complex withcauseways andplazas. The city was a focal po int for trade throughout Mesoamerica (Jarzombek, 2013). The O lmec also produced remarkably sophisticatedartwork, inventing techniques to work local jade into jewelry, figures, and masks a nd creating remarkable sculptures, some of which are nowin mu seum collections (Jarzombek, 2013). The Aztec In about the 6th century CE, groups of people commonly referre d to as Aztec began to migrate into Mesoamerica. The Aztec nev er referred tothemselves by that name, though the term is used e xtensively by scholars. Instead, they called themselves “Mexica, ” “Acolhua,” and “Tenochca.”The term Aztec was derived from a popular 1843 book by William H. Prescott that detailed these groups and their revered place of origin,Aztlán— thought to have been somewhere in northern Mexico or the Ame rican Southwest. The Aztec peoples were composed of different ethnic groups that usually spoke dialects of a common Nahuatl l anguage. These pre-Columbian cultures were initially hunter– gatherers or agriculturally based but later included warrior tribe s that formedwidespread alliances across the central highlands a nd southern Mexico and practiced a religion involving human sa crifice. By the late 13thcentury, the Aztec had formed an empire of almost 5 million people that spread more than 77,000 square miles and consisted of more than400 towns and a sophisticated urban social culture. They built impressive cities with administr ative, educational, and medical systems thatrivaled the most adv anced in Europe at that time. Tribes of the American West For a couple of hundred years, the area west of the Mississippi River in North America was envisioned as “the frontier” to man y in easternNorth America— an empty land just waiting to be settled. In fact, by the time Am
- 64. ericans began tomigrate westward in the mid- 19th century,the West was extensively populated with numerous well- developed societies and cultures. Native Americans, Mexicans, French and BritishCanadians, Asians, and others lived in the are a, and many had been there for generations. The largest of these cultures were Alaska Natives such as the In uit, Tlingit, and Haidu; the First Nations in Canada; Native Ame rican tribes ofthe Pacific Northwest; and more than 200 Native American tribes in California. These cultures supported themsel ves through a combinationof fishing, hunting, foraging, fur tradi ng, and agriculture. Although we cannot cover all the various tri bes that contributed to the diverseNative American history in th e United States, a few of these groups are discussed in this secti on to illustrate the cultural diversity that existed. Tribes of the Pacific Northwest Coast The Pacific Northwest Coast, a region that extends along the Pa cific Ocean from the Oregon– California border north to the Copper River deltaon the Gulf of Alaska, has a relatively mild climate, temperate rain forests, an d rich marine life along with densely forested mountains andgla cier- produced inlets, island, and fjords. The terrain varies from sea l evel to elevations of more than 10,000 feet, with hills, low coast albluffs, and meadows with abundant rivers and streams. As a result of this diverse geology, precipitation is distributed u nevenly, and distinct microclimates range from heavy rain fores ts to relativelydry zones in the mountain rain shadows. The dive rse geography created tremendous variation in habitats and disti nctive forms of plant andanimal life. The plants, fish, shellfish, and animals that provided the native tribes with food might be a bundant in one location but entirelyabsent in many others, a fact that had significant implications for the cultures that developed in this area (Deur & Turner, 2011). Unlike some areas of North America, tribal groups on the North
- 65. west Coast hadsharply defined and widely recognized borders. Within theseboundaries, the chiefs and other elite members of t he tribe controlled the marine and terrestrial resources, which w ere typically inheritedalong clan or family lines but broadly redi stributed among tribal members. Permanent winter villages were located near the coast and othermarine inlets; at other times of the year, however, members traveled in smaller groups to other permanent outposts and timed their journeysfor peak food sourc es. More than 50 separate tribes have been identified in the Paci fic Northwest. Deur and Turner (2011) describe themigration of these groups among resource sites as a systematic choreography , with members performing specialized resource harvesting andp rocessing depending on their gender, age, and status. California and Inland Western Tribes Farther south in California, the discovery of gold in 1848 sparke d a rush that eventually resulted in more than 300,000 people mi grating toCalifornia by 1854 (O’Meara, 1998). During the gold r ush, numerous California tribes lived in small, stable communiti es near rich seashoreand mountain food sources. The groups wer e hunters, gatherers, and fishers, but they were so diverse that t hey spoke more than 200languages (Velm, 2012). Unlike most other Native Americans across the country, Califor nia Native American groups were not true tribes. Rather, they w ere small,tightly knit, diverse bands that were socially complex. The multitude of different languages they spoke were found to be related to languagesspoken across the entire Northern Hemis phere. In most California groups some people were bi- or multilingual. Thus, anthropologists believethat California wa s a destination for multitudes of migrating people that extends b ack to the initial human settlement of North America. Among most North American native tribes, a common language was the social glue that held together tribes or nations. However , inCalifornia, language boundaries and political boundaries did not coincide. The defining social and political unit among most native peoples inCalifornia was a small village community of a
- 66. half dozen ormore permanent settlements that did not necessaril y share a common language ora common culture. At best it foste red a sense of a common destiny (Golla, 2011). Each village, or tribelet, as some researchers call them, was poli tically self-sufficient— although in some cases, several village communitiesjoined toget her to create a political structure that included a chief over seve ral groups. Leaving the geopolitical tribelet area could exposetri bal members to murder by members of other villages (Golla, 20 11). As Americans from the eastern United States moved westward a cross the Mississippi, the Great Plains, the Rocky Mountains, an d into theWest, they proclaimed most Native American tribes to be savage, uncivilized, enemies. As a result, in 19th- century California, the U.S.government relocated many native g roups to reservations far outside their traditional lands and, acc ording to one scholar, engaged ingenocide by starving or workin g Native Americans to death, shooting them, or exposing them t o poverty and malnutrition. Many tens ofthousands of Native A mericans perished in this way, but many groups survived and, o ver the 20th and 21st centuries, worked to restore manynative la nds and achieve tribal sovereignty (Lindsay, 2012). Tribes of the American Southwest Some of the oldest archaeological evidence of native tribes on t he North American continent have been found in the American Southwest, inArizona, Nevada, New Mexico, and parts of Utah and Colorado. For example, traces of the presence of the Anasaz i, an ancient tribe andancestor to the Pueblo peoples, go back m ore than 12,000 years. The Ancient Anasazi The Anasazi settled in the high country of the Four Corners regi on of the contemporary United States, which includes the south westerncorner of Colorado, the northwestern corner of New Mex ico, the northeastern corner of Arizona, and the southeastern cor
- 67. ner of Utah.Archaeologicalevidence shows that their culture ev olved over centuries. Originally they hunted mammoth and biso n and moved in concertwith the game and shifting seasons as th ey foraged for a wide variety of seeds, fruit, grasses, flowers, a nd roots. Mariusz Jurgielewicz/Hemera/Thinkstock Anasazi dwellings (pictured) have been found in Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado. Like other early North American groups, the Anasazi’s culture c hangedwhen they began growing maize, along with other plants such as cottonand tobacco and later beans and squash. Their hab itat changed as well, asthey built more permanent homes while t hey concentrated on growingcrops and storing surpluses. By abo ut 750 CE they built stable villages ofhomes with walls of timbe r or stone packed with earth and a bark roofbuilt over a waist- deep pit. Their homes were highly energy efficient, with asophis ticated ventilator-deflector system. The Anasazi dispersed widely beginning in about 900 CE and bu ilt smallerstone houses, known to archaeologists as unit pueblos , with a rectangularmain house, storage rooms on the surface of the land, and nearbyunderground pits for storage. By 1100 CE t hey aggregated into largervillages and also built cliff villages. T hey are thought to have departed theFour Corners area in about 1270 CE due to a 30- year drought and thearrival of nomadic bands of Native America ns such as the Ute and Paiute(Hurst, 2014). The Pueblo Peoples The Pueblo peoples were descended from the dispersed Anasazi, and themost notable of their tribes include the Zuni, Hopi, Taos , and Acoma. These tribes lived in homes made of stone and ado be in sizable villagesin present- day New Mexico and Arizona. The culture of the Pueblo peoples was primarily based on agriculture and barter. The presence of marine shells native only to the Pacific coast and arrowheads m
- 68. ade from obsidiannot found in the area indicate the developmen t of long- distance trade. Many of the Pueblo tribes were disrupted by the arrival of the Spanish, along with raids by the Navajo and Apac he, until theAmerican government asserted authority over the ar ea in 1848. By 1876 missionaries and newcomers such as the M ormons, who settlednear the Zuni villages, had arrived. The Zuni speak a unique language unrelated to other Pueblo peo ples and are deeply religious, practicing a traditional shamanisti c religion.Today the Zuni reside mainly in one city— Zuni, New Mexico— and remain an autonomous group, isolated from most outside inf luences. Themainstay of their economy is the tourist trade in pot tery and jewelry (Weiser, 2012). The Navajo The Navajo are the largest federally recognized tribe of the Unit ed States today, with more than 300,000 tribal members. Most o ccupy theFour Corners area of the United States and speak their own Navajo language, although many also speak English. Until their contact with the Pueblo peoples and the Spanish, the Navajo were hunters and gatherers. Then they began herding she ep andgoats as a main source of food and trade. Their practice o f spinning and weaving wool into blankets and clothing eventual ly developed into ahighly valued artistic expression. In the 1930 s the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Soil Conservation Servic e slashed Navajo herds to try toconserve severely overgrazed an d drought- depleted rangelands. This action, which included the killing of s heep, goats, and horses, created acollective memory of terror, b etrayal, loss, and grief among the Navajo. It also reduced a self- sufficient people to dependents who now relylargely on welfare (Weisiger, 2011). The Apache The Apache were actually a complex community of different tri
- 69. bes, such asthe Jano, Jocome, Jumano, Manso, and Suma, who were scatteredfrom West Texas into New Mexico, Arizona, Kan sas, Colorado, and northern Mexico. The Apache dominated the region for several centuriesbefore the arrival of the European A mericans, and they struck terror in the hearts of other native trib es and the Spanish colonists andMexican peoples who migrated north. The name Apache is from a Zuni word meaning “enemy,” but the Apache usually referred to themselvesas Diné, meaning “the People.” Most Apache were nomadic. They lived on buffalo, small game, and wild plants, and they built tepees or brush dwellings for sh elter andadapted to using horses (Faulk, 1993). One of the distin guishing characteristics of the Apache was their ferocity as warr iors. They foughtprincipally for material gain and, beyond hunti ng and gathering, their economy was based on whatever they co uld plunder in their raids onothers (Faulk, 1993). The Hohokam In southern Arizona near today’s city of Tucson, the Hohokam, members of a multiethnic pueblo group, were an ancient tribe th at occupiedsouthern Arizona as early as 2000 BCE. They lived i n villages with a central plaza surrounded by a large square or r ectangular houses thathoused different clans. Their culture inclu ded the creation of ornate pottery and other arts such as jewelry and carved stone palettes of birds,snakes, lizards, and people. S mall clay figurines found at archaeological sites suggest the Ho hokam had a religious ideology based on ancestorworship. The Hohokam also practiced sophisticated agriculture and const ructed the first irrigation canals in Arizona, which were coopera tively builtand maintained (Colwell- Chanthaphonh, 2010). Their civilization began to crumble aroun d the 14th century when climate change resulted inrepeated floo ds, disrupting the canal system and decimating the agricultural e conomy. Tribes of the American Plains and Great Basin
