林登·约翰逊的"伟大社会"与美国工业社会的成熟

“伟大社会”是美国总统林登·约翰逊所实施的当代美国最为雄心勃勃的社会经济改革纲领。纲领的福利计划、反贫困计划、保障民权的举措以及税制改革、城市更新和环境保护等方面的行动,在立法上都获得了登峰造极的成功,在实践上取得了累累硕果。它把美国进一步推向“福利国家”的道路,缓和了美国的社会矛盾,推动了美国社会经济的发展;它部分地解决了美国丰裕社会的贫困问题,提高了美国人民的生活质量,推动了美国工业社会的完善与成熟。     

The Pied Piper of the ghetto: Lyndon Johnson, environmental justice, and the politics of rat control

When Congress rejected President Lyndon Johnson’s Rat Extermination and Control Bill in the summer of 1967, in a mood of growing conservatism, it inadvertently sparked a heated political controversy that brought the desperate conditions of life in inner-city America into sharp focus. This article focuses on the issue of rat infestation to explore the conditions of “urban blight” that disproportionately afflicted ghetto communities in the United States during the 1960s and that represented a form of environmental inequality linked to racial marginalization and poverty. It is suggested that a growing awareness of environmental aspects of inequality increasingly fueled ghetto discontent, feeding the outbreak of riots during the “long, hot summers,” and spurring liberals to think of new ways to understand the problems of inner-city poverty.     

The Wiley-Blackwell companion to cultural geography

The Western film genre fosters the mythic view of America as a feminized Eden where one can regenerate or recreate oneself. Westerns typically depict the American countryside as though it were simply a gorgeous framing device for the film's male protagonist whose primary function is to introduce the rough wilderness to the pioneers (or cinematic viewers) who will follow him. In contrast, in the rural femalecentered films of American life— such as Daughters of the Dust, Places in the Heart, Bagdad Cafe, and The Spitfire Grill—the landscape plays a central role. Nature, in fact, generally replaces the powerful male protagonist of the Western. Unlike European movies that also highlight nature's regenerative power, the American films discussed here center on the transformation of the woman. They highlight the Jeffersonian ideal of America as a garden community—one where the female protagonist is regenerated by her ties to the land and by her relationship with those labeled “Other.” She does not conquer or traipse through the cowboy's wild Eden. Rather, she inhabits a nurturing cinematic place that celebrates community and embraces difference.