Review of American Modern Social Life

18 author, the readers could collect facts about the authors personality and life. It can help the readers to appreciate the authors literary work. The last approach is the socio-cultural historical approach. This approach focuses on the social, culture, and history background of literary works. It implies that the social, culture, and history background of literary works will influence the making of the literary works

2.3 Review of American Modern Social Life

This section reviews American modern social life, American culture, and adoption in the United States. According to Gabrenya Jr., social class plays an important role to classify human’s position in society. In American society, the level of social class influences someone’s pride. The American culture explains the influence of American culture in modern Era. The adoption in the United States explains the statistic of child adoption in the United States. 2.3.1 Society in American Modern Social Life According to Gabrenya Jr. the society in the United States is determined by social class. Social class is described as a combination of wealth, educational attainment, income, occupational prestige, and membership of social network. Each class in United States’ society has different lifestyle, consumption pattern, and values. The social class leads American to gain self esteem in their society. There are three classes in the American society. The first class is the upper middle class or the capitalist class. This class consists of highly educated and wealthy professionals. The second is the middle class. The members of this social class are more educated people with better jobs and leisure time to travel than the PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 19 working class. The lowest class is the working class or the poor. This class consists of highly routine workers. This class is divided into the working poor and the unemployment underclass. Most social roles are not gender-restricted by law. It can be seen in the year 2000 the women have entered the workplace is 46.6 , increase 18.3 from 1900. Even in military, women have close equality position. The notable restriction is not placing women in direct combat. Nowadays, men also work in feminine area such as receptionist and nursing. Gabrenya Jr., 1-15 2.3.2 American Culture The American culture is a western culture. The culture is originally influenced by European cultures. However, the culture has been developing into unique social and cultural characteristics. The development cultures are dialect, music, arts, social habits, cuisine, and folklore. Nowadays, America has a large number of ethnics and races diversing as the result of immigration from many different countries. There are five popular cultures in United States. The most popular culture is fashion. Cowboy hats, leather motorcycle jackets, and blue jeans are the icons of American fashion. Second is theater. Theater of the United States is based in the Western tradition. Third is film and television. The cinema and television are major mass media in the United States. Fourth is music. Today, American music can be heard all over the world. Fifth is dance. The variety of dances in the United States has been increasing greatly. www.culture_of_the_united_states.htm PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 20 2.3.3 Mass Media in United States’ Modern Era According to Elton, media is everywhere in modern society and it is almost impossible to avoid. In his journal, Americans spend an average of twenty- eight hours per week watching television. Americans also periodically spend their time to read newspaper, listen to the radio, and go to the movies. Mass media have become part of human live. Mass media also influence society, politic, economic, and ideology. Mass media, therefore, play an important role in the way we vote, the things we buy, the way we act, the values we hold, and the way we perceive reality. Elton, 1 2.3.4 Adoption in the United States In the last decade, domestic adoption is the most popular way for American families to expand their family. More than seven hundred thousand children are domestically adopted by prospective families. In Washington DC, more than two thousand children are adopted annually. http:www.infoplease.comusstatistics total-adoptions.html In the United States, the adoptive parents may adopt children via public and private agencies or independently by attorneys or facilitators. The adoption includes both infant adoption and older child adoption. An older-children domestic adoption costs nearly free to ten thousand dollars after the help of federal or state subsidies. An infant adoption costs five thousand dollars to forty Year Washington National Percentage 1999 2,448 118,138 2.07 2000 3,025 127,630 2.37 2001 2,748 127,407 2.16 PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 21 thousand dollars or more. An infant adoption is more expensive because it is categorized as a private adoption. The stepparents must hire attorneys of private agencies to process the infant adoption. Moreover, infant adoption is more complicated because it requires a variety of factors such as services provided, travel expenses, birthmother expenses, requirements in the state, and other factors. In the United States, adoption is also common for public figures. The Oscar winner, Sandra Bullock, adopted a three-half-month baby from New Orleans namely Louis Bardo Bullock. Sandra Bullock and Jesse G. James, her ex- husband, planed the adoption four years earlier but the process finally accomplished in January 2010. Several months later, Sandra Bullock became a single parent after declaring her divorce with Jesse G. James. http:www.people.compeoplepackagearticle.html One of the most famous adoptee is Steve Jobs, the co-founder and chief executive officer of Apple Inc and also a member of the board of directors of The Walt Disney Company. Steve Jobs was adopted by Paul and Clara Jobs in 1955 in San Francisco, California. http:en.wikipedia.orgwikiSteve_Jobs.htm 2.3.5 Baby-Brokering in the United States Adoption in the United States is a sensitive issue, especially for infant adoption. The adoptive parents should hire private attorneys to complete the processes. Since all of the processes will be handled by their attorney, including giving the compensation to the surrogate mother, the adoptive parents are asked to pay in a lot of amount. Based on article in www.adoption.org, most of adoptive PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 22 parents refuse to publish their identity when they adopt a child. Hiring private attorneys, therefore, will also keep their secret safe. Private infant adoption in the United States is often the target of attack, and the motivation is usually the amount of money. Here are some scenarios of brokering babies in United States. 2.3.5.1 A consideration between save or sell the baby Some of poor families have more children than they can feed. An agency or private attorney comes to offer the replacement for the children. Mostly, the agency or private attorney promises to relocate the children to more suitable parents and give them a good compensation. It is costs around fifteen thousand dollars. 2.3.5.2 A consideration between a social and business practice There are a lot of agencies which have several domestic infant adoption programs. It costs vary widely depending on the babys racial or ethnic background, and reasons given include a greater difficulty in placing the children in the lower cost program. 2.3.5.3 A consideration between a rightful parent or higher bidder An infant adoption in United States costs around forty thousand dollars. A private attorney will arrange all of the requirements for the adoptive parent. Since the contract agreement has not been signed yet, the attorney may rearrange the adoption to the highest bidder. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 23

2.4 Theoretical Framework