- 70. Across the AmericanPlains, Native American cultures are usual ly divided into two broad classifications. The first group includ es tribes thatwere nomadic, hunted buffalo, fished inland lakes, and were dependent on the horse during the 18th and 19th centu ries. These tribesincluded the Blackfoot, Arapaho, Cheyenne, C omanche, Crow, Lakota, and Plains Apache. The second group consists of the aboriginal people of the Great Plains or Prairie tribes who were semisedentary and migrated fr om as fareast as the Mississippi River. These tribes lived in vill ages, raised primarily grains, and actively traded with other trib es. They included theKitsai, Missouria, Omaha, Pawnee, Wichit a, and Dakota tribes. Tribes of the American Northeast In the northeastern portion of the North American continent, Na tive American societies were numerous. In the area of the Huds on Rivervalley alone, in what is now New York State, more than two dozen tribes have been identified. Some tribal political lea ders appear to haverepresented relatively large numbers of indiv iduals, and it is estimated that several thousand people lived in t his area (Midtrød, 2012). Most tribal groups living east of the Mississippi were linked loo sely by common linguistic roots. The largest of these language g roups were: · the Algonquin, hundreds of separate tribes that lived along the Atlantic Seaboard from Canada to Virginia and in the interior al ong theSt. Lawrence River and around the Great Lakes; · the Iroquois Confederacy, which was centered in upstate New Y ork and consisted of five tribes: the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga , Cayuga,and Seneca (a sixth tribe, the Tuscarora, joined after E uropean settlers arrived); and · the Muskogean, who lived in the southern region of the Eastern Seaboard and included the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Koasati, Micco
- 71. sukee,Muskogee, Natchez, andSeminole tribes. Each of these tribal groups developed its own language and dial ect and unique culture. The Algonquin, for example, were noma dic and livedmainly by hunting, fishing, and fur trading with Eu ropeans. They moved their villages seasonally and built lightwei ght wigwams in thesummer; went to sea in canoes in the spring for seals, whales, and walruses; and built more substantial longh ouses in the winter, where entireclans resided. The Iroquois trib es occupied permanent territories from upstate New York to the Great Lakes. They led a settled, agriculturalexistence and forme d organized social and political structures for choosing leaders a nd making decisions. The Muskogean were also agricultural and sedentary, but they w ere a diverse group that formed only a loose confederacy among themselves.The Muskogean were genetically different from mo st other indigenous groups in the United States and Canada. The y originally migrated fromthe central highlands of Mexico, and their cultures were eclectic. They often incorporated concepts in to their cultures from foreigners withwhom they came in contact , resulting in complex societies with multiple traditions. They s poke several language dialects, produced differentarts and crafts , and had different building styles. However, they shared a com mon language and the same general political and religioustraditi ons (Thornton, 2014). Figure 6.1 shows the location of several notable Native America n tribes of North America. Native American societies were seld om allied withother tribal groups. They had different histories, t raditions, and cultural rituals, and often they were at war or had deep distrust of oneanother. Because the Native American tribe s considered themselves to be separate groups, when Europeans arrived and began to threatentheir way of life, tribes only rarely united in opposition to White encroachment (Axtell, 2011).Figu re 6.1: Major Native American tribes of North America Hundreds of distinct Native American cultures existed in North America prior to the arrival of Europeans.
- 72. As we haveseen, Native American culture and history neither b egan nor ended with their contact with Europeans. Native life co ntinuedlargely independent of European influence and control th rough the American Revolutionary War (Midtrød, 2012). Eventu ally, however,European colonies and American political and soc ial actions had a substantial impact on Native American ways of life. 6.2 Early European Colonies The migration of European colonists to the Americas between th e voyages of Christopher Columbus in 1492 through the middle of the 1600sis often termed “the Age of Discovery.” It is also co nsidered by historians as the advent of the imposition of Europe an hegemony, or politicaldomination, of North American territo ries. That is, the diverse culture of the new land was dramaticall y influenced and transformed byEuropean settlers, who imposed their values, beliefs, and norms on the new territories. Early 16 th- century Spanish explorations resulted inthe first permanent Euro pean settlements in the present- day United States. With Spain’s discovery of abundant natural r esources in this newland, other European nations soon began to think of the Americas as more than just an obstacle in their ques t to reach the Far East. Theybegan to view the continents as a ne w source of wealth and as land in which to make a new start aft er famines and diseases had decimatedEuropean populations. Th e English, French, Dutch, and others began to eye the new conti nent as promising land for new colonies. First Exploration and Settlement While mariners from Portugal, Spain, England, France, and Holl and (now Netherlands) explored the coasts of the North and Sou th Americancontinent and the Caribbean islands, other explorers from these countries moved through the interiors of the two con tinents mapping theterritory, trapping animals, and establishing fur trading posts and plantations. The British, French, and Dutc h established settlements inNorth America on the Eastern Seabo ard and in the South. The Spanish moved north from South and
- 73. Central America intoMexico, theCaribbean islands, and much o f North America, including Florida, other areas of the southern coast, the Southwest, and the Pacific coastregions. Meanwhile, t he Portuguese explored Brazil. The arrival of European settlers to the Americas initiated a proc ess of interaction and cultural exchanges with Native Americans — somebeneficial and some disastrous. While the Europeans introd uced the Native Americans to new crops such as sugar and bana nas and domesticanimals such as cattle, pigs, sheep, and most i mportantly, horses, they also introduced devastating new diseas es such as measles, typhus,syphilis, and smallpox. In the Mayan areas of Mexico, for example, as much as 95% of the populatio n died within a few years of the nativepeoples’ first contact wit h the Spanish. From the native tribes, Europeans learned to culti vate crops such as squash, pumpkins, beans, sweetpotatoes, tom atoes, peppers, and potatoes (Brinkley, 1997). Spanish Settlers Meinzahn/iStock/Thinkstock Spanish explorers established permanent settlements on the Wes tCoast. Missions like this one in Carmel, California, were the cu lturaland religious centers of such colonies. The first Spanish settlements included the military fort at St. Au gustine,Florida, in 1565; the claim of Pueblo lands by Spanish c olonists in 1598;and the founding of Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 1609. Unlike other Europeanswho initially immigrated to the Ne w World, most Spanish arrived aswarriors or missionaries. Alth ough a small number of Spanish immigrantscame intending to b uild a profitable agricultural economy, most earlySpanish settler s arrived looking for riches or seeking to convert NativeAmeric ans to Christianity. The Spanish exploited American stores of g oldand silver and, for a time, made Spain the wealthiest and mo st powerfulempire on earth (Brinkley, 1997). Virtually all enterprises of the Spanish, most prominently minin g andranching, depended on a Native American workforce. Capt
- 74. ured tribalmembers wereoften sold into slavery or subjected to a coercive wagesystem. However, their numbers were not suffici ent to meet the laborneeds of the colonists, particularly because the native populations haddeclined due to disease and war. So th e colonists, and later other Europeansettlers, began importing sl aves from Africa. The Spanish settlers had significant sexual contact— sometimes consensualand sometimes forcible— with native women. This fact, and theconquistadores’ deliberate policies of subjugation and extermination of native populations that they considered “savages,” resulted in thepopulations of th e Spanish colonies becoming predominately made up of people of mixed race, or mestizos (Brinkley, 1997). British Settlers Although British colonies were populated generally by people w ho intended to establish permanent settlements, the colonies the mselveswere financed by the English crown or by private financ iers to generate wealth. Regardless of their reasons for coming t o the colonies,colonists were under pressure to produce goods f or trade or risk being abandoned in the wilderness (Velm, 2012) . The British settlers were a diverse group. Like other peoples of Europe, they were descended from a multitude of tribes and nati ons: theGermanic Angles and Saxons, Scots, Welsh, Irish, Dane s, Normans (from northern France and descendants of Viking co nquerors), Flemish (aGermanic ethnic group that originated in n orthern France and Belgium and speaks Dutch), Walloons (a Fre nch- speaking people fromBelgium), Huguenots (an ethnoreligious gr oup that fled France due to religious persecution), and others. The first permanent British colony was formed in 1607 at James town, Virginia. The area provided good anchorage and a defensi ve position,and the warm climate and fertile soil allowed large p lantations to prosper. In 1620 British citizens established a seco nd colony at Plymouth,Massachusetts. The Plymouth Colony ha d an excellent harbor. However, cold climate and thin, rocky soi
- 75. l limited farmsize, and the settlersturned to fishing, shipbuildin g, and lumber harvesting for their livelihoods. Both the Jamesto wn and Plymouth colonies were settled primarilyby people from southern England, especially London and its surrounding counti es. However, as we will discuss, the two colonies developedvast ly different cultures. Later, in 1682 the Pennsylvania colony was founded and settled by people from northern and western England and by the Scots I rish,descendants of the Scottish people who settled in the northe rn part of Ireland (Boeree, 2004). Pennsylvania and later coloni es in New Yorkand New Jersey produced some agricultural prod ucts, but primarily they became centers for commerce and indus try and had an abundanceof forest from which to harvest lumber to build houses, businesses, and ships, which provided business to the growing ports of New York City,Philadelphia, and Alban y (Velm, 2012). In New England, British colonies in Massachusetts, Rhode Islan d, Connecticut, and New Hampshire supported themselves with small familyfarms and with commercial fishing. Other colonies in the mid- Atlantic region and the southern portion of the Atlantic Seaboar d such as NorthCarolina, South Carolina, Maryland, Georgia, an d parts of Virginia were also settled by this group of British im migrants, and they formed abarrier against further Spanish expl oration north. These southern areas had rich agricultural land an d were formed as agrarian societies toproduce and export cash c rops such as tobacco, indigo dye, rice, and later, cotton. From inception, many of these colonies developed as large plant ation colonies and generally conscripted slaves and indentured s ervants toplant and harvest the crops (Velm, 2012). Initially, the se slaves and servants were individuals who were banished to th e colonies by Britishcourts as punishment. Prior to the outbreak of the Revolutionary War in 1775, Britain used its colonies arou nd the world as penal coloniesand shipped more than 50,000 con victs, in chains, to America. These prisoners were not society’s worst offenders. Britain’s m
