Changes in Proportion of National Population

Percent increase Percent of total
1970-1980 population

Total	T1.4	WOO	WOO
Northeast	0.2	24.1	21.7
North Central	4.0	27.8	26.0
South	20.0	30.9	33.3
West	23.9	17.1	19.1

Due largely to interregional migration, the proportion of national population in the South and West increased from 48 percent to 52 percent-a majority-in the decade between 1970 and 1980. During the same period, the imaginary "centre of U. S. population " (defined as the geographical point where the country would balance if it were flat and every American weighed the samel crossed the Mississippi River, continuing the westward drift evident since the first census in 1790.

48 AMERICA IN CLOSE-UP

These recent migration patterns have had a dramatic effect on population growth. During the past few decades the populations of the South and West have been growing rapidly while those of the Midwest or Northeast have grown slowly or not at all.

The increase in numbers moving to the Sunbelt has brought an increase in power. The political and social status of the South and West is on the rise. After both the 1970 and 1980 censuses, the South and West gained seats in the House of Representatives at the expense of the North and Midwest. Historically, the winners of presidential elections have been Easterners or Midwesterners, but Southerners and Westerners have won the past five presidential elections. A clear rise in per capita income in the South and West is an indication that socioeconomic gaps between regions are narrowing. In 1940 the Northeast claimed more than 120 percent of the national income average, but the core of the South had less than 70 percent, and the Rocky Mountain states had just over 90 percent. By 1970 the Northeast had fallen to about 110 percent, the South had risen to 86 percent, and the Rockies had held steady at 90 percent. Further narrowing had occurred by 1980. The cultural dominance of the North­east and Midwest is diminishing as cities in the South and West, such as Atlanta, Santa Fe, and Los Angeles, are gaining reputations as important cultural centers. The great universities of the Northeast are rivaled by Stanford in California and the Universities of Texas and North Carolina.

The shift in economic strength and status to the Sunbelt does not mean that the Northeast and Midwest are drained of power and promise. Parts of the Northeast are recovering from economic decline. Adapting to the needs of a post-industrial age, many communities are redirecting their economies to accommodate new service-related and high-tech industries. The downtown areas of Baltimore, Boston, and Pittsburgh—cities that once specialized in heavy industry—have been rebuilt as cultural and convention centers. Some cities in the Frostbelt are registering a resurgence in population growth as people move back to take advantage of new opportunities.

REGIONAL The most significant trend is not the decline of the Frostbelt, but rather a

CONVERGENCE steady converging of the regions' economic status as the formerly lagging

Sunbelt states catch up. In this process, regional differences have not altogether

disappeared, but they are significantly less striking today than they were 40

years ago.

PART В Texts

• THE COOLING OF THE SOUTH

by Raymond Arsenault

In the following text the historian Raymond Arsenault chooses a very interesting approach for his analysis of

the "Americanization of Dixie" when he looks at the air conditioner as one of the important factors involved.

A Southern family circa 1914

T

ied to the land, with few big cities, Southerners treasured life on the family homestead or in the small town where, in the words of Faulkner, "beneath the porticoes of the courthouse and on benches about the green, the city fathers sat and talked and drowsed..." Family ties and local folklore ruled life in a region

that preferred, as John Crowe Ransom said, "to look backwards rather than forwards". Long after the Civil War, the inhabitants of the old Confeder­acy remained culturally distinct, a people apart from the rest of the Union and its ever-changing ethnic "melting pot". Air conditioning has helped to change all that.

50 AMERICA IN CLOSE-UP

1. continued

Many Southerners who are old enough to remember life before the air conditioner give thanks for the artificial chill that now pervades cars, restaurants, offices, and family rooms, and wonder out loud how they ever survived without it. Others echo the sentiments of one Florida woman who recently told me: "I hate air conditioning; it's a damnfool invention of the Yankees. If they don't like it hot, they can move on back up north where they be­long."...

The northern migration of the last two decades has infused the South with new ideas and new manners, ending the region's long-standing cultural isolation. And with this increasing diversity, the legacy of the old Confederacy has begun to fade.

