Top Social Issues Facing America in Modern Times

Top Social Issues Facing America in Modern Times

The US is one of the wealthiest and highly developed countries in the world, with extremely high industrial output and unparalleled living standards. However, the US still faces many societal issues that might take decades to be overcome.

Here is a description of some of the major social issues that have Americans concerned today:

Racism: Most Americans believe racism is still a major social issue in the US. In modern society, discrimination against the black and the Latin people on the basis of race is still highly practiced in many areas including the education and the employment sector. People are of the view that white supremacy is to be blamed for the persistence of American racism.


Healthcare: The United States does not provide broadscale healthcare to its citizens. In the US, people must either obtain health insurance or pay unreasonable prices for medical care. Healthcare expenses drain all the savings made by a person. Those who are unemployed, employed part-time, or self-employed must pay even more to purchase their own insurance, which means the expensive treatments for diseases like cancer e.t.c. will most likely bankrupt you if you do not have good insurance.


Crime and violence: There has been increasing concern that America has become more violent in the 21st century. The crime rate in America exceeds that in any other developed nations. For example, murder rates are far higher in the United States than in Europe. Rapes, robberies, and assaults are also far more common than in other rich countries. In addition to this, the rate of incarceration has also been the highest in the US of late, mainly because of the harsh and ineffective mandatory minimum sentences set by the law in the US.


Capitalism: Although the US is one of the wealthiest nations in the world, the wealth here is not equally distributed. Capitalism is on the rise since the current government favors policies that offer tax breaks to the rich, limit social safety net coverage for the poor, and thus aggravate the unequal distribution of wealth.


Poverty: In the US, incomes are not increasing as rapidly as the cost of living is, which is pushing more and more people below the poverty line every year. With high expenses and low incomes, people have less money to save.

Education disparity: The quality of public education a child receives depends largely on the type of community he or she lives in. This is because the education funding for the schools mostly comes from the local taxes and the richer a community will be, the more advanced its schools will be. Children in underfunded schools are also more likely to drop out and less likely to pursue a college education, which is becoming an increasing problem.


Gender inequality: Although many positive steps have been taken with regard to women empowerment and gender equality in the US in the past decade, there are many ways women are still not equal to men, both inside and outside of the house. Women still shoulder more of the household responsibilities. Women are still very underrepresented in technical jobs, media, and the government. According to the Pew Research Center, women make 16 percent less than their male counterparts.


Drugs and alcohol abuse: In the US, children as little as 12 years of age are involved with the illicit use of drugs. Statistics show that people who die from drug and alcohol abuse each year are mostly young adults. This problem affects a lot of households, with many drug addict parents ruining the futures of their children.


Islamophobia and xenophobia: Although this generation of Americans has been more understanding and welcoming toward the people of different races and religions and the immigrants than any previous generation, several cases of Islamophobic and xenophobic attacks still make news every year. This shows how lethal this problem actually is and this hatred for the Muslims and the immigrants will only spread more with the rise of immigration in America.