- 76. urderers and thieveswere usually hanged. Britain banished men, women, andchildren to the colonies for a variety of reasons. So me were shoplifters, beggars who were banished for stealing foo d, or children accused ofpetty theft. Others were unable to pay t heir debts and were sent to America in order to empty British de btor prisons. Still others were notcriminals at all; Irish who resi sted English rule, wandering vagrants, and abandoned children were also sent on the slave ships. Not only were the colonists who staged the Boston Tea Party in 1773 protesting taxes and lack of representation, one of their pri marygrievances was also the shipment of convicts from Britain. After American independence, British convicts were replaced by African slaves,who were more expensive than their White count erparts. However, the servitude of the Africans never expired, a nd they had fewer legalrights than the British convicts (Christop her, 2011). Dutch Settlers Dutch colonization in the United States began in the early 1600s , when explorer Henry Hudson initiated permanent contact betw een theEuropeans and the Hudson River valley tribes. Dutch fur traders visited the valley, and Dutch colonization began in 1624 when the DutchWest India Company founded the colony of Ne w Netherland to exploit the fur trade. Dutch immigrants often br ought Africans with them,primarily as enslaved laborers. The New Netherland colony claimed extensive territory from M assachusetts to New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, an d Connecticut,with outposts in Pennsylvania and Rhode Island. The New England colony was to its north, and the short- lived colony of New Sweden,inhabited by Dutch, Swedish, and Finnish immigrants, was to its south. New Sweden was conquer ed by the Dutch in 1655 and incorporatedinto New Netherland ( Richter, 2013). Unlike the British, who fought with the Native American tribes, the Dutch carried on generally peaceful and friendly exchanges of fur with thevarious Algonquin, Haudenosaunee Iroquois, and Susquehannock (Conestoga) tribes for the copper, glass beads, t
- 77. ools, and otheritemsbrought to the colonies. In the first few dec ades, the colony was dependent on the fur trade; however, incre ased Dutch migration to theHudson River valley resulted in a co lony population of about 9,000 by 1664. Not all settlers were et hnically Dutch. They arrived from anumber of other European c ountries, and the New Netherland colony contained a greater mi x of ethnicities and religions than any other partof colonial Nort h America. Additional settlements followed, including Fort Amsterdam, whi ch later became the colony of New Amsterdam and a major seap ort offManhattan Island in New York. In 1664 an English fleet f orced the surrender of the Dutch colony to the duke of York. Th e area was renamedthe province of New York and remained und er English jurisdiction until the American Revolutionary War ( Midtrød, 2012). The Dutch constitution places great emphasis on civil rights and pluralism, and as a Dutch colony, New Netherland is credited w ith instillingthese concepts into American culture. The formerly Dutch- controlled areas of the United States are widely recognized as th e birthplace ofAmerican concepts of ethnic and religious diversi ty, pluralism, and civil liberties— of course, for everyone but the obvious exception of theAfrican slaves (Haefeli, 2013). French Settlers Shortly after the British created the Jamestown colony in Virgin ia, the French began to build their own colonial empire on the N orth Americancontinent. They formed a colony in what is now Q uebec, Canada, and moved out from there, establishing settleme nts in Montreal, Canada; inGreen Bay, Wisconsin; and in St. Lo uis, Missouri. Additionally, they attempted to seize Atlantic tra de from the Dutch and British traders inNew England. They also founded colonies in the southern part of the continent in the region that now comprises Alabama, Mississippi, and Lo uisiana, andon a number of Caribbean islands. Most of these col onies were developed to export fish, sugar, and furs. From a pri
- 78. mary trading baseon theSt. Lawrence River and the Great Lakes region, the French envisioned a great North American empire o f peaceful conquest (Richter, 2011). The French did not populate their colonies as extensively as did the British, Spanish, or Dutch. Fewer than 3,000 French settled in NorthAmerican colonies between 1670 and 1730 (Pritchard, 2 004). Those who did settle in the colonies had a much different experience withnative populations than other European colonists . Their trade with Native American tribes resulted in a much fri endlier relationship thanthat between the native populations and the British or Spanish colonists. The French immigrant populations consisted of five groups: ind entured servants and African slaves, soldiers, eligible young wo men, convicts,and freemen. Although more than four times as m any men as women came to the American colonies, only the wo men traveled with theintention to stay. The men primarily engag ed in fur trading and returned to France after some success or tr aveled westward. Others desertedthe colony or, sick and wounde d, returned home (Pritchard, 2004). The French immigrants also encountered very few Native Ameri cans where they settled, except in Louisiana. Only a few thousa nd nativepeople lived along the Atlantic coast of present- day Canada, and few French settled there. European- introduced diseases and wars betweentribes and with the British had virtually destroyed native tribes in the St. Lawrence River valley and the lower Great Lakes as far west as LakeHuron in M ichigan. In fact, French trading encouraged some Native Americ ans to return to the region, and many stayed in the colonies. Fre nchcolony populations generally comprised almost as many Nati ve Americans as Europeans. In Louisiana, Native American tribes comprised more than 90% of the total population of the region after the French arrived, an d the Frenchpopulation in the area was also surpassed by Africa ns due to their forced migration to the South. In 1715 only 215 Frenchmen and very fewFrenchwomen inhabited Louisiana, and only about one quarter of them intended to settle there. Louisian
- 79. a was establishedas a source offorest products for colonies in t he West Indies and for its mineral wealth. Louisiana’s populatio n of African slaves grew very rapidly, and whilesome worked in households in colonial towns, most toiled on plantations along t he Mississippi River (Pritchard, 2004). British historian James Pritchard (2004) describes the distinctiv e slave culture that developed from the combination of French, African,Spanish, and Native American cultures in southern colo nies, particularly Louisiana, in this way: Slaves lived debased lives in all colonies, but despite oppressio n, slave cultures developed wherever slaverypredominated. Afri can religious practices, music, dance, and language provided the chief nexus of social cohesion,promoting identity and resistanc e to white oppression. French was the language of the masters, who forbade the useof African languages on the plantations. . . . Slaves developed a jargon of their own that gradually evolved i nto a creoletongue in each slave colony. (p. 90) 6.3 Westward Migration Between 1691 and 1775, the American colonies grew quickly, th anks mostly to immigration. In 1700 the 13 original colonies ha d only about250,000 people. By 1750 the population had swelle d to 1.25 million. The colonists had children, of course, but Am erica also attractedimmigrants from Scotland, Germany, and Fra nce and also added African slaves, who constituted approximate ly 20% of the population by1775 (Velm, 2012). After the Boston Tea Party in 1773, the colonies had united in t heir opposition to what they considered British tyranny, and the y discussedindependence. The Revolutionary War began in 1775 , and a year later the Declaration of Independence was adopted, pronouncing the 13American colonies/states independent from Britain. The new “Americans” struggled to structure a national government. They were reluctantto again place power in the han ds of a central government. Instead, they wanted each state to h ave the ability to operate independently as asovereign nation, an d thus drafted the Articles of Confederation. However, the state s had difficulty agreeing on the elements of the finaldocument,
- 80. and unanimous agreementof the states was required to ratify an d institute the articles. Four years elapsed until ratification wasa ccomplished, during which the War of Independence raged on ( Brinkley, 1997). When the Revolutionary War ended in 1783, the newly independ ent United States of America consisted of a territory bounded ro ughly by theCanadian border to the north, Florida to the south, a nd the Mississippi River to the west. The Spanish, meanwhile, h ad established towns andmissions in Texas, New Mexico, Arizo na, and California, and the French were seeking a transcontinent al waterway west. They made manyunsuccessful attempts to cro ss the Continental Divide, which follows the peaks of the Rocky Mountains and separates the watersheds thatdrain into the Pacif ic Ocean from those that drain into the Atlantic, the Gulf of Me xico, and the Caribbean Sea. By this time many Americans were dissatisfied with the weak A rticles of Confederation. In 1787 the nation produced a new con stitution,ratified in 1789, and established a more powerful feder al government with three independent branches. The American Constitution alsorecognized, for the first time, the sovereignty o f Native American nations over whatever lands they had manage d to retain after prolongedbattles over colonial expansion. Later treaties were signed with the Spanish and French, and westward expansion began in earnest. The Lewis and Clark Expedition In 1803 President Thomas Jefferson obtained authorization and funding from the U.S. Congress for a westward expedition of ab out 45soldiers, hunters, boatmen, slaves, and interpreters (inclu ding the Shoshone woman Sacajawea, wife of a French Canadia n fur trader and theonly woman in the group). The expedition was led by two adventurers, Meriwether Lewis a nd William Clark, and was intended to explore, map, and assess thecommercial possibilities of the territory west of the Mississi ppi. The expedition began in 1804 in St. Louis, Missouri, journe yed up theMissouri River, crossed the Rocky Mountains, and tra veled the Columbia River to the Pacific Ocean (Thwaites, 2001)
- 81. . While failingto finddirect river access to the Pacific Ocean, th e Lewis and Clark expedition encountered numerous Native Am ericans tribes, and although therewere some skirmishes, for the most part the explorers received extensive help from the tribes r egarding food and navigation (Willard, Bogle,& Currie, 1996). The original colonization of America is strongly associated with the quest for religious freedom; but freedom to practice their o wn religionwas also one of the reasons settlers left the original colonies and traveled west to the newly explored lands. This rea son, and a number ofother reasons, figured into the decision of many European settlers to move west and are discussed below. Religion as an Impetus for Westward Migration The desire for religious freedom brought many British settlers t o the colonies. Some groups— including the Puritans, the Pilgrims, andProtestant reformers— disagreed with the teaching of the recently formed Church of En gland and sought refuge in other countries to worshipas they ple ased. These three groups formed distinct cultures in the colonies . The Puritans and Jamestown Colony In 1606 King James I granted a charter to the Virginia Company , a group of London investors and entrepreneurs who hoped to e stablish anEnglish settlement in North America. Although econo mic motives prompted the establishment of the colony at Jamest own, Virginia, in 1607,most of the colonists themselves were Pu ritans— an activist group of English evangelical Protestants within the C hurch of England. ThePuritans and their leader, Captain John S mith, were generally loyal to the English crown and devout me mbers of the church; however, theywanted to “purify” or otherw ise make some changes in its doctrine. In 1619 the colony elected representatives, and the first represe ntative legislative assembly met at the Jamestown church. It wa s here that theAmerican heritage of representative government was born and eventually spread throughout the British colonies (Historic Jamestowne,2014).