The changes wrought in the South by the air conditioner helped, of course, to speed the demo­graphic transformation. By making life in the fac­tory more bearable, climate control nurtured the expansion of industry in the New South. The number of Southerners employed in manufacturing exceeded those employed in agriculture for the first time in 1958. By 1980, factory workers out­numbered farm laborers by a margin of 3 to 1....

Since 1940 the South has also been the most rapidly urbanizing section of the country. The pro-

portion of the Southerners living in urban areas has nearly doubled, from 36.7 percent to almost 70 percent today. Although its population still remains the most "rural" in the United States, the South and the rest of the nation are no longer that far apart....

A more noticeable effect of air-conditioned architecture has been its assault on the South's strong "sense of place". Epitomized by the fictional inhabitants of Faulkner's Yoknapatawpha County, Southerners have been rooted to local geography — to a county, town, neighborhood, or homestead. As look-alike chain stores, tract houses, glass-sided skyscrapers, and shopping malls overwhelm the landscape in and around cities and towns, this sense of local identity is bound to fade.

Perhaps, as it has done so often in the past, the Southerner's special devotion to regional and local traditions will ensure the survival of Southern folk culture. But this time it won't be easy: General Electric has proved a more devastating invader than General William Tecumseh Sherman. As long as air conditioning, abetted by immigration, urbani­zation, and broad technological change, continues to make inroads, the South's distinctive character will continue to diminish, never to rise again.

Dixie: The southern states of the U.S., especially those eleven that formed the Confederacy and seceded from the United States in 1860—61.

Faulkner, William: see page 45. Civil War: see page 44.

Yankee: a native or inhabitant of a northern U.S. state, especially a Union soldier during the Civil War.

Yoknapatawpha County: the fictional setting of many of Faulkner's novels and short stories.

General Electric: a large American corporation.

Sherman, William Tecumseh (1820-91): American Union General in the Civil War.

REGIONALISM VS. AMERICANIZATION 51

Southern Women-Stiff Ladies?

by CORA MCKINNEY

The following interview seeks to discover whether the "moon-

light-and-magnolia" stereotype of the "Gone-with-the-Wind"

Southern lady still holds today.

Southern belles

Question: When I think of the stereotypical Southern woman, what immediately comes to my mind is the image of the genteel Southern belle — the lady of the plantation — portrayed in so many books and films. Is this Southern lady a bygone figure of the past, or does the Southern woman of the 1980s have something in common with her? Answer: Oh yes, I think there are still Southern belles in the South today. It hasn't changed so much. I think you could say that the Southern woman is a breed that hasn't totally died out. She may not live on a plantation any more, but there are still Southern belles, and Southern girls are still taught to be Southern ladies. Question: What characterizes a woman as a "lady" nowadays?

Answer: A lady is gracious and charming and above all she's well-bred. I think that says it all. A

lady is a woman who is well-bred and who feels well-bred and who is proud to come from a good family. I think the family background is actually the most important distinguishing feature of a lady. What's really important is that these qual­ities, these ideal qualities of charm and grace, are learned. They are passed on from mother to daughter in each generation. That's why the Southern lady today isn't that different from the Southern lady back in the antebellum South. The mothers pass on to their daughters the ideals of being a lady. And, in fact, the degree to which a Southern girl approximates her mother, or is like her mother, is a measure of the degree to which she is a lady. You can see in the South that Southern girls are willing to identify with their mothers, because there are lots of social functions and mother-daughter banquets sponsored by the

52 AMERICA IN CLOSE-UP

2. continued

cheerleading club, and there are even look-alike mother-daughter dresses that you can buy in fashion shops. So, Southern girls do well to be like mother.

