1960's

The Sixties Impact on my life Jackie Hoskins SS310-07 April 3, 2012 Professor: Tony Lindsey America went through a dramatic shift in the 1960’s that were characterized by civil unrest, gender role changes, and Americans learned to question authority. African Americans were fighting for their rights for equality, women were shedding their traditional gender roles, and the Vietnam War led to an unprecedented level of questioning authority. These changes paved the way for how America is structured today. Today, there is more equality between ethnic groups, and there has been a push toward multicultural education in our schools that shows the importance of the contributions of nonwhites in American culture (Frank, 2002). Women can have careers, be a mother, and no longer need the support of a man to fulfill their dreams – women can now have dreams and are able to achieve them. Finally, Americans are taught to question everything. Up until 9/11, Americans had questioned the direction of the country and were likely to protest in the face of inequality. Unfortunately, since the attack on the World Trade Center in 2001, Americans have blindly agreed with the government, as can be seen with the passage of the Patriot Act by President Bush in 2010, which gave the government a blanketed way to infringe on the privacy of citizens (USA Patriot Act, 2010). The social and civil changes that occurred in the sixties have impacted my personal life, impacted my present career path, and have impacted global relations through globalization. Part I The events of the sixties have had an impact on my personal life. Specifically, as an African American female, it would have been very difficult for me to pursue my passions had the women’s movement and the Civil Rights Movement not occurred. As a young female, it would have been very difficult to come to the point in my life had women’s liberation and the sexual revolution not occurred. The women’s movement helped women to have the power to pursue an education and a career, which had not been acceptable for women to do in the 1950’s and earlier (Greenley, 1993). This is significant, because the traditional female gender role dictated that women should only be allowed to work in the home as a homemaker, to take care of their husband, and to have children. Had the women’s movement not occurred, then it is quite possible that today I would have a ten to twelve year-old child right now, and would be sweeping the floor while my husband was at work and children were at school, instead of typing this paper. Now, I have the choice to fulfill traditional gender roles or if I want to pursue a career. The Civil Rights Movement also had a dramatic effect on the way that I lead my life today. As a 47 year-old African American woman, it would have been very difficult for me to pursue my career and educational goals had it not been for the work of Martin Luther King Jr. and the rest of the players in the Civil Rights Movement. King, a Southern Baptist Minister used his position in the community to organize peaceful marches and rallies to change the way that blacks are treated in America (Kazin, 2009). His position in the community enabled him to be heard, and he was able to successfully instigate civil change in how blacks are treated, given equal rights, and are treated as Americans, instead of as ‘colored folks’. While there is still the presence of racism, institutionalized discrimination, and some parts of the nation are still overtly discriminatory and use derogatory remarks (Nuru-Jeter, et al., 2009), African Americans are better enabled to fight for and realize the American Dream. The women’s movement was an example of social restructuring and the Civil Rights Movement was also an example of social restructuring and racial restructuring. Social restructuring occurred by allowing women economic power and a closer paradigm of equality that have previously been available for women (Smith, 1987). Economic power was given to women who had previously been shunned from the workplace. Women started to have power in ways that had never been possible due to the work that was done to improve the lives of women. Similarly, the Civil Rights Movement was responsible for the social and racial restructuring in America. Blacks had the freedom to attend college, to apply for jobs, and this was enabled through the use of Affirmative Action that was developed in the 1960’s in attempt to give blacks access to jobs and educations that were traditionally handed to whites only. The disparity between access to education and jobs prior to the events that changed the status quo in the sixties can be explained with social conflict theory. Social conflict theory would explain the disparity between blacks and whites as a conflict between the social classes as blacks were typically poorer than whites. Segregation maintained the status quo associated with these economical norms, and the Civil Rights Movement was viewed as a negative aspect by many whites because it attempted to change the status quo. Moreover, social conflict theory would also explain the disparity in power between men and women such that men would be considered the ‘higher class’ and women the ‘lower class’ due to the inequality in economic power. The Civil Rights Movement and the Women’s Movement helped to even the playing field by granting rights for equality for African Americans and for