国家概况和文化复习UNIT10-SOCIAL-PROBLEMS.docVIP

UNIT TEN AMERICAN SOCIAL PROBLEMS Racial problems A nation of immigrants: religious refugees adventurers slaves In theory: the principle of equality In reality: stratified society (阶级社会) Power, wealth, and prestige are unequally distributed among the population. …inequality tends to follow racial and ethnic lines as well (不平等往往与族裔有关) Hispanics（西班牙人）: 12.3% of population; Blacks: 11.7 % of population, about 25 million Myth of Black people’s racial inferiority（下等）: irresponsibility, promiscuity（乱交）, laziness, lower intelligence whip（边打） or lynch（处死） mob（暴民） The 13th Amendment to the Constitution in 1865 ended slavery. But many states have segregation laws to keep races apart in schools, housing, restaurants. Blacks got the lowest-paid jobs. Rigged（不正当的） literacy tests keep them from voters’ rolls. Segregation（分层） law in practice till 1950s in the South. the civil rights movement in the 1960s …many black leaders began to disclaim [full integration into the American mainstream] as the goal of the black minority. Current situation of Blacks mixed picture（喜忧参半） …institutionalized discrimination is still rife. Housing: Black people live in black neigh- borhoods in cities. White people live in rich suburban areas. Most whites think much progress has been made in equality. But more than half of the blacks believe that there has not been much progress. Only 20% of whites think…miss out… because of discrimination（不公平对待）. Only 1/3 of Black have become middle class. Unemployment rate up to 50%, 8 times the average rate of the country. “Underclass”: live in poverty, crime, drug, joblessness, hopelessness Poverty 12.5% (or 35.9 million) live at or below poverty line. The poverty level for 2011 was set at $22,350 (total yearly income) for a family of four. Meaning of being poor: Dog food, malnutrition, deprivation, diseases, alcoholism, unstable marriage, victim of crime, illiteracy, low self-esteem Averag