Question: What about you? In what ways were you brought up to be a "lady"? Answer: For my twelfth birthday, my mother gave me a book called Party Manners and White Kid Gloves. This is a book that probably a lot of mothers give to their little girls when they reach the age of twelve. Party Manners and White Kid Gloves explains to little girls, or to young ladies, how they are to act to be considered a young lady. For example, I remember reading that when I go to a social function, I'm supposed to shake the hand of the hostess and say something nice to her and, well, it tells you all the little niceties concern­ing how you're supposed to act at a party and when you're supposed to wear white gloves and when not, and when it's right to light a candle. I remember reading that you're never supposed to light a candle at the coffee-table when you're serving guests unless it's evening. Otherwise it's bad taste. Well, okay, that's one example: we learn how to be ladies by reading books like that. And in my family, my sister and I took dancing lessons. There are many semi-elite dancing so­cieties which are especially popular in the South. When you're fourteen or fifteen and fortunate enough to be invited to join the club, you can participate in these dances. At the final balls, the final big function — (and we really do wear white kid gloves) — we really get to test our manners. This is one kind of training for becoming a lady. Question: Is it possible to distinguish a Southern girl from, let's say, a Northern girl, simply by virtue of appearance? Answer: Yes, very often. You see, a Southern girl is rather vain about her appearances, or at least that's the way I see it. You see, a Northern girl might wear rugged outdoor sportswear, for example, a skirt, long knee-socks, and comfort­able shoes. But when a Southern girl wears a skirt, she usually wears nylon stockings and some

dainty little pumps. That's one difference: that the Southern girl cares so much about her appear­ance she would rather be pretty than comfortable. Sometimes the Southern girl ties her hair back in little colored ribbons. She just looks more femi­nine on the whole. But I mean, there are also other ways to distinguish a Southern girl from a Northern girl besides just her clothing. Question: Do you think that a Southern girl is different in other ways as well? What about a political involvement and issues like Women's Liberation?

Answer: When you ask me that, I think of women on college campuses because I've just been to a university and I can best relate to the women there. There's really a big difference in the women on Southern college campuses com­pared with the college women in the North. What comes to my mind is that in the South the women aren't particularly interested in politics. They prefer to join social clubs. What's really popular in the South are sororities. They are sort of semi-elite societies. They are primarily social, and the women meet together and arrange social activities. They arrange parties and dances, and sometimes do things for charity. These sororities are really popular in the South. But in the North, they are not that popular. When I think about politics it seems to me that women in the South prefer being involved in things like sororities and partying and having a nice social life to being involved in politics. Politics is something controversial, and very often the Southern girl just avoids con­troversy. She prefers to be charming and gracious and never step on anyone's toes. But in the North, politics are important, and the ERA issue — the Equal Rights Amendment issue — was a very strong and controversial topic. But I think the Northern girls don't mind getting into contro­versies as much as the Southern girls do. You have to realize, for the Southern girl the highest virtue is to be gracious and warm and friendly and hospitable and always proud. And somehow that doesn't mix so well with politics.

Gone with the Wind: a novel by Margaret Mitchell (1900-49) featuring the American South before and during the Civil War, also a film classic.

antebellum: before the Civil War.

Women's Liberation: a movement striving for full educational, social and economic opportunities for women.

ERA: Equal Rights Amendment; suggested change to American law, intended to give women the same legal rights as men.

REGIONALISM VS. AMERICANIZATION 53

The Nation's Most Strongly Defined Region

N

ew England, alone among the nation's regions,

has a precisely defined

identity. While people

may argue about what

the Mid-west or even the

South includes today,

New England consists of

CANADA u'sa

Connecticut, Maine,

Massachusetts, New

Hampshire, Rhode Island

and Vermont — nothing

more and nothing less.

The inhabitants of this

region call coffee with

cream "regular" and car­bonated beverages "tonic."

They pronounce Bingo

"BeanO," and when they bowl they use candlepins

rather than tenpins. Those who live in Bos­ton, which most New

Englanders recognize as their regional capital, eat hot dogs, beans and black bread on Saturday even­ing, and on Halloween they drink apple cider. Above all else New Eng­landers arc Yankees, people whom all Americans think of — however accurately or inaccurately — as conscientious, hard-working, terse, frugal, and (like the climate) cold and inhospitable to outsiders.

Outside the United States people think of all Americans as Yankees, reflecting New England's tendency to project its own traditions, practices and beliefs onto the nation as a whole. The Puritans, who came to New England in 1620, were the first to articulate what was to become Protestant America's characteristic image of its place in the world. "For wee must consider that wee shall be as a Citty uppon a Hill, the ties of all people are uppon us," said John Winthrop, one of the Bay Colony's first and most influential leaders.

candlepin: a slender bowling pin used in a variation of the game of tenpins.

54 AMERICA IN CLOSE-UP

What is a Middle Westerner?

