Gary McDonogh. Encyclopedia of Contemporary American Culture

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role that taxes, and the governments that levy them, should play in the US.

As a percentage of national income, personal income taxes are 12.3 percent. The

ercentages for social insurance taxes, sales/excise taxes, corporate taxes and property

taxes, are 10.4 percent, 4.9 percent, 3.6 percent and 3.3 percent respectively. At the

federal level 67.4 percent of taxes are collected, with the remainder going to state and

local authorities. Social-insurance taxes finance

retirement

and health benefits. Benefits

are distributed in proportion to the taxes paid during one’s working years. Financial

difficulties confronting the system aside, it is essentially a forced savings plan. Sales and

property taxes are collected at the

state

(or local) level as an alternative to income taxes.

In 1994 such taxes accounted for over half of state and local revenues. Delaware, the

“Home of Tax-Free Shopping,” is one of five states without a sales tax. These states

compensate with higher income taxes, use taxes or reduced services. Just 9 percent of US

usinesses are subject to corporate income tax, normally at a rate of 35 percent. The

effective rate is significantly lower due to numerous credits, deductions and depreciation

allowances.

When Americans speak of taxes, however, they typically refer to personal income

taxes. First imposed during the Civil War, income tax became permanent in 1913, after

ratification of the 16th Amendment to the Constitution. Income tax was an appealing

alternative to tariffs, excise taxes and property taxes that were regressive in nature. The

first income tax was aimed at the very rich. Fewer than one percent of citizens filed

returns. Personal income taxation played a small role until just before the Second World

War, when exemptions were reduced and tax rates increased to finance wartime

production. By this time, one-third of the population was responsible for some tax.

The progressive spirit of the tax code burdens the wealthy with additional

responsibilities to pay for the services that contributed to their wealth. Marginal tax rates

provided for low rates at low-income levels. As income increases, tax rates increase as

well, with each additional dollar of income taxed at one’s highest rate. The post-Second

World War period saw the top marginal rate slide from a growth-impeding 94 percent in

1944–5 to 70 percent through the 1970s. Tax reform focusing on the Laffer Curve and

supplyside economics, which argued that low tax rates increase tax revenues by

increasing total economic output, led to a top rate of 28 percent by 1988.

While progressive in spirit, loopholes have developed over the life of the tax code to

the point that wealthy families deduct significant portions of income. Charitable

exclusions, exclusions for government-bond interest and generation-skipping trusts are

common tax-avoidance techniques. Middle-class taxpayers, often the most vocal tax-

reform advocates, benefit from the largest deduction of all—the ability to exclude

mortgage interest paid from taxes.

Income taxes are collected by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Tax returns are filed

annually but paid primarily from paycheck withholding. As the deadline, April 15

approaches, media depictions of Americans rushing to complete complicated paperwork

and figure out how to afford the bill grow abundant. The IRS uses the fear of audits

(fewer than 2 percent of returns are audited), information reporting from employers and

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tax withholding to enforce tax laws. Even so, $150 billion in revenue is lost to non-

compliance. The IRS has developed a reputation for poor service and predatory collection

practices, which it addressed in the 1990s with customer-service initiatives.

Americans tend to share a general antipathy for taxes. There are two primary

explanations for anti-tax sentiment. The attitude of “everybody wants everything and

nobody wants to pay for it”

rovides an explanation for tax hatred without theoretical

asis. On the other hand, general opposition to the size, motivation and goals o

government provide a strong base of support for tax reform.

There are numerous advocacy groups that support tax cuts and reforms. The Tax

Foundation annually calculates a “Tax Freedom Day.” In 1998, “Tax Freedom Day” was

May 10, meaning that Americans spent 35.4 percent of the year earning money to pay

various taxes. In general, taxes have risen with “Tax Freedom Day” occurring on

February 12 (1930), April 15 (1960) and May 1 (1990). Tax is also a strong feature o

Republican political rhetoric.

The implication from the above is that Americans pay too much in taxes. In fact, the

US has lower taxes than the majority of economically developed countries. A 1993 study

indicates that US taxes are equal to 29.7 percent of GDP. Only Japan had a lower rate,

with the United Kingdom (33.6), Germany (39.0) and Sweden (49.9) shouldering

significantly higher burdens (Slemrod and Bakija 1996:20). While personal and corporate

income taxes are similar across countries, the US has far lower sales and value-added

taxes than other nations.

