ETHNIC AND RACIAL DIVERSITY IN THE US

Population in US: several different ethnic group – from many races, nationalities,
religions.
“Melting pot”: where various racial and ethnic groups have been combined into one
culture.
A MELTING POT
“Salad bowl”: the various groups have remained somewhat distinct and different
OR A SALAD
from one another, creating a richly diverse country.
BOWL
WHY discrimination? dominant culture, the people who are part of that culture
determine what society approves of and what society disapproves of.

WHITE POPULATION:
THE
- Protestant - WASPs = White Anglo-Saxon Protestants;
ESTABLISHMENT
- Western European;
OF THE
- Middle class
DOMINANT
DOMINANT CULTURE: freedom + equality opportunity + work hard
CULTURE
A threat to traditonal American values and way of life
English instruction for the new immigrants and citizenship classes to teach them basic
THE American beliefs
ASSIMILATION OF - Important needs: employment, food, and a place to live
NON- Many Americans disapproved of the “political bosses” (cities of northeastern US)
PROTESTANT - Basic American values: Freedom, self-reliance, and competition.
AND NON- - Helped to find them jobs and housing
WESTERN
EUROPEANS Rapidly expanding economy
- Accept values of the largest A culture
- Being a part of the culture A
Enslavement if Arican Americans:
- Southern State: black slavery – the basis economy
- Northern S: black slavery – slavery against the law

1861: South wanted their own nation because North was against slavery war
THE AFRICAN- 1863: Abraham Lincoln gave Emancipation Proclamation – freesom to slaves
AMERICAN EXP 1865: South surrender to North – the civil war ends

A Civil War: black slavery ended in US.

 The segregarion between whites and non-whites.
 Segregation: an extreme form of discrimination, where ppl are forced to
separate themselves based on the color of their skin.
CIVIL RIGHT Martin Lther King, Jr: a black minister
MOVEMENT OF Non-violent marches and demonstrations against segregation and other dorms of
THE 1950S – 1960S racial discriminations
1968: was assassinated by a gunman

CICIL RIGHT LAWS 1960S:

- Employers and universities actively seek black worker and students.
- The number of African A holding elective public office, earning higher
incomes increased dramatically.
- A sizable black middle class
 - A number of wealthy African A

2008: Barack Obama – the first black A president

 Remove racial segregation from public facilities in the South.
 Remove the barriers that has prevented black people from voting in that
region
THE CIVIL RIGHT MOVEMENT
All minorities: A Indians, Hispanics, Asians
Benefited: employment, housing, sexual orientation

DIVERSITY IN THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN 1ST AND 2ND GENERATION IMMIGRANTS

THE TWENTY- Today, immigrants with all kinds of backgrounds and skill levelsfind their way to the
FIRST CENTURY US:
- Highly education
- Find emloyment in fields: tech, medicine, science.
- Don’t want to become a US resident.

A is more so a mosaic.
A UNIVERSAL
Smaller units come together to make a beautiful picture.
NATION
Individual cultures integrate to create a larger, heterogeneous culture.
US is traditionally called a melting pot because with time, generations ofimmigrants
have melted together: they have abandoned their cultures to becometotally
assimilated into American society.

UK, where cultural diversity is considered a positive thing, immigrants have always
been encouraged to maintain their traditions and their nativelanguage. This model of
racial integration can be described as a salad bowl, with people of different cultures
ADD
living in harmony, like the lettuce, tomatoes, and carrots in a salad.

★ Melting pot societies encourage total assimilation.

★ Salad bowl societies respect cultural differences
★ Melting pot and Salad bowl are different models of integration.
★ Multicultural countries have different models of integration.
★Ethnic communities sometimes find it difficult to integrate.

HOW AMERICANS SPEND THEIR LEISURE TIME

SPORTS Reflect the basic values of society

ORGANISED BY Try to strengthen the values of society in ppl’s minds and emotions.
SOCIETY
Example equality of opportunity:
- Harry Edwards: learn the advantages + rewards of competitive system.
- Men and women compete in orgranized sports.

