B

Americans used to believe that their society was dominated by the middle class.The large middle class underpinned the democratic nature of the nation’s politics，in large part because it was economically stable and therefore politically moderate.After the Great Depression，the New Deal provided economic protections for middle⁃class Americans in the form of programs such as Social Security and Medicare.

However，from the late 1970s on，things have changed.American society has become more polarized as the gap between rich and poor has become bigger，due in large part to the unequal distribution of the new wealth created by recent technological progress.Most of the wealth resulting from the revolution in information and communications technology has gone to a relatively small number of investors and business leaders.In addition，the Republican government’s policy of tax cuts for the wealthy has further benefited the upper class.As more and more work in the manufacturing industry has been automated using machines and computers，a large number of high paying jobs have disappeared.Most newly created jobs are in the service sector and usually pay low wages.The low cost of machine⁃produced goods has helped to keep most Americans out of poverty to date.However，traditional middle class expenses on such things as home mortgages，education and healthcare have gone up，as the housing supply is relatively limited and education and healthcare can not be automated to the same degree as manufacturing.As a result of these trends，many people are now expressing concern about the potential collapse of the American middle class.

Wealth distribution in the U.S.is unbalanced.The top 20％ of the population controls more than 80％ of the nation’s wealth;while the bottom 40％ of the population enjoys only 0.2％ of the wealth.The richest people are often owners of large businesses;many of them are multimillionaires and billionaires.They make up about 1％ of the population.Below them are chief executive officers（CEOs）and senior managers of corporations.Then there are the professionals such as successful doctors and lawyers.Below this group are nurses，teachers，civil servants，small business owners and unionized skill workers.At the bottom is the 10％ to 15％ of the population who are unemployed or have occasional low⁃paying.Many of this group live in poverty.The official poverty line was＄117，60 for one person and＄23，850 for a family of four in 2014.In 2013，about 15 percent of the population was below the poverty line.

Poverty is very closely related to race and gender.African Americans’poverty rate is twice as high as that of whites.Hispanics also have a high poverty rate due to factors including the large number of new Hispanic immigrants.Most of the single parent families headed by women live in poverty，in part because women earn an average of 77％ as much as men do if both have fulltime and year round work.

Affirmative Action Protest

Until the 1960s，discrimination against racial minorities was legally enforced in the South.There were laws prohibiting minorities from entering many jobs and educational institutions.In addition，de facto discrimination against minorities was common in many other parts of the country.To fight against the discrimination，African Americans wage the Civil Rights Movement whose goals were to put an end to racial segregation and discrimination against African Americans and to secure legal recognition and federal protection of the citizenship listed in the Constitution and federal law.

To address these problems，the federal government and some state governments implemented affirmative action policies beginning in the 1960s.Affirmative action policies favor minorities and women in college admissions，hiring，job promotion and the awarding of government contracts.To implement this policy，many states applied quota systems which required the government and other public institutions to employ a certain percentage of minorities and women.Private businesses also had to hire a certain percentage of minorities if they wanted to secure government contracts.In addition，Colleges and universities set aside a certain percentage of their enrollment for minorities.These policies contributed significantly over the past 40 years towards improving the economic situation of women and minorities，blacks in particular.

However，affirmative action has been controversial from the very beginning.Supporters of the policy argue that it is necessary to have affirmative action in order to redress the wrongs these groups suffered in the past and guarantee that all groups of people share equal opportunities in employment，education，and other benefits.Critics of the policy argue that it is unfair to give some people preferential treatment over others simply because of their race or gender.They hold that it is against the principle of equal opportunity for all under the law.

Critics of affirmative action stepped up their attack in the mid⁃1990s.Many people contended that the policies had been implemented for long enough.They argued that the wrongs that minorities and women suffered in the past which had hindered their economic progress had been redressed by several decades of affirmative action，and thus all people should henceforth be treated equally in terms of employment and educational opportunities.Many white men protested that they were suffering reverse discrimination because of the preferential treatment given to minorities and women in hiring，promotion and university admissions.Due in large part to these criticisms，California ended affirmative action in 1996 and Washington State ended it in 1998.

Some of those who felt wronged by affirmative action took their cases to the courts.The resulting court rulings have been mixed.Generally speaking，the courts have let stand many affirmative action measures，but have struck down quota systems that automatically resulted in better outcomes for minorities.