- 82. The Pilgrims andPlymouth Colony The Pilgrims were radical Puritans who wanted to separate from the Church of England to worship in their own congregations. T heyemigrated first to Holland but were denied entrance to many lucrative Dutch trade guilds. Finding it difficult to support them selves, theysubsequently emigrated to the New World. On their voyage to America, the Pilgrims banded together aboar d their ship, the Mayflower, and agreed to govern themselves by forming ademocratic government based on majority rule of the men aboard the ship. The document they created to record the te rms of theiragreement—the Mayflower Compact— became the basis for governance when they landed in Massachus etts to form Plymouth Colony in1620. The Society of Friends in Pennsylvania In the mid- 1600s another dissenting English Protestant sect, the Society of Friends, wanted a home for its own distinctive religious beliefsa nd practices. Their followers became known as Quakers (Brinkl ey, 1997). Unlike the Puritans, the Quakers granted women posi tions withinthe church that were generally equal to those of men . As confirmed pacifists, they were unpopular with the English government because oftheir refusal to participate in war. They were also unpopular among other religious groups because they occasionally disrupted their religiousservices. Because they were not well liked, they were unable to secure a r oyal grant to form a new colony in Pennsylvania until the wealt hy andprominent William Penn converted to Quakerism. At his f ather’s death, Penn’s inheritance included a large debt owed by England’s KingCharles II, which the king paid with a grant of te rritory between New York and Maryland on the condition that th e territory be namedPennsylvania, after Penn’s late father. Religious tolerance was generally practiced among the original American colonists because they recognized the futility of tryin g to establish acommon religion among the diverse groups that i mmigrated to form new colonies. In time, the Puritans became t he prevailing denominationin the New World. Many other immi
- 83. grants began tobelieve that they did not have the freedom to wo rship as they pleased, and they migratedwest for that freedom. The westward migration of various religious and social groups a cross the North American continent, and their coexistence with t he NativeAmerican populations and descendants of the Spanish settlers, were greatly responsible for diversifying the Anglo– Saxon Protestant countryand creating a multicultural society of different regions and peoples. The pace of this migration accele rated in 1848, when gold wasdiscovered near what is now Sacra mento, California, and one of the greatest migrations in world h istory—the Great Gold Rush—began. Roman Catholics Successive waves of immigration to the United States between t he 1840s and the 1920s brought many religious groups, but Rom an Catholicswere the most numerous and consisted of those fro m Europe—including people from the present- day nations of Italy, Poland, Germany,Slovakia, and the Czech Republic— along with many from Mexico. The potato famine in Ireland in t he mid- 1840s caused many Irish Catholicsto flee to the United States an d join the westward movement. In 1850 Catholics constituted on ly 5% of the total U.S. population. By 1906, 14million out of 82 million people (17%) in the country were Catholics (Byrne, 200 0). Other Religious Groups Although the migration of many religious groups are well know n, fewer people are aware of the large migration of Mormon, A mish, Jewish,Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, and other religious grou ps to America and westward. For instance, Buddhism came to th e West by way of Chineseimmigrants starting in the mid- 19th century, with the first Buddhist temple constructed in San Francisco in 1853 and the construction ofhundreds of temples a nd shrines by the end of the century (Pluralism Project, n.d.). A dditionally, Hasia R. Diner writes that as early as 1880,San Fran cisco had the second largest Jewish population in the country, o
- 84. utnumbered only byNew York City (as cited in Naparsteck, 201 2). The Concept of Manifest Destiny After the War of Independence, a popular sentiment in the Unite d States became that of manifest destiny— a term first coined in 1845 bypolitical and literary commentator John O’Sullivan in an article supporting the annexation of Texa s as a state and ending Mexico’s claim to thearea. He used the t erm again in support of the annexation of the Oregon Territory when he wrote, “That claim is by right of our manifestdestiny to overspread and to possess the whole of the continent which Pro vidence has given us for the development of the great experimen tof liberty and federated self- government entrusts to us” (as cited in Naparsteck, 2012, pp. 5– 6). Today, the term manifest destiny often has the negative connota tion of genocide, greed, empire building, and cultural bigotry. A lthough someaspects of this connotation are deserved, the conce pt of manifest destiny was originally predicated on the belief th at the land of NorthAmerica was ordained by God to provide rel igious and political freedom for the new settlers. This belief bec ame one of the most importantvalues in the culture of the new n ation. Manifest destiny was also seen as a means to ensure natio nal security by ending Mexican governmentcontrol of vast stretc hes of territory west of the Rocky Mountains, as well as Britain’ s joint claim with the United States to territory west of theRock y Mountains known as the Oregon Territory that now separates western Canada and the United States. The United States began to fulfill its manifest destiny by securi ng western lands through a variety of means. In 1803 it negotiat ed theLouisiana Purchase from France and obtained a large swat h of territory that is now all or part of 15 U.S. states. Figure 6.2 shows how thepresent- day continental United States was divided into various territorie s and holdings by 1810. Texas was later annexed after it wonind ependence from Mexico in 1836. The United States also secured
- 85. land through purchasesof Spanish possessions in the West, trea ties withvarious Native American tribes, and a claim to the disp uted territory known as the Oregon Country in the Pacific North west. Figure 6.2: Territories of North America, 1810 In 1810 North America was divided into several territories and holdings. The recently established United Stateshad acquired se veral territories in the West, but Spain and Britain still possesse d large tracts of land in the Southand North. One major consequence of manifest destiny was its effect on the status of Native American tribes. Andrew Jackson, who embrac ed theconcept, became president of the United States in 1829. O ver the objections of Abraham Lincoln and many others, Jackso n lobbied forCongress to approve the Indian Removal Act of 18 30, which removed tribes from the southeastern United States an d sent them to the West.The first of many tribes, the Choctaw, C reek, Cherokee, Seminole, and Chickasaw, were forced off their lands in Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia,North Carolina, and Flo rida and required to relocate on foot more than 1,000 miles to w hat is now Oklahoma. Over the course of 16 years,other Native Americans were forcibly removed from their homelands. Their t rek west changed tribal identities in fundamental ways and isno w referred to as the Trail of Tears. Cultural identities were lost, the connection of the Native Americans to their land was broken , and manytribal members died along the way or were forced int o great poverty at their destinations. Economics and Other Factors in Westward Migration Huntington Library/SuperStock The California gold rush, which began in 1848, accelerated thes pread of culture and religion across North America. The promise of homes and jobs in the West, and possibly riches as a resultof the California gold rush, accounted for much of the population’smovement westward in the 19th century. Plentiful j obs in the mining andrailroad industries played a significant rol
- 86. e. Other economicfactors cameinto play as well. One of these was the availability of cheap land, which attracted speculatorsand families who were too poor to afford the more ex pensive land in theEast. Additionally, the federal government of fered economic incentives forAmerican citizens to populate the West and to prevent countries such asSpain, France, and Englan d from establishing rival claims to the land. Finally, Southern slave owners wanted to increase their represen tation inCongress by adding more slaveholding states, an import ant factor inAmerican migration into Texas. Other people travel ed west for adventureor for a more hospitable climate.6.4 Natio nal Culture and American Identity What is American culture? Substantial disagreement exists amo ng historians and social scientists on the answer to this question . Somescholars even resist attempts to define a single culture fo r the country, arguing instead for a multicultural approach. How ever, it is possible toidentify some characteristics that were fou ndational to American thought and the formation of the republic . Evolution of a Founding Mythology While Jamestown, Virginia, was the first British colony in Amer ica and the seat of American self- government, there is less known about thatcolony and about the notion that the nation was founded by the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts, where the first Thanksgiving issaid to hav e taken place. Professor James Horn (2005) believes that a rival ry emerged after the American Revolutionary War between then orthern states of New England and the southern states. This riva lry, which eventually led to the Civil War (1861– 1865), caused the tworegions to develop separate founding myth s and vastly different cultural values. The northern region, argues Horn (2005), created its founding m yth based on the hardy, God-fearing, independent, and self- governing cultureof the Massachusetts Pilgrims, who separated f rom England much earlier than the rest of the nation and, as a c
- 87. ommunal group, madetheirown way in the New World. When th e colony was threatened by surrounding Native American tribes, they created formal and politicalalliances with other scattered c olonies and plantations in Massachusetts and Connecticut to for m the United Colonies of New England andinstituted repressive policies and regulations against the tribes (Little, 2007). The southern states, on the other hand, developed a distinctive c ulture based on the paternalism of the mother country, England, as well as onthe chivalry, honor, and virtue valued by the James town gentlemen. The story of the conversion of Pocahontas to C hristianity and hermarriage to the settler John Rolfe at Jamesto wn were also symbolic of the acquiescence of the Native Ameri cans, and later the Africans, to theways and ethos of colonial so ciety. After the Civil War, posits Horn (2005), the North led the South in economic, urban, and cultural development, and the northern myth almostcompletely eclipsed that of the South and became s ynonymous with America’s founding. Additionally, he argues, h istorians were primarilytrained in northern universities and cons tructed a national memory that emphasized the centrality of Ne w England Puritans as the root ofAmerican society. They were d escribed as forward looking, progressive, and modern, whereas t he South was considered “a social and culturalbackwater haunte d by the ghosts of a discredited past” (Horn, 2005, p. 290). Karen Ordahl Kupperman, a professor of history at New York U niversity, however, has a different theory. In her article “Ameri ca’s FoundingFictions,” Kupperman (2007) states that our natio nal mythmakers have formulated the positive story of the pious Pilgrims and the firstThanksgiving at Plymouth from more comp licated, less pure events. In her view, American history often be gins with the Pilgrims becausetheir experiences have been mold ed to offer a more acceptable foundation story than the actual fa cts. That is, it is more palatable for us tothink that we are desce nded from a humble and saintly band of religiously motivated a nd communal people who wanted nothing more thanthe freedom to worship God. “The individualistic, grasping capitalists of Vir
