Student Question
What cultural conflicts emerged in the 1990s according to chapter 27 of Eric Foner's Give Me Liberty!?
Quick answer:
In the 1990s, cultural conflicts in the U.S. emerged from increased immigration from Latin America and Asia, altering the nation's racial and religious landscape. This led to debates about America's racial identity and the persistence of racial divides, particularly affecting Black Americans. Additionally, movements for rights of homosexuals and the disabled gained momentum, while cultural conservatives feared erosion of "family values." These changes spurred a rise in nativism and anti-government extremism, highlighting tensions over "identity politics."
I am using the 2004 edition of Eric Foner's American history textbook, Give Me Liberty!, so page numbers mentioned below refer to this edition.
The section on cultural conflicts begins on page 946 under the heading "Culture Wars". This section begins by explaining the shifting socio-cultural context of the post-Cold War United States, in which old identities centered around nationalism, capitalism versus communism, and East versus West, began to fall away. Instead, people around the world started identifying more with more particular groups, such as ethnic and religious ones.
The first subsection (beginning at the bottom of page 946) describes the cultural conflicts that arose in the 1990s as a result of new waves of immigration. In the United States, more non-European immigrants began arriving than had ever before. This "immigrant influx changed the country's religious and racial map" (page 947) and disrupted the makeup of many previously...
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homogenous communities, leading to numerous cultural clashes.
The subsection "The New Diversity" (beginning on page 948), describes this influx of immigrants from Latin America and Asia. On the following page, the text notes:
The growing visibility of Latinos and Asians suggested that a two-race system no longer adequately described American life.
This led some people to suggest that America was entering a post-racial society; others pointed out that the racial divide remained securely in place.
The next several pages deal with the perpetuity of poverty and disproportionately high incarceration rates among Black Americans. It describes the prison industrial complex and the reaction of Black people to a justice system that seemed designed to keep them down.
On page 952, the subsection "The Continuing Rights Revolution" describes the rise of new movements pursuing rights for homosexuals and disabled individuals. This led to new legislation to protect the disabled and a significant "growth in public tolerance of homosexuality" (page 954).
Many Americans pushed back against what they called "identity politics." This led to a rise in American nativism. This is described in the subsection "The Identity Debate" on pages 954-955. The following subsection deals with the pushback against the changing landscape in the country by cultural conservatives (page 956) and the fear that "family values" were eroding (pages 956-957). Furthermore, anti-government extremism began to rise among certain fringe groups (page 957) which sometimes had violent and tragic consequences.
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