Further reading

Graetz, M. (1997)

The Decline (and Fall?) of the Income Tax,

New York: W.W.Norton.

Slemrod, J. and Bakija, J. (1996)

Taxing Ourselves: A

Citizen’s Guide to the Great

Debate Over Tax Reform,

Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

MARC BALCER

Taylor, Elizabeth

b. 1932

Academy Award-winning film actor. Although British-

orn, Taylor at the peak of her

celebrated career was the definitive American movie goddess. Her lavish lifestyle and her

unabashed appetite for romance fed the dreams of stargazers and sustained the gossip

pages in the 1950s and 1960s. Taylor’s numerous, high-profile

marriages

—three to actor

Richard Burton—were both a reinforcement and a rebellion against women’s dependence

on men. After her acting career waned, Taylor became a tireless campaigner in the fight

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against

AIDS

. Her association with the cause was crucial to raising public awareness

about the deadly epidemic.

ee also:

Academy Awards; actors

SARAH SMITH

Teamsters Union

The most notorious

union

in the United States, the Teamsters have been at the center o

controversies regarding the power of organized labor. In the years after the Second World

War, the Teamsters became the nation’s largest labor organization. At the same time, the

union’s leaders attracted attention because of their associations with organized crime.

This notoriety helped justify new efforts to halt union-organizing campaigns.

Founded in 1899 as a national union for men working on horse-drawn wagons, the

organization began to evolve dramatically in the 1930s. Ambitious new leaders, such as

Dave Beck and Jimmy

Hoffa,

pioneered new organizing techniques that harnessed the

strategic power of the interstate truckers. Eager for new members these leaders ignored

traditional craft and jurisdictional distinctions to organize a wide range of workers. The

union grew to be the nation’s largest and its membership became increasingly diverse.

Actively organizing among the unskilled workforce of the country especially in the

South,

the Teamsters became an interracial organization. By the early 1960s, it included

some 200,000

African American

members, about 20 percent of all the blacks belonging

to organized labor. Women workers joined in large numbers as well, especially as the

union began aggressively to organize warehouse and cannery operations. Seeking to

attract and hold such members, the Teamsters’ leadership promised them equal wages

and fair treatment. At the local level, however, where white male members adhered to the

dominant prejudices of the day, discrimination frequently occurred.

Known for its aggressive and ambitious organizing, the union also became famous for

its alleged links with

organized crime

. Hoffa, president of the Teamsters from 1957 to

1971, openly proclaimed his friendship with a number of wellknown gangsters, although

he insisted that those associations did not influence his leadership. Most people assumed

that Hoffa’s disappearance in 1975 followed a dispute with the Mafia that led to his

abduction and murder. In Hoffa’s wake, the next four successors to the union’s

residency all reputedly had connections with organized crime. In one case, Jackie

Presser (president 1983–8) served as an undercover

FBI

informant, while at the same

time campaigning to gain the assistance of the Mafia in achieving the union’s presidency.

Beginning in the 1950s, critics of organized labor focused attention on the Teamsters

in order to raise questions about the power of organized labor. The combination of the

union’s aggressive organizing activities and the allegations of organized-crime influence

made it an inviting target. A sensational investigation conducted by the Senate’s

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McClellan Committee (1957–9) linked together the power of the Teamsters, the

misconduct of some of its officers and the dangers of organized crime to justify new legal

restrictions on all union activity. The resulting legislation, the Landrum-Griffin Act

(1959), was known as the “law to get Jimmy Hoffa.” In fact, Hoffa’s notoriety offered

organized labor’s opponents the chance to create a law that further hampered union

organizing efforts across the board.

Further reading

James, R.C. and James, E.D. (1965)

Hoffa and the Teamsters,

Princeton: D.Van

Nostrand.

Leiter, R.D. (1957)

The Teamsters Union,

New York: Bookman Associates.

DAVID WITWER

teenagers

Those between thirteen and twenty-something represent both the “downfall” of American

society and serve as its trend-setters and hopes. Teens have also become icons o

modernity and symbols in a culture deeply oriented towards youth in the postwar era.

onetheless, social dependency on the ability of teenagers to replicate the social roles o

adults produces a type of anxiety that consistently revolves around the activities of youth

(Cohen, 1972).