- 88. ginia,” she writes,“offer much less appealing antecedents”(Kup perman, 2007, para. 7). The reality of history continues to be debated. Kupperman (200 7) writes that in Jamestown, the Virginia Company was dismaye d by the highdeath rate and disorder of the colony in the first co uple of years and imposed martial law— with the death penalty ordered for almost anyinfraction. Martial law stabilized the colony, but it could not foster true communit y development or create a thriving economy. So the VirginiaCo mpany began to substitute incentives for iron- fisted control. The land was divided among the colonists, and th e representative governmentput in place in 1619 offered young i ndividuals the opportunity to work as indentured servants for a number of years and eventually to owntheir own land. Every col ony from that point forward, Kupperman writes, adopted this sa me pattern. Even the Pilgrims, who began in 1620 asa communa l experiment, demanded division of the land after 4 years and be gan to disperse into family groups. Since that time, from the Westward migration to the present day , believed Kupperman (2007), people have moved across the cou ntry inpursuit of the dream of land ownership. In doing so, of co urse, the tragic downside was that as they created farms and citi es, they destroyedhunting and agricultural economy and forced t he native populations, largely Native Americans, off their lands. And ownership of land soonextended to ownership of labor, as Native Americans and Africans were enslaved in both New Engl and and in the South. The truth of U.S.history is that it produce d both winners and losers. A Belief in Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness The North American colonies inherited from Britain strong elem ents of a national cultural identity based on a Protestant ethic an d belief inlaw, liberty, and representative government— principles that were incorporated into the U.S. Constitution. Ad ditionally, lacking a feudaltradition and an aristocracy, the conc ept that Americans (or, at least, White American men) were “cre
- 89. ated equal” andhad the right to “life,liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” were also founding principles that were expressed in the country’s Declaration of Independence. These factors have been advanced by many scholars as the fund amental differences between the political traditions and culture of the UnitedStates and those of countries in Europe. Coupled w ith the belief that America had been specially “chosen” by God, history, or destiny, theygave the United States a national missio n. This mission was inscribed on the republic’s Great Seal as “N ovus Ordo Seclorum,” or “A New Orderfor the Ages” (Lieven, 2 005). It also gave rise to the concept of American exceptionalis m— the belief that the United States is unique andqualitatively diffe rent from other countries. American Exceptionalism In 1831 young French aristocrat and political thinker Alexis de Tocqueville made a 9- month journey through America to study the evolvingnation. In the publication of his comprehensive two- volume book Democracy in America in 1835, Tocqueville was t he first to use the term exceptional to describe the American de mocracy. Although the book was published nearly 200 years ago, it contin ues to be referenced by scholars today to understand the strengt hs andweaknesses of American democracy. Some of the factors t hat led Tocqueville to believe in America’s exceptionalism are l isted in Table 6.1.Table 6.1: Factors driving American exceptio nalism Factor Description Independence The principle of the sovereignty of America’s people. Tocquevil le viewed independence as a fundamentalprinciple of American society and the starting point for understanding American cultur e.
- 90. The power ofthe people People as the supreme power in the country and the perpetual in fluence of their opinions, prejudices,interests, and passions on t he society. This was antithetical to European concepts of govern ment, in whichcitizens did not have power against a strong centr al government that spurned all attempts at localindependence. The political power of thejudiciary The right of judges to base their decisions on the Constitution a nd to ignore the law if they believe it to beunconstitutional. The sovereign states and afederal government The establishment in the Constitution of two completely indepe ndent social structures of sovereign statesand a federal governm ent. The unlimited power of themajority The system by which the majority select others to represent the m as executive leaders, in the publicbusiness of the state and fe deral legislatures, and as judges and jurors to punish all offense s against thelaws. Tocqueville saw the two chief weapons these parties use to influence people as the public press andthe format ion of associations. Freedom and influence of thepress The independence of the press from any control over the express ion of opinion or the conduct of itsbusiness. Unlimited associations The ability of the American people to freely associate around an y issue, passion, or concern. Tocquevillewas amazed by the fact that Americans freely form associations and rely on themselves to get things done. Source: Based on Tocqueville, A. (1835). Democracy in Americ a (Vol. 1 of 2). H. Reeve (Trans.). [E- book #815]. Released January 21, 2006; last updated February 7 , 2013. Retrieved from http://www.gutenberg.org/files/815/815- h.htm In World War I U.S. president Woodrow Wilson gave prominen ce to the idea of American exceptionalism by declaring “Americ a had theinfinite privilege of fulfilling her destiny and saving th
- 91. e world” (ascited in Lieven, 2005, p. 33). Although the term American exceptionalism does not necessaril y imply superiority, it has often been interpreted that way. It ha s been bothapplauded as the power of American patriotism and America’s mission to lead the world in responsible action, and d isparaged as a form ofmoral self- righteousness and contempt for world opinion. These two oppos ing viewpoints have been used both to justify U.S. intervention inworld affairs and to argue against it. Historians Foner and McGirr (2011) argue that American except ionalism does rely on some partial truths. One truth is that many Britishcolonists did find more land, greater prosperity, and hig her status than they could have achieved in their mother countri es. On the other hand,America also lacked the aristocrats preval ent in British society, creating a social vacuum that enabled suc cessful lawyers, merchants, andplanters to form an elite social c lass that favored commercial enterprise and capitalist values rat her than one’s bloodline. Many of the ideasabout what it means to be an American are a combination of fact and fiction. Accord ing to what Foner and McGirr call the United States’“national o rigin myth” (p. 7), colonists escaped from the rigid customs, soc ial hierarchies, and constrained resources of Europe into anabun dant land of challenges and opportunities, threw off the chains o f British rule, and became a unique independent, entrepreneurial , andegalitarian republic in the world. In fact, colonial conditions produced an unprecedented mixing o f radically diverse peoples under stressful circumstances for all. Thousandsof colonists worked hard and died early as a result of diseases and hostility from the native people— and those who succeeded often did so bydestroying Native Ame rican habitats and exploiting tribal members as indentured serva nts, along with African slaves. Everyone had to adaptto a new w orld and find ways to coexist. What is also generally acknowledged is that the United States’ e arly history was often written from a perspective that emphasize d thecontributions of the European settlers (primarily the Britis
- 92. h) and eitherignored the contributions of other ethnic groups or , as Foner andMcGirr (2011) suggest, cast them as relevant only as enemies or as challenges to be overcome. Many contemporar y historians haveattempted, through their research and writing, t o correct this Eurocentric view of American history. The American Dream Fuse/Thinkstock Home ownership is often a symbol of havingachieved the Ameri can dream. Another core American belief is the American dream, which can be defined as the beliefthat, in the United States, people are not assigned to a social class at birth, and they can risein society as far as their talents and hard work will take them. The origin of the American dream as a concept is unknown. Ho wever, some scholars see it asrepresentative of our unique egalit arian and populist culture, elements of Americanexceptionalism, and a defining characteristic of American culture and character. Historian Jim Cullen (2003), for example, points out that unlike Europe, America had noaristocracy. We were “born free,” in To cqueville’s view, to seek the promise of theDeclaration of Indep endence: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. In fact, Cull en notes,the meaning of the American dream exists in many vari ations— from the Puritans’ andPilgrims’ view of religious freedom, to th e founding fathers’ dream of political freedom, toMartin Luther King Jr.’s dream of racial equality, to an ordinary citizen’s drea m of uppermobility, financial success, or a “good life.” Rags-to- riches tales of individuals who built fortunes after arriving penn iless in the UnitedStates constitute many heroic tales of the dev elopment of American industry andcommercial business. These beliefs and values create a fundamental belief in the triumph oft he heroic individual and also might be considered foundational principles of the nation’sculture. The result of all these factors,
- 93. says one historian,is “a remarkably homogenous,continuous, ba sically unchanging, universally held civic nationalist ideology” (Lieven, 2005,p. 22). While beliefs in life, liberty, and the purs uit of happiness— along with the concept ofAmerican exceptionalism and aspects of the American dream— may have created a unifiedideology in the nation, it did not prec lude the development of very distinct regionalsubcultures in diff erent parts of the country.Founding Mythology and National Cul ture in a Multicultural Nation The founders’ belief in divine providence in the establishment o f the United States is reflected in many aspects of its culture. T hesereferences include the phrase “one nation, under God” in th e Pledge of Allegiance, “in God we trust” engraved on paper mo ney, andreferences to God in many patriotic songs. Critical Thinking Question 1. Given the present diversity of the United States, where many rel igious traditions are part of the cultural mosaic, shouldreference s to “God” be eliminated, or do they represent founding principl es that are important to preserving a strong nationalculture and sense of identity for U.S. citizens? Why or why not? 2. 6.5 American Regional Subcultures 3. Although some might argue the existence of a unified national c ulture in the United States today, elements of regional subcultur es are readilyapparent. Differences in settlement patterns allowe d regional distinctions to develop as the country grew and chang ed. The existence ofEuropean (British, Spanish, French, and Dut ch) and African settlers in early colonization, as well as the infl uence of later settlers andimmigrants from Asia (primarily from China) and other parts of Europe (including Ireland, Italy, Germ any, and Poland), created additionalregional variation further nu anced by the mix of immigrants with varied backgrounds (Boere e, 2004).
