USA socio-economic issues Flashcards
What is said to be the american dream?
Is the idea that any person in the USA can achieve wealth, success and happiness through hard work and ambition.
If asked for inequalities in the USA in the exam what could you talk about?
- income and unemployment
- education
- crime and justice
- health
- housing
Which ethnic group earns more than whites and which earn less?
Asians are seen to earn more than whites whereas blacks and hispanics are seen to earn less
Why may blacks and Hispanics learn less than whites?
Because balcks and hispanics are seen to be trapped in something called the ‘poverty cycle’, where the area they live in stops them from having access to a quality education and a high paying job. This environment is very hard to break out of.
What is the average asian income in the US?
just short of $70,000
What is the whites average income in the states?
$67,000
What is the average income for all races in the US?
Just over $50,000
What is a government response to unemployment being a cause of inequality in the USA?
TANF ( a temporary assistance for needy families) money is given to those who are out of work and have dependent children. The goal of this is to get them off of the welfare payments and back into employment. As a results of this the maximum single time one can recieve TANF is 24 months and the maximum across an entire lifetime is 60 months.
What is the maximum periods of time one person can receive TANF for?
24 months for a single period of time and 60 months for an entire lifetime.
What are two acts that the government put in place to help unemployment?
The recovery act 2009 and JOBs act 2011
What was the success of the government action of TANF?
The number of people claiming TANF fell every year, from around 10 million claiming it at the start to around 3 million claiming it in 2008. There was an increase during the years of recession but it has then began to decrease after that. This is evidence that TANF is helping millions of Americans, particuarly lone parents, back into work and off of welfare.
What were failures to the government response of TANF?
The amount of money given out has fallen so people claiming TANF in 2014 with not be able to buy as much as people would have been whilst claiming it in 1997. TANF has actually increased poverty levels for some families as you are only allowed to claim it for a short period of time and families need to find work under the arrangements some end up having to take jobs that pay very poorly, leaving them with less money when they come off of TANF. Some people need to end up working 2 or 3 jobs just to make ends meet.
Which kind of jobs were hit the worst during a recession?
The manufacturing type jobs
What are educational inequalities that exist in the USA?
- Number of ethnic minorities in higher education is far lower as a percentage than whites
- children from poorer backgrounds and certain ethnic minorities do much worse at school than others.
What is a government response that has been put in place to help educational inequalities?
Affirmative action was put in place in the 1960’s with president kennedy, where positive action would take place to try and get ethnic minorities into universitites, particualry blacks and hispanics.
SOAR act- provides scholarships to children from unprivellaged backgrounds to attend schools.
