What about equality? Do the iGens show higher levels of equality and integration? Jean Twenge studies this in her 7th chp (Generation Me: Why Today's Young Americans Are More Confident, Assertive, Entitled--and More Miserable Than Ever Before
).Her studies involved minorities, women, and gays and lesbians. Have both attitudes and actions shifted? Yes. In four generations there has been a transformation. And this is the biggest social change that has occurred in culture.
Who wants to speak about the shifts in a culture that is striving for equality for ethnic minorities? What is the biggest difference you now experience? Where is our biggest challenge?
In 1970, 5% of graduating law students were women; today it is 47%.
Most people would say that "equality is the unmitigated upside of the focus on the self" (181).
What about for minorities?
For Blacks: in 1970 most blacks did not have a high school diploma; today 80% do. 4x as many African Americans are college-educated. Hispanics/Latinos have tripled their college degrees in that same time frame. But racism still exists. 61% of Blacks and 36% of Hispanics report trouble getting college loans. 4% of Whites and Asians report the same.
In a 2000 poll, 70% of high schoolers said racial relations were good at school; 72% had a close friend of another race. Here's a significant shift: in 1960 80% of whites said they'd move if a black family moved into the neighborhood; in 1990 only 25% said that.
And an amazing conclusion I found in this book. Self-esteem rates have grown for ethnic minorities, especially African Americans. In the 60s and 70s, whites and Afr-Americans were about the same on self-esteem tests but in the 80s and 90s Afr-American scores rose above whites in self-esteem. And Hispanic and Asian self-esteem scores have also increased in comparison with whites. She values this conclusion, but it is not the same as altering the poverty problems.
For Blacks: in 1970 most blacks did not have a high school diploma; today 80% do. 4x as many African Americans are college-educated. Hispanics/Latinos have tripled their college degrees in that same time frame. But racism still exists. 61% of Blacks and 36% of Hispanics report trouble getting college loans. 4% of Whites and Asians report the same.
In a 2000 poll, 70% of high schoolers said racial relations were good at school; 72% had a close friend of another race. Here's a significant shift: in 1960 80% of whites said they'd move if a black family moved into the neighborhood; in 1990 only 25% said that.
And an amazing conclusion I found in this book. Self-esteem rates have grown for ethnic minorities, especially African Americans. In the 60s and 70s, whites and Afr-Americans were about the same on self-esteem tests but in the 80s and 90s Afr-American scores rose above whites in self-esteem. And Hispanic and Asian self-esteem scores have also increased in comparison with whites. She values this conclusion, but it is not the same as altering the poverty problems.
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One of the biggest determinants of household poverty is household structure. Around 4.4% of two parent households are in poverty while 31.1% of single mother headed households are in poverty (2005).
Children in single parent homes (2007)?
White non-hispanic: 23%
Black: 65%
Some reports suggest that for the first time in a generation, the percentage of Black children being raised in two parent homes is beginning to rise, but it is unclear if it is because of changes in the native population, the impact of African immigrants, or consequences of changes in definitions or some combination of all the above.
Household structure isn't the only issue but alter that and you will make significant improvements.
there is a pyschology behind our tendency to discriminate that does involve our anxiety about ourselves and our core sense of worth. We often project our anxiety outward onto another group instead recognizing our own issues and anxieties. I do think that a healthier self-regard would decrease discrimination and projection on to others.
I think a healthy self regard is a result of maturity and actually knowing one's strengths and weaknesses. It does not invole a false understanding of oneself that is inflated or untested. Some self esteem can be untested grandiosity with no basis in reality. Maturity brings an honest self-regard that is fully aware.
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