- 94. 4. Generally, people settledin groups, not as randomly dispersed i ndividuals. Where they settled, immigrants continued to express theirpreferences within their local areas, and they had significa nt cultural impacts. Culturally dominant groups in various geogr aphic areas wereable to institutionalize their cultural preference s. 5. The impact of dominant groups is evident in the racial– ethnic identities of a region’s inhabitants and in their religious beliefs; culturalpreferences in food, entertainment, and social ac tivities; and responses to the environment (Lieske, 2010). For a n individual traveling fromone region of the United States to an other, differences between the West Coast, the East Coast, the Midwest, and the South can, in many cases,seem as great as thos e among nations. 6. Cultures can be examined from many different perspectives. So me of the most obvious and commonly noted U.S. regional cultu ral differencesare in food, religious and moral values, social act ivities, and language. For instance, Lieske (2010) used U.S. Cen sus Bureau data to studychanges in selected nonpolitical compo nents of regional subcultures of people who live in geographic p roximity to one another. His findingsshow that cultural elements are dispersed in clusters across the country and represent a gro wing fragmentation of cultural groups. 7. In other words, although we can discern some specific cultural d ifferences among people in geographic regions such as the easte rn, southern,and western United States, clusters of people have migrated from their regions of origin to other geographic region s of the country and havecarried their cultural preferences with t hem—resulting in clusters of cultural identity across the nation. 8. With the aforementioned caveats in mind, however, Lieske’s (20 10) study does reflect some clear changes from earlier and simil ar studiesregarding trends in U.S. diversity. First, he found that
- 95. a substantial majorityof Americans (about 68%) now live in co unties with racially andethnically diverse populations. Thus, it i s likely that social and political differences among communities and states will increasingly come toreflect these cultural differ ences. 9. Age is also a factor in changing American diversity. The greates t cultural changes are occurring in large metropolitan areas and in the Westand Southwest and are accompanied by a growing fli ght of aging baby boomers to less congested, safer, and more liv able communities alongthe Atlantic, Gulf, and Pacific coasts. It remains to be seen how these changes will ultimately affect the American character. 10. American Regional Language and Dialects 11. Culture is primarily communicated through language, a feature t hat tends to unify a group of people even as it includes variation anddeviation. As Chapter 9 discusses, there are a number of rea sons it is important to reflect on language as an element of diver sity. Foremost,regional language and dialect is often used to jud ge people in society. There are preconceived notions that indivi duals hold about accent andits meaning. Additionally, over time , perceptions of these languages and dialects have shifted. Some accents or dialects may have once beenconsidered cultured, elit e, or cosmopolitan but later morphed to be seen as urban culture or even uneducated. 12. American English was originally derived from 17th- century British English, but it was heavily influenced by initial regional settlementpatterns in different parts of the United State s. These patterns resulted in three major regional speech dialect s in the eastern United States:northern, southern, and Midland s peech (with northern and southern Midland developing some dis tinctions from each other). Theselanguage dialects include diffe rences in vocabulary and in phonology, the way the language so unds. 13.
- 96. Aspects of theindigenous Native American culture and languag e in each of these areas were also adopted and became part of th e language ofeach region, including numerous names for North American places, animals, and plants (Boeree, 2004). 14. Eastern U.S. Language Dialects 15. 16. AP Photo/Michael Dwyer 17. In 2014 the Massachusetts Department of Transportationmimick ed Bostonians’ speech patterns in traffic signs to helpencourage drivers to use their auto turn signals. 18. The areas around Boston and New York maintained strong com mercial andcultural ties to England. Residents there looked to L ondon for guidance onthe latest fashion trends and for what was considered “high class.” So in thelate 1700s and early 1800s, w hen r- dropping began to be popular amongLondon’s upper classes, it s pread quickly to the upper class residents ofthese areas and pers ists to the present day. 19. However, in the language of central Pennsylvania, the Scots Iris h and theGermans kept their heavy r’s. German immigrants heav ily influenced thelanguage of central Pennsylvania, Minnesota, and the Dakotas, while theScots Irish strongly affected the city dialects of the North (Boeree, 2004). 20. Native American tribes in these geographic areas contributed th e words bayou (Choctaw), chipmunk (Algonquin), hickory (Alg onquin), and opossum(Powhatan) to American vocabulary. 21. Southern U.S. Language Dialects 22. The American South was heavily influenced by slave speech hab its thatwere partially based on original African languages and p artially on thecreoles, or mixtures of parent languages (includin g French) that spreadfrom the African coast and the West Indies
- 97. . 23. Many words inAmerican vocabulary today were brought by slav es from the Caribbean, including the words barbecue, canoe, hur ricane, and potato, and African slaves contributed the words gu mbo, okra, and yam (Boeree, 2004). 24. Western U.S. Language Dialects 25. Western expansion resulted in development of a western dialect in the late 1800s, which was a blend of different dialects but wa s influencedprimarily by northern Midland speech. The western dialect was also affected by the influx of words from original N ative American languagesof the West, Spanish- speaking populations, and immigrant Chinese (mostly Cantones e). 26. Some words of Spanish or native Mexican or Central American origin include avocado, chili, chocolate, mesquite, and tomato; i mmigrantChinese contributed the words lo mein, ketchup, and w ok. 27. Resultant Differences Among U.S. Dialects 28. These influences created unique differences in vocabulary and p honology around the United States. If you have traveled from on e part of thecountry to another, you may have noticed that the n ames of items vary in different parts of the country. Figure 6.3 i s a map of the UnitedStates that illustrates the regional dialects of American English. 29. Figure 6.3: Regional dialects of American English 30. American English has multiple dialects, and many are associate d with a geographic region of the country. 31. 32. Source: Dialects of English. Copyright © 2004 C. George Boere e. Used with permission.
- 98. 33. Table 6.2 liststhe vocabulary differences in these dialects for a popular American sandwich and carbonated beverage. 34. Table 6.2: Vocabulary differences in dialects of American Engli sh Food type Region of the United States Sandwich hero New York hoagie Philadelphia grinder Boston poor boy South submarine or sub West Carbonatedbeverage tonic Boston soda North and north Midland east of the SusquehannaRiver pop North and north Midland west of the SusquehannaRiver cold drink South and south Midland
- 99. coke (also cola,soft drink, soda pop, soda water, andphosphate) Rhode Island 35. Source: Dialects of English. Copyright © 2004 C. George Boere e. Used with permission. 36. Perceptions of American Speech Patterns 37. Some people believe that their speech is normal and that others speak with a strange vocabulary or accent. The truth is that we a ll speak adialect of our native language. Dialects and accents ref lect the diversity of a country, and they can make one’s speech i nteresting and unique.However, a number of prejudices exist co ncerning certain dialects, and some are socially favored while ot hers are disfavored. Additionally,some speech is considered mor e standard than others (From Sea to Shining Sea, 2005). 38. Appalachian and African American Vernacular English 39. Some dialects are consistently seen as substandard by many Am ericans: various Appalachian dialects and African American Ver nacularEnglish (AAVE), also known as Black English or Ebonic s (Boeree, 2004). These dialects have grammatical differences t hat make them soundlike improper English to many Americans, yet it can be debated that what is wrong to one group may be ac ceptable to another. People whospeak one of several dialects fro m states bordering the Appalachian Mountains, for example, ma y use the terms us’ns and you’ns for the words we and you. Add itionally, most Appalachian dialects and AAVE include slang an d double negatives (“He ain’t got none”), double comparativesa nd superlatives (“more bigger”), and nonstandard use of past ten se (“He stealed” and “I seen”) (Boeree, 2004). 40. Linguists trace the origins of AAVE to the Gullah language that slaves in Georgia and the Carolinas developed when their nativ e African Niger– Congo language came into contact with English. The verb to be is not conjugated in the Niger–
- 100. Congo language asit is in English. Instead of “Heis rich” or “Sh e has been married for a long time,” AAVE speakers say “He be rich” or “She bin married a long time.” Additionally, in the Nig er– Congo language, the th sound at the end of some words is prono unced like f, as in wif instead of with (Lakoff, 2001). 41. The origin of the Appalachian dialects is unknown. The Appalac hian region covers what is now 10 U.S. states that were settled a t differentperiods in different places and under different circum stances. 42. Standard American English 43. Language usage is often an indicator of social status within a cu lture. In early colonial times a Boston, New York, or Virginia a ccent marked aperson as a gentleman or a lady. In the early 190 0s a suburban New York accent was highly prized (Boeree, 2004 ). In the contemporaryUnited States, the version of American En glish spoken among well- educated professionals, taught in most American schools, and us ed inprofessional oral and written communications is a speech p attern called Standard American English (SAE). This speech pat tern is also theone we commonly hear on national television and radio news broadcasts and is taught in college broadcasting cou rses. It does not seem to bestrongly associated with any particul ar area of the country, although those who are not from the Mid west often call it midwestern speech(Napoli, 2003). 44. Television commentator Katie Couric was born and raised in Vi rginia and Brian Williams in New Jersey. However, because of t heir training inSAE, there is rarely a hint of regional dialect in t heir pronunciation of words. In 2005 comedian and journalist St ephen Colbert wasinterviewed on National Public Radio and wa s asked about his diction. He explained: 45. I grew up in the South, but I don’t have a Southern accent, not b
- 101. ecause I don’tlike Southern accents. . . . I mean it issort of sad that I don’t have a Southern accent. . . . But, as a kid, I would lo ok at TV and I would see that Southernpeople or people with So uthern accents were portrayed as being stupid, and I didn’t want to seem stupid. I wanted toseem smart, and so I remember think ing that I wanted to talk like news people because they seemed s mart and highstatus. . . . It was a choice I made when I was still in knee pants. (NPR, 2005) 46. 6.6 A Glimpse at U.S. Diversity in the 20th Century 47. Political and economic shifts can frame generations of people w ho hold strong beliefs about the future of the world. Whereas ot her chaptersgo into greater detail about these historical events, t his chapter provides a historical framework for the events that l ed to many of today’sprejudicial belief systems. As learned in e arlier chapters, diversity is more than race, gender, and ethnicit y. Diversity is shaped by the complexmix of peoples’ lived expe riences, beliefs, and biases. 48. The Early Decades (1900–1940) 49. By 1920 the U.S. census indicated that for the first time most A mericans lived in places defined as “urban.” However, almost h alf still residedon farms or in towns populated with fewer than 2 ,500 people— and most did not have access to transportation like cars or passe nger trains.In that year only one third of the homes had electrici ty, and basic tasks such as cooking, cleaning, and other housew ork consumed between 60and 70 hours a week (Storch, 2013). 50. Almost half of the male population (45%) in 1920 labored in mi nes, construction, transportation, or manufacturing industries; t he rest wereprimarily farmers. Skilled male workers clocked an average of 50.4 hours a week, and the unskilled put in 53.7 hour s a week. Workers, as awhole, earned an average of between $4 13 and $600 per year. 51.