A congeries of traits seems to be more or less characteristic of the breed, although no single trait is unique, and none is distinctive. None of them is mandatory for residence in the area, and one need not be a native to hold any or all of them. Some, at least, might be considered standard American traits, which is not especially surprising, because the Middle West, after all, is the American heartland. These caveats and provisos notwithstanding, the identification of this congeries of traits helps one to understand the people of the region and why they do the things they do. Most of the following adjectives are applicable in varying degree to most genuine Middle Westerners, as I perceive them:

Pecuniaristic: - A deep faith that all values can eventually be measured in terms of money: "the worth of a man is indicated by his income."

Materialistic: — Blatant worship of the almighty dollar, or even ostentation of income, is generally considered bad taste, but con­spicuous consumption can serve the same purpose: an expensive house in the "right" neighbor­hood, wearing the latest fashions, status-oriented travel to places others cannot afford to visit, the most powerful and expensive speedboat or snowmobile. Self-assured: — A value system based on money is unlikely to be questioned by a prosperous

Farming in the Midwest

people, and the Middle West has been enormously successful in terms of its own system of values; "somebody must be doing some­thing right." Critical re-evaluation of the value system has never really been necessary, and many Middle Westerners have seldom, if ever, been afflicted with self-doubts of their own righteousness. Functionalist: - "If it works, I'll buy it, and not ask any questions; if it doesn't work, let's get rid of it and get something that does work."

Technologic: — Almost unbroken prosperity (especially in com­parison with other parts of the nation) can easily be attributed to a predilection for the latest and most modern machines and tech­niques. New and better machines always have been invented in the

past: why should the future be different?

Competent: — An almost childlike faith in perpetual progress through technology is coupled with enor­mous technological sophistication and competence, and a profound respect for hard work. Simplistic: - "If I ask a guy why he does something, and if he gives me an answer that makes sense, I don't see any need to probe any deeper."

Xenophobic: — A suspicion of any­one different is reflected in an isolationist stance in international affairs, in a deep distrust of all governmental activity on the domestic scene, and by strong social pressures on all non­conformists, whether Catholic, Slav, black, long-haired, or bearded.

REGIONALISM VS. AMERICANIZATION 55

°'Just like the rest of us, only more so"

For more than a century, Americans have looked at California as something different, a "new" New World at the end of the continent, the ultimate expression of manifest destiny. It is a place as distinct from the rest of the country as America was from the Old World it rejected some 200 years ago....

It is difficult to characterize in a phrase a state that takes in over a thousand miles of coastline, a variety of landscapes and more than 22 million people. Nevertheless, it is often said that California is not just a state but a state of mind. For some, it represents the final embodiment of America's frontier spirit; for others, it is a version of El Dorado, a place to find fortunes or spend fortunes made elsewhere. California is the nation's leader in fads, fashion and self-indulgence. New religions, new living arrangements, new forms of entertainment from Disneyland to sexclubs, new attitudes towards work, family and education, all have been nurtured by California's tolerant social climate.

It may well be true that Californians are quintessential Americans. In a wealthy nation, they are wealthier than most; in a suburban society, they are more suburbanized; in a culture devoted to immediate satisfaction, they are satisfied faster; in a country where optimism reigns supreme, they are the most optimistic; and in a time of doubt and uncertainty, they have the most to be uncertain about.

The wealthy lifestyle of California

Californians, the saying goes, are just like the rest of us, only more so.

California stands for "absolute freedom, mobility and privacy," wrote author Joan Didion, a native of the state. It represents "the instinct which drove America to the Pacific... the desire... to live by one's own rules." This sense of freedom extends beyond what has come to be known as lifestyle. It pervades the political atmosphere as well.

While California voters do not easily fit into hard and fast ideological categories, they have consistently been in the forefront of political trend-setting....

manifest destiny: the nineteenth-century belief that the U.S. had the right and duty to expand across the North American continent.

frontier: see page 26.

part C Exercises

1. Text Analysis

The Cooling of the South

Refer to the chart below and explain how air conditioning has affected the process of Americanization in the South.

ECONOMY

A"

SENSE OF PLACE I

AIR CONDITIONING

ARCHITECTURE

RURAL & URBAN POPULATION

V-

SOUTHERN WAY OF LIFE

2. Discussion

"Americanization"

In what areas do you find strong American

influences in your country?

How do you feel about these influences?

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