Analyzing American History: 1970s Economic Problems & Youth Activism

This assignment delves into significant periods and issues in American history. It addresses the economic problems of the 1970s, including inflation and stock market instability, attributing them to monetary policies and external factors. It examines the concerns and activism of American youth in the 1960s, driven by the Cold War, Civil Rights Movement, Vietnam War, and emerging feminist activities. The assignment further explores major social issues of the 1980s such as AIDS, abortion, drug abuse, and inequality, alongside shifts in U.S. demographics during the same period. It also discusses the importance of conformity in the 1950s and the rebellion against it, as well as the factors leading to McCarthyism and its subsequent decline due to misconduct and loss of support. The document concludes with a reference list, providing sources for further research and verification of the information presented. Desklib provides access to similar solved assignments.

Running Head: ANCIENT HISTORY
Ancient History
Name Of The Student
Name Of The University
Author Note

1ANCIENT HISTORY
Discussion:
1. Key Economic Problems of the 1970’s
America had passed through a period of economic problems during the 1970’s. The
stock market turned out to be a huge mess as it lost around 40% within a period of 18 months
and people did not want to invest in stock market for a very long time. As stated by
Henderson (2015), there was high inflation due to the “easy money policy” of the American
Central Bank which were made to provide full employment to all Americans. The inflation
was usually blamed on businessmen, political leaders, and on oil prices. The inflation was
followed by a period of depression which affected the business standards of the American
economy in the 1970’s.
2. Concerns of American youth in the 1960’s and their activism
American youth begin to get concerned during the year 1960’s due to the involvement
of USA in Cold War, Cuba and other countries. As stated by Dao (2011), it is during this
time that the Civil Rights Movement begin to take its shape in the U.S. Dominant issues that
led to the beginning of the movement included factors like Vietnam war, police brutality,
racism, drugs and the recently emerged feminist activities. The American youth were
motivated to bring about a change in their country through the Civil Rights Movement. They
wanted America to withdraw from Vietnam, and wanted to put an end to racism,
discrimination, police brutality and wanted everyone to co-exist with each other. The feminist
movement that emerged during this period also demanded rights for women1. Thus, the
1 Song, Steve, and Jack Henderson. 2015. "After The Rebellion: Black Youth, Social Movement Activism, And
The Post-Civil Rights Generation". Ethnic And Racial Studies 38 (13): 2467-2469.
doi:10.1080/01419870.2015.1015588.

2ANCIENT HISTORY
American youth wanted to bring a change in the country and reject the old rules and
regulations of the country.
3. Major Social Issues of the 1980’s
During the 1980’s, several social issues begin to emerge in the United States. These
included problems like AIDS, abortion and drug abuse among women. Other issues and
problems included education which became an important concern among the people as they
wanted their children to be educated. Issues of equality included Women’s rights, giving due
respect to Latin Americans, Native Americans as well as Gay rights. As stated by Song
(2015), during this time, there were also problems of uncontrolled population in the cities.
Population needed to be kept in control as it was leading to a major problem for the people.
Other issues of this time included problems of Iraq war which led to loss of many lives.
4. Change of U.S. Demographics in the 1980s
As stated by Henderson (2015), the U.S. demography underwent a change during the
1980’s. It was found that before 1980, there was an equality in the male-female ratio in the
country but from the 1980’s, the male-female ratio began to decrease largely. This was
mainly due to the large number of immigrants in the country.
5. Importance of Conformity in the 1950’s
As stated by Barney (2007), in the year 1950, there was a period of conformity in the
American society. People wanted to follow group patterns rather than acting on their own
will2. New employment patterns that were offered during World War II were changed back to
old patterns.
2 Nguyen, Dao Q. 2011. "Review Of Unraveling The “Model Minority” Stereotype: Listening To Asian
American Youth.". Cultural Diversity And Ethnic Minority Psychology 17 (1): 122-123. doi:10.1037/a0019603.

3ANCIENT HISTORY
A few Americans rebelled against this conformity as they felt that their thoughts and
ideas did not match to that of the society.
6. Factors for McCarthyism and its decline
McCarthyism refers to America’s intention of destroying communism in
communist countries of the world, which led to the Second Red Scare3.
McCarthyism failed mainly as the result of misconduct of the state affairs
which resulted in him losing the vote.
3 Song, Steve, and Jack Henderson. 2015. "After The Rebellion: Black Youth, Social Movement Activism, And
The Post-Civil Rights Generation". Ethnic And Racial Studies 38 (13): 2467-2469.
doi:10.1080/01419870.2015.1015588.

4ANCIENT HISTORY
Reference List:
Barney, Timothy. 2007. "Morning In America: How Ronald Reagan Invented The 1980S
(Review)". Rhetoric & Public Affairs 10 (1): 137-139. doi:10.1353/rap.2007.0012.
Nguyen, Dao Q. 2011. "Review Of Unraveling The “Model Minority” Stereotype: Listening
To Asian American Youth.". Cultural Diversity And Ethnic Minority Psychology 17 (1): 122-
123. doi:10.1037/a0019603.
Song, Steve, and Jack Henderson. 2015. "After The Rebellion: Black Youth, Social
Movement Activism, And The Post-Civil Rights Generation". Ethnic And Racial Studies 38
(13): 2467-2469. doi:10.1080/01419870.2015.1015588.