- 102. Steel mills, however,required workers to work 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, including one 24- hour continuous shift. These workers had only1 day off every 2 weeks, and overtime was unknown. Low wages were exacerbate d by dangerous working conditions and job insecurity;workers a lso faced recessions and seasonal factory shutdowns. 52. Mill employees generally endured these conditions because thei r jobs were perpetually in jeopardy: Huge waves of immigration from Europemeant a fresh supply of people was always availabl e to work longer hours for less money. Before the 1930s loss of a job was particularlystressful because the federal government o ffered no unemployment insurance or public welfare. 53. It was rare for women to have paid employment in 1920, but if t hey did, most earned wages by doing piecework in their home— sewing orrepairing garments for which they were paid for each piece they completed. Others took in boarders; cooked for other, more affluent families;or took in laundry or ironing. Those few who were employed outside the home worked in low- paid clerical, service, and sales jobs (Storch,2013). 54. In 1929 the Great Depression provided the context for major cha nges in the workplace in the 1930s and 1940s. These included th e creationof labor unions; federal legislation concerning workin g hours, rest breaks, and some protections for workers’ rights; a nd the creation offederal boards and agencies to monitor workpl ace conditions. 55. World War II and Its Aftermath (1941–1950) 56. World War II transformed the United States in profound ways. Besides the terrible loss of lives and the almost unanimous spiri t of Americannationalism that arose in response to the Japanese attack on the American fleet at Pearl Harbor, the war ushered in a period of tremendousindustrial expansion and prosperity in th e country. It ended the Great Depression and created a new era
- 103. of employment inthe war effort;swelled the workforce by the e mployment of the young, elderly, minorities, and most importan tly, several million women who entered theworkforce for the fir st time; and it grew personal incomes by as much as 100% or m ore (Brinkley, 1997). 57. The Upheavals of Midcentury (1950–1979) 58. After World War II the United States entered a lengthy period o f political tension with its former wartime ally, the Soviet Unio n, which wasessentially over the two countries’ conflicting visio ns (communism and capitalism) for a postwar world. That perio d, which became known asthe Cold War, resulted in a heated po litical climate and a new wave of insecurity. With this came ma ss emigrations throughout the world, withpeople fleeing nations in hopes of safety and freedom. 59. The decades of the 1950s through the 1970s saw numerous uphe avals and changes. The Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the t urbulentsociety of the 1960s occurred during that time frame. A s further detailed in Chapter 7, at the same time, various cultura l groups mobilized inthe Native American movement, Hispanic activism, civil rights movement, women’s liberation movement, and lesbian, gay, bisexual,transgender (LGBT) rights movement . 60. To provide some perspective on the turmoil taking place during the decades of the 1950s to 1970s, the Watergate scandal that re sulted inPresident Richard M. Nixon’s resignation in 1974 also t ook place during that time frame, as well as the beginnings of te nsions in the MiddleEast with the holding of American diplomat ic hostages in Iran. 61. The Latter Years of the 20th Century (1980–2000) 62. By the time the 1980s and 1990s arrived, the American econom y had begun another radical transformation that included new m iracles oftechnology and new wealth for those who were talente
- 104. d or fortunateenough to profit from the growth areas. Increasin g numbers ofAmericans found it difficult to live well, even in t wo-income households. 63. The increasingly unequal distribution of wealth and income bec ame a driving political issue when globalization also came to th e forefront ofAmerica’s economic issues. Up to that time, the U. S. economy had been relatively insulated from foreign competiti on. During the 1980s and1990s, however, America had the large st trade imbalance in its history, meaning that it was importing much more than it was exporting.American jobs began to disapp ear as companies lost market share and foreign competition cut i nto almost every American industry. ThoseAmerican companies that remained began outsourcing jobs to reduce labor costs, and foreign investors began to appear within the Americaneconomy. 64. At the same time, the country began enormous demographic cha nges, with more than 6 million legal immigrants and uncounted, but largenumbers, who arrived illegally. The Immigration Refor m Act of 1965 had eliminated quotas based on national origin, a nd newcomers from allover the world were generally admitted, with Hispanics and Asians accounting for the largest groups. In 1994 the three largest groups offoreign- born Americans, respectively, were Mexicans, Filipinos, and Cu bans (Brinkley, 1997). 65. The United States Today 66. The United States in the 21st century is a vastly different place from its founding nearly 240 years ago. Critical issues related t o diversity inthe United States today are income inequality and ongoing changes in demographics. 67. Income Inequality 68. As Chapter 5 discussed, one of the most contentious issues in th e country over the past 40 years has been the large and growing disparitybetween the rich and the poor, as well as its impact on
- 105. American culture, includingall individuals, societies, and cultur es. Income inequality isimportant in the discussion of diversity because diversity is more than race and ethnicity— diversity examines all the ways in which we aredifferent, includ ing inequitable access to income. 69. Economist Paul Krugman suggests that prior to the 1930s, inco me was unequally distributed in the United States. He posits tha t the wealthyheld political power; working Americans were divi ded by race, religion, and cultural issues; and public policy did little to limit the extremes ofwealth and poverty. This “Long Gil ded Age,” as Krugman (2007) calls it, existed until the rich beg an to lose ground while working Americanssaw unprecedented g ains in income. 70. A number of factors contributed to this more even distribution o f income. These factors included the stock market crash of 1929 , whichwiped out the assets of many of the affluent; the creation of a series of domestic programs by President Franklin D. Roos evelt called the NewDeal; the rise in labor unions as a result of New Deal policies; and World War II. 71. When World War II ended in 1945 and men returned home and r eentered the workforce, many women continued to work as well. However,as Chapter 7 will discuss, they often experienced cons iderable prejudice and discrimination for “taking jobs away fro m men.” Overall,however, the period of 1945 through the late 1 970s was one of relative prosperity, enabling a strong middle cl ass to develop in the UnitedStates. This period was also a time o f relative political bipartisanship, with members of both politica l parties, Democrat and Republican,agreeing on basic values and cooperating across party lines (Krugman, 2007). 72. Then a divergence occurred at the end of the 1970s. Between 19 79 and 2005, the real income of the median household rose only 13%, but theincome of the richest 0.1% of Americans rose 296
- 106. %. Krugman (2007)believes the disparity was driven by politica l change and a moreconservative political ideology. 73. However, others argue that the rise in income inequality in the United States since 1980 has more complex precedents, such as unequalinherited wealth, unequal wage rates arising from unequ al abilities and/or unequal education or training, and a preferenc e for leisure overthe acquisition of material goods. Additionally , racial and sexual discrimination in employment and wages figu re into the equation, along withthe influence of powerful trade u nions to alter wage rates, variances based on age and wage earn ers’ positions at different stages of the lifecycle, and the concen tration of poverty in the inner cities (Madden, 2000). 74. Still others attribute the cause of income inequality to other fact ors. They suggest that a complex combination of technological c hange,international trade, changes in labor market participation, the increasing role of the financial sector in the economy, the i ncreased size ofmarkets, and a decrease in the degree of progres sivity of taxes are to blame (Dadush, Dervis, Milsom, & Stancil, 2012). These factors are aglobal trend, but they have been espe cially pronounced in the United States because of its economic advancement. 75. Although reasons remain unclear, statistics show that income in equality in the United States has increased dramatically since th e late 1970s(see Figure 6.4). The trend is toward concentration of income at the top, little or no progress for the middle, and pr ecariousness at the bottomof the income distribution ladder. The problem is now at the center of political and social debate, alon g with discussion of whether and howthe inequality can be resol ved. 76. Figure 6.4: Growing income equality in the United States, 1980 –2010 77.
