Minorities USA Why do minorities continue to suffer social, economic and political disadvantage compared to whites?

Children born into poor areas tend not to do as well at school The next generation of children are born into the same conditions They are more likely to leave school with few or no qualifications The Circle of Poverty They can’t afford to move away from the poor areas They are more likely to be unemployed or in a low paid job

Reasons Higher levels of unemployment Lower levels of educational achievement Discrimination Family structure – more lone parent families Reduction in Affirmative Action Programmes (AAPs) Lower levels of minority participation (NB recent increase)

Reasons (continued) Under-representation at state national level Cost of ‘fixing’ inequality would be enormous – no political will to raise taxes The circle of deprivation Difficulty of escaping from so-called ‘underclass’ Cut backs on welfare entitlement by successive administrations

Key Words Inequality – why? UNEMPLOYMENT FAMILY EDUCATION CIRCLE DISCRIMINATION UNEMPLOYMENT FAMILY EDUCATION Inequality – why? CIRCLE UNDERCLASS COST PARTICIPATION REPRESENTATION AAPs Cut-backs