Americans ideal of competition: develop the habits you need to compete successfully
in later life → strengthens A society. Ex: future success of business/ military…

Competitive ethic:
- Hard work, physical courage
- Organised = inspiration for traditional A values: patriotism & national pride,
 religion & symbols; scandals

Corrupting power
- Excessive desire to win
- Weakens traditional American values <-> strengthens:
Fair play, following the rules, accepting defeat with dignity
Tradition of honorable defeat: consoling reward
Disorder and violence
- Head injuries (can cause brain damage) –
Eliminating competition in sports & society would result in laziness
COMPETITION - <-> hard work, accomplishment
CARRIED TO AN - ‘Organized sports = foundations upon which society is founded’
EXTREME? Professional sports: more money, less loyalty (team)
Danger of academic failure
- Hard to combine competition w/ studying (e.g. no money = sport scholarship)

Student’s choice: academic degree < big money, success?

Performance-enhancing drugs:
- Ethically wrong – illegal,
- “performance more important than character”
The individual’s spontaneous need to get away from a competitive world

On a local level, paid for by local government (partly)

- Local Parks, Recreation organisations: Outdoor facilities, classes…
- Attended by whole family + groups of friends.

Work hard, play hard: high level of physical activity – physical fitness, marathons,
charity races + social events…

Self- improvement:
RECREATIONAL
- In high/ little/ no physical activity recreations
ACTIVITES
- Participation in cultural act: improve mins/skills; museum, cinema, music,
dancing, painting…
- Community education and recreation programs: classes computer, cooking…

Respect for self-reliance and adventure/ danger

- Adventure travel: multi-billion business; mountain biking, rock climbing…;
life-threatening “enjoy the ddanger & physical challenge”.
- Soft adventure: real beds, hot shower…
- Outdoor: fishing, birding…

HEALTH AND Many A do not try to be fit!

FITNESS
Overweight:
- Poor eating habits + sedentary lifestyle
- Statistics: 2000 – 2/3 overweight, 1/5 obese; 2001 – 1/3 obese
- Newspaper, magazines: full of advice → too much information –
contradictory
- Diets encouraged by government.
- Uniform labelling of nutritional content
- Combination of social, cultural and psychological factors: ‘culture of
 overindulgence’ + fast food - cheapest, busy lifestyle, eat on the run
- Fedenral legislations: schools -healthier lunches, encourage more exercising
(M. Obama)
- Higher obesity rates when poor: Mississippi - most obese rates, 1/3 kids

Women now are slimmer: Commercials make teenage girls insecure about body
 Develop eating disorders

Activity level of Americans decreased:

- “Couch potatoes”: people are the ‘eyes’.
- Limitless choice programs
- Most frequent spare time activity

Effect of quality of tv/ games/…

IMPACT OF TV, - Fear for too much sex, violence
VIDEO GAME AND - Dilemma: censorship
INTERNET
Dilemma: censorship
- right to free speech, protect children, remain decent
- federal government sets standards (= censorship)
→ it regulates internet to protect children? - Pornography, kidnapping, scams,
cyberbullying
→ it threatens growth & vitality of the internet? 24/7 access, communication;
less leisure time :
- Work vs home (a thin line)
- More vacation campaign (democracy) → vitality

FAMILY STRUCTURE

Classic/ Nuclear family (1950s)

- “breadwinner”: father – who earned the money to support the family
- “homemaker”: mother- who took care of children, did not work outside
home
Extended family: type of family in which relatives in addition to parent and children
Demographic factor:
FAMILY
- 1950s baby boom
STRUCTURES
- Ppl now marry/have kids later
- Ppl live longer
- High divorce rate

Reality today: “stay-at-home” mother – small %, 25% A ppl living alone

INDIVIDUAL "The result is that the needs of each individual take priority in the life of the family" -
FREEDOM → you take care of the ones in your family, and you have to satisfy them.

Primary purpose of the family: to advance the happiness of individual members (not
promote the family, honor the family name, run the family business, etc.