women by granting economic power that had been denied for generations before. Through the women’s movement, the work of King in the Civil Rights Movement, and the acceptance of African Americans into the mainstream American culture, I have been enabled to pursue my education and a career that I want to participate in. No longer am I expected to stay at home to cook, clean, and solely care for a family. No longer am I expected to stay in the shadows of the American Dream. Today, I can choose if I want to stay at home or work and can compete with the rest of my fellow Americans as an American, and not as a black American. Part II Today, I am going to school to prepare for a career in the business field, but my passion lies in the health care field. I had previously learned the ins and outs about the medical field. This was challenging because of the wealth of information that has been developed and explored over the last fifty years due to changes in technology that have impacted the way that research is conducted in this field. In the medical field, person-centered therapy and attitudes toward premenstrual syndrome (PMS) are two medically related theories that developed from social changes in the 1960’s. Carl Rogers developed person-centered therapy in response to the work by Abraham Maslow on the general goodness of individuals, and their need to self-actualize (Rogers, 1946). Rogers developed a therapy that became hugely popular in the sixties and seventies and is still used today that focuses on the patient as being all-important during therapy sessions, which is a stark contrast to psychoanalytic therapy sessions. Rogers believed that only the client would be able to unlock their psychological troubles through free conversation and little guidance from the therapist. Today, we still use this method of therapy during sessions, however it has been found to be more successful for individuals that are not suffering from serious mental illnesses such as psychosis. Person-centered therapy was made possible by the desire for self-exploration that was fueled by the Women’s Movement, and by the mainstream use of hallucinogens such as marijuana and LSD. Attitudes toward PMS also changed in response to events in the sixties. PMS symptoms include feelings of bloating, diarrhea, irritability, extreme fatigue, sleep disturbance, depression, and headaches, in addition to skin problems such as acne. These symptoms often arrive right before a woman starts her period and can be moderate to severe. Prior to the sixties, the medical community believed that PMS symptoms were a cause of a psychological disorder that was the result of a general feeling of unhappiness in her life (Hathaway, 2001). Because the Women’s Movement and Sexual Revolution of the sixties, medical developments realized and began to understand that PMS was a natural part of being a woman, and that PMS is not a predictor or cause for therapy. Medical advancements and changes have been possible because of the attitude shifts that were seen in response to the social and civil changes in the sixties. No longer were women viewed as the weaker sex that needed to be coddled. Women were viewed as equals, and were no longer viewed as ‘hysterical’ because they were different or processed information differently than men. Therapists began to realize that individuals that sought therapy were seeking to be able to better understand their lives, and that the only individuals that would be able to understand themselves would be the client themselves. Psychologists began to understand that they could not take one case study and apply it to all individuals, but would instead be better suited to listening and responding to others to allow this self-exploration. In the sixties, Americans developed their pioneer spirit as evidenced through and exploration of self-expression through music (viz., rock and roll, the Beatles, Rolling Stones), fashion, and embracing the self through cultural self-expressions that included Afro hairstyles and exploring the psyche through drugs. Due to these advancements, the medical field has changed in the way that it functions. Technological advancements are based upon research that is scientifically validated by numerous sources. In these research studies, participants are protected – no longer are researchers ethically allowed to coerce participation in sensitive populations such as prisoners, children, or the elderly (Houghton, Casey, Shaw, & Murphy, 2010). The global village has made it possible for shared information to be universal through the internet and the advent of shared research to be able to help diagnose and treat individuals throughout the world by sharing information that had been previously difficult to share due to the low-levels of communication technology prior to the 1960’s. Part III Due to life-changing events that occurred during the sixties, the world has become very little in comparison to how it was before. Globalization has given rise to the term global village due to the idea that the world has grown smaller due to improvements in communication. Today, we can speak with individuals across the globe in real time, and are now able to use video conferencing on the World Wide Web to communicate visually and vocally with our friends that are far away. Additionally, the Internet has allowed us to communicate and conduct transactions that were previously unheard of with