The teenage years are viewed as the definitive time of identity formation. This

becomes the focus of school and extra-curricular activities like sports, as well as

family

anxiety. While religious rites, social celebrations (coming out,

commencement

) and

civic landmarks—especially acquisition of a driver’s license at sixteen—mark increasing

adulthood, it remains partial. Even as many teenagers work in addition to school and

family obligations, they are often treated as potential victims. Hence, laws censor adult

information and shield them from vice (

alcohol

and

tobacco

sales are legally

discouraged). Teens are also viewed as vulnerable to problematic peer relations—

whether status groups or

gangs

. These prohibitions, in turn, become foci of rebellion.

Hence, the activities of American teenagers have become the focus of countless social-

science studies that tend to focus largely on the notion of deviance. These studies were

concentrated during the 1960s, which remains an iconic decade of teen rebellion, from

Vietnam to

Woodstock

. Drug use, teenage

suicide

and sex remain consistent trends

among analysts (Gaines 1990) and policy-makers. Moreover, both underscore the special

stress on those who are marked as different in race, class,

gender

or ability from the

larger society. Teenagers can be cruel, yet this is often only a refraction of cultural values

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and socio-economic opportunity. Hence, the socially constructed category of adolescence

ecomes a series of trials, tribulations and experimentation that one will survive, it is

hoped, to become an adult.

Yet teenagers, individually and

en masse,

have also become important agents in their

own right. Since the Second World War, teenagers have become a major consumer force

with a large amount of disposable income. An entire cultural industry has been created in

the United States to appeal to this age group in the form of clothing stores, music trends

and entertainment, incorporating a rapid obsolescence despite the endurance of sex, jeans

and rock ’n’ roll as primary motifs. In the 1990s, the survival of many corporate entities

depended on teenage consumer power.

While often viewed as frivolous, teenagers have also been at the center of important

social changes in society. Teenagers have been involved in landmark political events and

moments of social upheaval, including social demonstrations in the 1960s, especially the

antiwar and civil-rights movement. With the draft beginning at eighteen, and the voting

age being lowered to eighteen nationwide in the 1970s, this has made them real as well as

otential actors in major issues, even if politicians speak of them still in terms of tutelage

(on issues such as abortion).

Representations of teenagers in popular culture often reflect their position as

consumers in

fashion,

music and

mass media

. Again, this historically focused on the

notion of deviance and rebellion, with some interesting changes. Films such as

lackboard Jungle

(1955),

Rebel Without a Cause

(1955) and

West Side Story

(1961)

portrayed rebellious teenagers of the 1950s, coupled with subtexts of

class, race

and

social hierarchies. The tension between teens on the beach or at the

drive-in

and those in

the gang or the “hood” continues to shape teen flicks. Teenage anxiety permeated films

such as

The Breakfast Club

and

Sixteen Candles

in the 1980s, while also reflecting on

dysfunctional families. In the 1990s, the sobering

Kïds

(1995) and

Basketball Diaries

(1995) have treated drug use and sex, while being criticized as causes, rather than effects

of youth violence. Representations of teenagers in television have generally dealt with

less political teenage dilemmas or have focused on family interrelations in shows such as

appy Days

(1974–84) or

Beverly Hills 90210

(1990–9), although news media often play

up stories of gangs and victimization.

Further reading

Cohen, S. (1972)

Folk Devils and Moral Panics,

Oxford: Basil Blackwell.

Gaines, D. (1990)

Teenage Wasteland: Suburbia’s Dead End Kïds,

New York: Pantheon.

MATTHEW DURINGTON

teen fiction

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While American youths spend more time watching television than they spend in school,

adolescents do read. Adolescents like to read what everyone else is reading and they like

good-looking book covers and prefer paperbacks to hardbacks. The genres of adolescent

fiction are as varied as are those of children’s and adult literature, including historical

fiction and adventure tales,

coming-of-age

stories, contemporary horror tales and social-

issue stories that treat such topics as

AIDS, divorce,

disability and

immigration

. Some

ooks are clearly tailored to an adolescent market, especially for younger readers, while

others are introduced through education and peer groups in high school and college, by

which time they will generally be reading “adult” books.

