After reading Chapter 8, students should be able to:
- Understand the structural transformations that are taking place in the U.S. today and the impact of those changes on the everyday lives of ordinary people.
- Discuss how the current structural changes are affecting the organization of work and particularly the proliferation of low-wage jobs.
- Explain the personal and social costs associated with downsizing, capital flight, and the change from an industrial economy to a service economy.
- Discuss America's shrinking middle class, the forces that are causing the shrinkage, and how it is influencing that sector of the population.
- Explain the emergence and characteristics of the "new poor" and how that group differs from what is referred to in the text as the "old poor."
- Understand the coping strategies that have been adopted by various sectors of the population in response to the great structural shifts in the modern economy.
- Identify the four major waves of immigration in the U.S., how they affected the population of the country and their affect on the ethnic and cultural makeup of American society.
- Discuss the "new immigration" and its affect on American society.
- Understand what the authors mean by 'The Aging Society' and the effects that a growing elderly population has on the society.
