|
 |
In every generation, Americans have worried about the solidarity of the nation.
Since the days of the Mayflower, those already settled here have wondered how
newcomers with different cultures, values, and (frequently) skin color would
influence America. Would the new groups create polarization and disharmony?
Thus far, the United States has a remarkable track record of incorporating new
people into American society, but acceptance and assimilation have never meant
equality. In Century of Difference (published in November 2006), Claude Fischer and Michael Hout provide a
compelling -and often surprising- new take on the divisions and commonalities among the American public over the tumultuous course of the twentieth century.
The USA: A Century of Difference
project was funded
by the
Russell Sage Foundation, and led by sociologists Michael Hout and Claude S. Fischer at the University of California,
Berkeley.
Tasked to draw on the 2000 census, this project
describes Americans at the beginning of the 21st century. The
project reports on how Americans live, work, consume, and pray.
And, by drawing on a century of data, it describes how
Americans developed came to be who they were in 2000.
A major
theme is the tension between diversity and sameness that has
persisted throughout American history. Distinct cultural heritages
contributed to America and different ways of life emerged
throughout its 200 years, and yet Americans coalesce around
common principles: belief in God, in democracy, in the just reward
for hard work, and in freedom of choice, for example. This project is
focused on the American diversity at the turn of the millennium --
ethnic, religious, familial, occupational, and material diversity --
and
on America's cultural constants.
This
site provides access to working papers and publications
as they emerge, information on the data sources that we
use in our efforts, and a point of contact to the members of the
project team.
Century of Difference: How America Changed in the Last One Hundred Years is available from the
Russell Sage Foundation
|
|