Key values:
- Individualism: You may not advance the family as a group - you may not say
that your family is a bad family socially or economic.
 - equality of opportunity: You may not bring honor to the family because
family name and honor is less important than in aristocratic societies
- freedom from outside control: A families likes to take decisions on their
own and do certainly not want to be controlled by other family members
- individual happiness

In the Òsoul mateÓ

MARRIAGE &
DIVORCE

model (vs traditional

parent-approved
unions), young people
fall in love
and marry sb they can
be happy with.
“soulmate”: young ppl falls in love & marry sb they can be happy with
Arranged marriages:
- Very few - parents thinks that their children are getting happier in life if they
fall in love with someone they can live with
Not much influence:
- The parents do not have any influence of the wedding plans before the couple
has decided to get married.
- The parents have very little control and generally no influence of who their
children marry.
 “Individual happiness” more important than economic support pr
opportunities to have children.
 No fault divorces assign no blame.

Equality: 4 stage (Remember!)

- Stage 1: wife as servent to husband: Wife – obedient + no power; husband
controls everything.
- Stage 2: husband – head, wife – helper: wife - freer to disagree; comes from
work outside of the household + it some power; husband - last word. Women
can vote.
- Stage 3: husband – senior partner (job ranks higher), wife – junior partner
(have job, fewer duties, more power, have income)
(Values include love, sacrifice, mutual submission, and the value of having a
healthy family.)
- Stage 4: husband – wife equal: job equally important, equal – childcare,
chores.
 less than half of these women believe they should put their children ahead of
their own job.

Real world: wife now feels she has 2 jobs: childcare and work, however the wife gets
less pay for the same work.

Society is falling behind, however at some workplaces there is a daycare in the same
building, and in some cases the husband gets off work because of a new born baby
THE ROLE OF Guilty parents:
THE CHILD - hard for both parents having a job and not giving their child enough attention
and gives them material things to compensate
 the children aren't feeling that alone in the end.
Child-centered viewpoint
- Parents struggle and finds their jobs hard to get through is that the parents are
"conscientious".
 they are showing their children a lot of care and attention
 the problem is that their jobs are taking a lot of their time

-American children
can have a lot of
power, as parents feel
guilty about not giving
them
enough time/affection.
--When needs
outweigh
responsibilities,
children may grow up
unable to meet
 social/family/work
obligations.
→ american children can have a lot of power, as parents feel guilty about not giving
them enough time/affection.
→ When needs outweigh, children may grow up unable to meet social/family/work
obligations
1830s: aristocratic societies: father - accepted as the ruler and master. children -
loved him but with fear.
Democratic society destroys his status.
Today there are less respect for and fear of the father.

EQUALITY IN THE Too much democracy in the home: parents argue - they have all control of behavior
FAMILY in the family especially when it comes to teenage children above 16.

A lot of freedom → independent and self-reliant.

“Leave the nest” → leave home - 18 and graduates from high school.
 more likely moves to other cities and then goes to collage.
Men + women: equal everywhere
 a great focus on the individual freedom in the family
 makes the family less stabile.

The family life: important; however the individual freedom is equally important
 makes a paradox.

ROLE OF FAMILY Today only one of four families is traditional: a husband, a wife and children.
IN SOCIETY  related to the high divorce rate + the fact that most second marriages fail,
because of the children.
Instability (divorce) is the cost of values like individual freedom and equality

1/3 of kids live with a single parent; 1/3 of babies are born to unmarried women;
gay marriage is controversial but legally protected for most people.

Children learn moral values from the family this is a problem in USA.
VALUES Daniel Yankelovich - surveys about "family values" and found 11 common values:
- 6 Traditional: mainly protecting the family and faith in god.
- 5 blend values: respecting the individual and their freedom.

TRADITIONAL:
- Respecting one’s parents
- Being responsible for one’s actions
- Having faith in God
- Respecting authority
- Married to the same person for life
- Leaving the world in better shape

BLEND:
 - Giving emotional support
- Respecting people
- Developing communicatiON
- Respecting one’s children
- Living up to one’s potential as an individual.

Respecting one’s
parents
● Being responsible for
one’s actions
● Having faith in God
● Respecting authority
● Married to the same
person for life
● Leaving the world in
better shape
Respecting one’s
parents
● Being responsible for
one’s actions
● Having faith in God
● Respecting authority
● Married to the same
person for life
● Leaving the world in
better shape
Families are like churches in that they are places to find refuge from competition, and
strength to carry on
The family has become a place to "charge up ones bat”