relative ease. While the advent of communication technologies have led to a metaphorical reduction in the size of the globe, air travel and the space exploration were two events in the sixties that contributed to the global village phenomenon. Air travel was a giant contributor to the advent of a global village. Prior to the sixties, travel generally was slow and cumbersome. Trains and boat travel were the norm as it was a much cheaper and safer way to travel. However, by the sixties, air travel expanded, airlines were created, and airlines began to offer comfortable amenities that were once reserved for luxury cruise lines. There were comfortable chairs, a bar service, and an expansion of flights that were offered (Whitelegg, 2000). Ticket prices also decreased, and air travel became a possibility for the average American instead of just the wealthy. Americans were suddenly able to travel vast distances and the brought local information from them to new places. No longer was it necessary to write letters to share information. Although the Internet is now used to share information, air travel made it possible to share information quickly, which had not been possible before. While today we use Face book to share information between our friends, the airplane enabled Americans to share and exchange information quickly. Today, while we still share information quickly (and even quicker with status updates), we have begun to slip from face-to-face interactions, and have relied on electronic communication in our interactions. Globalization has made it possible to do much more than had been possible before. Commerce and communication have increased between nations. Countries have been able to trade goods and services quickly and efficiently, which have contributed to a global economy (Kaya, 2010). As mentioned earlier, communication between nations and individuals across the globe has become quick and easy with the invention of the Internet. Women have increased their power by being able to participate in the global economy, and have been able to do so through the Women’s Movement in the sixties, and the sexual revolution that enabled women to choose when and if they wanted to have children through the use of contraceptives. Without globalization, these ideas and commerce would not be as far-reaching as they are today. Additionally, while the economic power of women may be seen in developed nations, this message has not fully been brought to less developed nations, and we are seeing an incredible disparity between the economic power for women in the developed and undeveloped nations, which suggests that communication between nations is not as strong as we believe it is. While globalization has been an important part of the evolution on the United States, the events and issues of the sixties have changed the worldview of the United States up until a point. While the time period between the seventies and millennium change were marked by expansion and growth in technology, communication, and the exploration of cultural ideals, today we seem to be at a standstill. Prior to the change of the millennium, our economy was growing and exponential rates, educational benchmarks were being pushed, and Bill Clinton pushed for technology to be in every classroom. Our desire to explore and network with other nations made the United States one of the most powerful nations in the world, and our unmatched military strength made us the Superpower that we once were. We were even able to cross strict racial lines and traditions to elect our first black president. While we have recently gone through this major turmoil related the economy, recession, and to our global war on terror in the Middle East, we must remember the exploratory spirit of the sixties in order to develop and move on past this Dark Age that is filled with economic and social strife that we are currently in. While sociologists and historians may attempt to explain why we are having such problems including war, educational achievement disparity, and economic turmoil, Americans must remember the desire and thirst for knowledge and unifying national pride that helped us to develop the positive aspects of our nation. While the Civil Rights Movement helped to gain rights and equality for African Americans, the Women’s Movement helped women to gain financial power in a male-dominated society. Finally, the sixties gave Americans many opportunities to pursue their dreams, however we have developed into a nation of extreme views and opinions that have led us to a nation filled with deficiencies in economic and social issues. Nostalgia for the sixties cannot change the way that we think, react, and develop policies, however we must find a way to regain that exploratory nature of the sixties to continue to grow and develop as a nation References Frank, J. L. (2002). My voice is changing. Multicultural Perspectives , 4 (1), 41-43. Greenley, A. M. (1993). Necessity of feminism. Society , 30 (6), 12-15. Hathaway, S. (2001). PMS (Premenstrual Syndrome). Retrieved April 1, 2012, from http://www.hantang.com/english/en_Articles/pms.htm Houghton, C. E., Casey, D., Shaw, D., & Murphy, K. (2010). Ethical challenges in qualitative research: Examples from practice. Nurse Researcher , 18 (1), 15-25. Kaya, Y. (2010). Globalization and industrialization in 64 developing countries 1980-2003. 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