The nature and extent of social change

• Reagan's aims

  Reagan was a social conservative. So were his supporters. The 'New Right' tended to be anti-permissiveness, anti-government regulation, patriotic and strongly religious.

  • He believed in traditional values and had little time for new 'isms'
  • He was against excessive government interference and did not think it was the government's 'job' to bring about social change
  • He was patriotic
• Welfare

  Reagan's administration conducted something of an assault on the social welfare programme of the 1960s and 70s. Reagan saw welfare programmes as a disincentive to work, which worsened the plight of the poor. There was thus a sharp reduction in spending on food stamps, school meals and childcare. Little help was also given to the increasing number of homeless.
• Civil Rights

  Reagan claimed that he was not biased against anyone because of race or religion. He was probably right. He got on with people on every creed and colour. However, being opposed to much the of the 1960s and 70s legislation, he did little on the civil rights front.

  • In the 1980s, black males fell further than any group in terms of wages and jobs
• Immigration

  He did very little to limit immigration. By 1990, the USA had a population of 250 million. There were 31 million black people, 22 million Hispanic people and 7 million Asian people.
• Abortion


  He was an outspoken opponent of abortion and encouraged anti-abortion organisations. He stated his unequivocal hope that the Supreme Court would overturn the 1973 decision which permitted abortion on demand
• Gay people


  Reagan said very little about gay rights

  • He spent very little government money to fund research or help the victims of AIDS in the late 1980s
  • The Supreme Court in Bowers v Hardwick (1986) upheld the constitutionality of state laws outlawing homosexual acts
• Drugs


  He was particularly opposed to drug abuse. Some 750,000 Americans faced drug charges each year in the 1980s. Most were prosecuted for smoking marijuana. But crack became a real problem in the 1980s. By 1988, $15 billion was spent by government authorities in the war on drugs. Reagan suggested that the Drug War had replaced the Cold War in importance. There was no doubt that a great deal of crime in the US was drug-related (although drug-related deaths were far less than alcohol- and- tobacco related deaths).