- 107. Since the late1970s the United States has experienced a sharp i ncrease in income inequality between the top 1%and the rest of the population. This graph shows the cumulative growth in aver age inflation-adjusted marketincome by group. 78. 79. Source: Congressional Budget Office. (2014). The distribution o f household income and federal taxes, 2011. Retrieved from http s://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/cbofiles/attachments/49440- Distribution-of-Income-and-Taxes.pdf 80. Ongoing Demographic Changes 81. Figure 6.5: Concentration of Hispanicpopulation in the United S tates 82. More than half of those who identify as Hispanic, Latino, or ofS panish origin in the United States are located in just threestates: California, Texas, and Florida. 83. 84. Source: Ennis, S. R., Rios- Vargas, M., & Albert, N. G. (2011, May). TheHispanic populati on: 2010. 2010 Census Briefs, C2010BR- 04. U.S. CensusBureau, U.S. Department of Commerce. Retriev ed from http://www.census.gov/prod/cen 2010/briefs/c2010br- 04.pdf 85. An important factor in the changing culture of the United States is that the country’sdemographics have continued to change. O n July 1, 2002, a historic milestone wasreached. The U.S. Censu s Bureau reported that the Hispanic population reached 38.8mill ion, and Hispanics— a heterogeneous group that includes individuals withcountries o f origin in Spain, Mexico, Central or South America, and the Ca ribbean— outnumbered Blacks as the country’s largest minority group for the first time sincethe government began tracking the nation’s p
- 108. opulation more than2 centuries ago (ElNasser, 2003). 86. According to the 2010 census, 50.5 million people resided in th e United States in2010 who identified as Hispanic, Latino, or of Spanish origin (Ennis, Rios- Vargas, &Albert, 2011). This was an increase from 35.3 million on the 2000 census. Despiteexperiencing growth in all states in t he United States, the 2010 census reported thatover half of the Hispanic population remained concentrated in just three states:C alifornia, Texas, and Florida (see Figure 6.5). 87. Other demographics grew significantly from 2000 to 2010, as sh own in Table 6.3.Although the Hispanic population may have su rpassed the Black population as thelargest minority in the Unite d States, the Asian population grew at a faster pace. And,althou gh the Black population is significantly larger than the Native A merican orAlaska Native population, it grew at a significantly sl ower pace. 88. Table 6.3: Population growth by select demographics, 2000– 2010 Demographic 2000 2010 Percentage increase Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish 35.3 million 50.5 million 43% Black (alone or in combination) 36.4 million 42 million 15.4% Asian (alone or in combination) 11.9 million 17.3 million 45.6%
- 109. Native American orAlaska Native (alone or in combination) 4.1 million 5.2 million 26.7% 89. Source: Based on data from Ennis, Rios- Vargas, & Albert, 2011; Hoeffel, Rastogi, Kim, & Shahid, 2012; Norris, Vines, & Hoeffel, 2012; Rastogi, Johnson, Hoeffel, & D rewery, 2011. 90. These demographic changes have important bearing on diversity in the United States. The diverse population that now constitute s the U.S.population adds both richness and continuing challeng es as society wrestles with social, political, and economic inequ ities and injustices;conflicts between opposing values and belief s; and solutions to the social issues and problems that arise whe never people from differentbackgrounds and traditions interact. Chapter 7 will examine some of these issues in more detail.Sum mary and Resources Chapter Summary · By the time European explorers encountered the continents of N orth and South America, indigenous groups had developed thrivi ngagricultural societies and substantial cities with extensive cul tural and religious structures. · Native American tribes throughout North America had significa nt societies focused on hunting, fishing, gathering, and farming. Thesesocieties had distinct histories, strong cultural traditions, and their own languages. · During the Age of Discovery, from the 1400s to the 1600s, mari ners from Portugal, Spain, England, France, and Holland explor ed thecoasts of North and South America and islands in the Cari bbean, while others explored and mapped the interior of the con tinents. TheAge of Discovery also marked the advent of the imp
- 110. osition of Europeanhegemony on the Americas. · The British, French, and Dutch established settlements in North America on the Eastern Seaboard and in the South. The Spanish movednorth from South and Central America into Mexico, the C aribbean Islands, Florida, other parts of the Southern coast, the Southwest, andthe Pacific coast. · The first British colonists arrived in Jamestown, Virginia, in 16 07, followed shortly by the Pilgrims at Plymouth, Massachusetts , and theSociety of Friends, who settled in Pennsylvania. These British colonies were founded for different purposes and develo ped vastlydifferent cultures and practices. However, their belief s and values formed the foundation for the development of the United States andthe American national culture. · Following the American Revolutionary War, the success of the Lewis and Clark expedition initiated a period of westward expa nsionknown as manifest destiny that continued through the 1800 s. Freedom of religion, land ownership, the riches of gold, adve nture, abetter climate, and other personal reasons were the prim ary impetus for many to move westward. · European settlers encroached on lands occupied for generations by indigenous peoples and, over time, precipitated the disruptio n ordestruction of many of these cultures, the enslavement of pe ople for economic purposes, and the assimilation of diverse peo ples into anew national identity. · Remnants of all the various groups that populated the United St ates exist in the country’s language and in aspects of regionalsu bcultures. · America’s development and the differences between American c ulture and political structure over time gave rise to a concept th atsomehow America was different from other countries and was
- 111. perhaps chosen byGod to occupy a special place among nations . · There are both positive and negative consequences of American exceptionalism in those who come to this country and strive to a chievethe American dream as well as in the origin myths that ha ve become part of the nation’s history. Many contemporary scho lars attemptto correct the myths and present a more balanced vie w of this country and its diverse population. · The 20th century experienced economic, political, and migratio n shifts that impacted people who lived during this time. Econo micinequalities mixed with opposing political beliefs deeply inf luenced people. Emerging social and structural stratification ma gnifiedinequalities and gave rise to many social movements. Reflections on Diversity Counting Human Beings—the U.S. Census Bureau How the United States understands its population and its role in the world is critical to the nation’s functionality. To this end, th e UnitedStates captures population statistics that are commonly used in decision making. The U.S. Census Bureau reports data o n race, gender, andpopulation statistics. However, it also plays a large role in how the U.S. government approaches everything f rom the number ofrepresentatives to its responsibility in the glo bal economy. The U.S. Constitution, Article I, Section 2 requires that the U.S. population be enumerated to determine the appropriate number ofrepresentatives to the House of Representatives. The concept was established to ensure apportion representation among states , and in 1790the U.S. Marshals enumerated the population of the “original 13 States, plus the districts of Kentucky, Maine, and Vermont, and the SouthwestTerritory (Tennessee)” (U.S. Censu s Bureau, 2014b). Who is counted as a “person” was determined by the head of the family and the numberof persons in each hou
- 112. sehold. In 1790those individuals fit the following descriptions: · Free White males of 16 years and upward (to assess the country’ s industrial and military potential) · Free White males under 16 years · Free White females · All other free persons · Slaves (U.S. Census Bureau, 2014b) Since that time, the government has seen how capturing informa tion from its citizens can serve many purposes. By 1810 the cen sus includedeconomic data of the “quantity and value of manufa ctured goods” (U.S. Census Bureau, 2014a, para. 1); in 1850 the collection of “socialstatistics” was added to include crime, edu cation, property values, and taxes; and in 1940 the census began inquiring about birth rates,migration, and veteran status (U.S. Census Bureau, 2014a). James Madison (U.S. president from 18 09 to 1817) suggested that the census askquestions about the nat ion’s needs, and layers of data have been collected to help the g overnment understand population needs andagricultural changes , and to provide economic data to help determine the role of the United States in foreign affairs and the global economy(U.S. Ce nsus Bureau, 2014a). Data collected over the years has been use d for everything from understanding the impact of the GreatDep ression to determining federal funding contracts and affirmative action policies. Today the U.S. Census Bureau helps identify the needs of a dive rse population around the globe. The bureau’s data not only ide ntifiespopulations in the United States but also partners with gl obal organizations through its Global Population Mapping and S patial Analysis data.In doing so it helps governments plan for e mergency AIDS relief measures in Africa or provides global ma ps that assist with the GlobalPositioning System (GPS) (U.S. Ce nsus Bureau, 2013). In fact, the GPS that many rely on every da y depends on the Census Bureau’sTopologically Integrated Geo graphic Encoding and Referencing (TIGER) system (U.S. Censu s Bureau, 2015, para. 2), which outlines cityneighborhoods, roa
- 113. ds, rivers, andrailroads through survey maps. Census Bureau da ta are also used to determine how much global spendingthe Unit ed States should account for. To better understand its place in the world, the United States rel ies on capturing information that helps clarify the needs of its ci tizens as wellas those in the world. In this way the Census Bure au supports the United States and the world in effectively suppo rting the growth of diversepopulations. Ask Yourself: 1. If the U.S. Census Bureau works with global agencies to gather and provide data, does that make the United States responsible f orproviding aid to the world? Does having data mean that one m ust act on the data? 2. The U.S. Census Bureau has a great breadth of information that can be used in many ways. How does better understanding, for e xample,global positioning, provide insight into diversity? 3. Think about the many ways we have defined culture and diversit y throughout this book. Name at least three functions of the U.S . CensusBureau that contribute to a conversation on diversity an d how they enhance that conversation. Discussion Questions 1. As you read in the chapter, Tocqueville believed that the United States had characteristics, independence, powers, and freedoms thatwere unrivaled by other countries. Some argue that Tocque ville’s American exceptionalism was about the U.S. being super ior to othercountries in the world; others argue it was about the U.S. being the most unique country in the world. Which is more accurate, theUnited States is a “superior” country or the “most unique”? Or are neither true? Provide contemporary examples to support yourargument.
- 114. 2. Not only doesthe English language have regional nuances, but t hose nuances also carry implications and stereotypes about level s ofeducation. Chapter 5 considered how having access to educa tion affects someone’s chances for success— the higher the education, themore opportunities. In many countr ies outside of the United States, English is taught as a second la nguage. Individuals from thosecountries come to the United Stat es and are judged because of their accents or the type of English they speak (British versus American),and some are accused of s peaking “broken English.” Does how one speaks English impact an individual’s ability to succeed in the UnitedStates? Discuss regional accents and countries of origin in your answer. 3. The concept of the American dream takes into account an indivi dual’s ability to achieve his or her desired social status. Consid ering theconcepts of American exceptionalism, income inequalit y, and changes to the U.S. population, define today’s American dream. Does theoriginal concept still exist? Is it dead, forgotten , or untrue? Explain your answer. 4. Discuss how the political and economic shifts that occurred in 2 0th- century United States impact people today. How do these chang esrelate to diversity within the United States? Additional Resources Web Links http://www.pbs.org/speak/seatosea/americanvarieties PBS: Do you speak American? American Varieties http://www.cal.org/areas-of-impact/language-culture-in-society Center for Applied Linguistics: Language & Culture in Society http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/12/05/u-s-income- inequality-on-rise-for -decades-is-now-highest-since-1928 Pew Research Center: U.S. Income Inequality, on Rise for Deca
- 115. des, Is NowHighest Since 1928 http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2014/10/02/349863761/40- years-of-income-inequality -in-america-in-graphs NPR: 40 Years of Income Inequality in America, in Graphs Key Terms American dream American exceptionalism hegemony manifest destiny Mesoamerica populist Standard American English (SAE)