Contemporary American Society, 1980s-2020s

Modern Conservative Movement

• In 1980, Ronald Reagan won the presidency and forged a new Republican Party by uniting fiscal and social conservatives with a landslide victory. Reagan called for a smaller government by decreasing taxes on individuals and businesses (what his administration termed supply side economics) and deregulating industries. He supported a stronger government that would outlaw abortion and appealed to social conservatives seeking to promote heterosexual marriage, to oppose ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment, to support faith-based cultural advocacy, to champion individual accomplishment, and to oppose many safety net programs. He also vowed to expand the military and the Cold War. These three areas led to the resurgence of the Republican Party under Reagan as he restructured the scope of the federal government. (CA HSS Framework, 427)
• This movement built a part of its base through evangelical churches, televangelism, and other media outlets. (CA HSS Framework, 427)

Globalization

• • Globalization meant the faster and freer flow of people, resources, and ideas across national borders. Goods that were once produced in the United States could be produced cheaper first in Mexico, then in China, and now in smaller nations like Bangladesh. This resulted in falling prices for many goods that Americans consumed, but it also led to domestic job dislocations. (CA HSS Framework, 430)
  • These questions can frame students’ surveys of the post–Cold War years: What does globalization mean, and how has it affected the United States? Students can focus geographically on American post–Cold War relations with Latin America. The strong economic ties between the regions deepened throughout the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s. Maquiladoras, export processing zones or free enterprise zones, between Mexico and the U.S. meant that from the 1980s through the 2000s goods flowed between countries more freely and at faster rates. (CA HSS Framework, 428)

• Movement of People:

• • • As with their studies of immigration from the beginning of the twentieth century, students can analyze push-and-pull factors that contributed to shifting immigration patterns, but they should also learn about changes in immigration policy. Starting with the Immigration Act of 1965, laws have liberalized country-of origin policies, emphasizing family reunification, and rejecting same-sex partners of American citizens. (CA HSS Framework, 429)
    • Students can explain how these policies have affected American society. In California, Propositions 187, 209, and 227 attacked illegal immigration, affirmative action, and bilingual education, respectively. While all provisions of Proposition 187 were blocked by federal courts except one, throughout the 1990s and even more so after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, Congress provided for increased border enforcement. By the 2000s, the status of Mexican Americans and Mexican immigration became a national political discussion. (CA HSS Framework, 429)

• Movement of Goods and Money:

• • • Similarly, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between Canada, the United States, and Mexico played a central role in fostering closer relationships among the three countries, but tensions lingered related to economic regulation, labor conditions, immigration, and damage to the environment. (CA HSS Framework, 428)
    • Students can study how late-twentieth century developments, such as the Internet, new multinational corporations, broadened environmental impacts, and threats such as extremist terrorist groups, are made possible because of globalization (CA HSS Framework, 431)

• Movement of Ideas and Culture

• • Implementation of NAFTA was and continues to be contentious on both sides of the border; for example, the Chiapas Rebellion in 1994 was an armed uprising in the southern Mexico state of Chiapas. (CA HSS Framework, 428) [Zapatistas]
  • Students study the roots and consequences of de-industrialization. They understand that starting in the 1970s and continuing through recent times, economic production has shifted away from heavy industry and toward the service sector, which has altered the daily lives of many working and middle-class families. This change has resulted in the fact that over the past 30 years, gaps in income between top earners and middle and working class earners have become more pronounced. (CA HSS Framework, 430)