Adolescent fiction also addresses struggles adolescents face, such as coming of age,

religion,

divorce

(Voight,

A Solitary Blue

suicide

(McRae,

Going to the Dogs

loneliness (Bethancourt,

The Me Inside of Me

), eating disorders (Levenkron,

The Bes

ittle Girl in the World

death

(Paulson,

Hatchet

), disease and disabilities (Mahy

emory;

Adler,

Eddie’s Blue-Winged Dragon

), emotional problems (Riley,

Crazy Quilt

abuse (Barbara Kingsolver,

The Bean Trees

), alcoholism (Paulson,

The Crossing

) and

sexuality (Dizeno,

Why Me? The Story of Jenny

). Discussions and concerns with racism

and ethnicity often lead adolescents to classics such as Ralph

Ellison

’s

Invisible Man,

Toni

Morrison’s

The Bluest Eye,

Alice

Walker

’s

Color Purple,

Maxine Hong

Kingston

’s

Woman Warrior,

or Sandra

Cisneros’

The House on Mango Street

Historical fiction includes popular prehistory series such as Jean Auel’s

The Clan o

the Cave Bear,

which captivates readers with adventure, survival and discovery themes.

Katherine Paterson has contributed other significant titles to adolescent historical fiction,

including

The Sign of the Chrysanthemum,

set in twelfth-century Japan. Adolescents also

enjoy

westerns,

including the series by Louis L’Amour and Janet Dailey’s

Calder

series,

and read fiction set in the Second World War, Vietnam and the civil-rights eras. Paterson

and Walter Dan Myers are familiar names to adolescent readers; Second World War

themes are found in Paterson’s

Jacob Have I Loved

. Sook Nyul Choi’s

Year o

mpossible Goodbyes

treats a North Korean family fleeing the communists, while

Echoes

of the White Giraffe

follows this family’s life in a

refugee

camp. Myers’

Fallen Angels,

Marsha Qualey’s

Come in from the Cold

and Bobbi Ann

Mason

’s

In Country

all deal

with Vietnam.

Adolescents are drawn to

romances,

from the Christian historical romances of Bacher

(Heartland Heritage series) and Thoene (Shilo Legacy Series) to more traditional female-

oriented novels. Meanwhile, science fiction and fantasy permit adolescent readers to

explore new and old worlds in creative, divergent ways, whether through adventures with

dragons or travels in space with aliens. Alternative worlds such as those found in

Madeline L’Engle’s

A Wrinkle in Time

series and Roger Zelazny’s

A Dark Travelin

ique adolescent imagination. So does humorous science fiction by Gilden and Adams,

while Michael Crichton’s

Jurassic Park

attracts older adolescents as well as adults. Other

opular fantasy genres of later adolescent reading include cyberpunk, aliens, utopias and

dystopias. Graphic novels (Speigelman’s

Maus, Maus II

) and

comics

are also

widespread, especially among males.

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As comics may suggest, teens also have a great capacity for horror, mystery and

crime

fiction

—and for following similar series of

horror films

. Popular crime and mystery

writers include Stephen

King,

Mary Higgins Clark and Sue Grafton, who all have strong

adult markets. Christian mystery writing for adolescents includes the

Jennie McCrady

ysteries

. The cinematic ties and high adventure novels of Tom Clancy and Robin

Cook’s thrillers are also compelling, while teen novels of adventure and survival include

works by Jean George and Gary Paulsen.

Further reading

American Library Association “Outstanding Books for the College Bound: Fiction”:

http://www.ala.org/yalsa/booklists/obcb/fiction.html

Gillespie, J. (ed.) (1991)

Best Books for Junior High Readers, 12–15,

New Providence:

R.R.Bowker.

Herald, D. (1997)

Teen Genreflecting,

Englewood: Libraries Unlimited.

GAIL HENSON

telecommunications

Telecommunications refers to communication that involves and surmounts distance. In

addition to telephony, the term includes electronic communication via media such as

radio,

telegraph,

television, computer

(coupled with a modem connecting it to the

Internet

), facsimile machines and newer forms of telephony such as cellular or digital

telephones.

nformation

that is telecommunicated can be cast out in the form of voice, symbols,

ictures, digital data, or some combination of these. A telecommunications system

includes a transmitter, a receiver and a channel of communication—air, water, cable,

satellite, telephone wire, broadband technologies. As the economy becomes increasingly

post-industrial, in the so-called information economy, the speed and efficiency of transfer

of messages becomes a crucial objective in the running of institutions and the

rofitability of electronic exchange. Telecommunications is thus a huge business

nationally and globally, with geopolitical ramifications.

Although the telephone is not the sole instrument for telecommunications, it has

become the predominant form. It is the cornerstone of modern two-way communication.

The telephone is accessorized by the answering machine or voice-mail systems so that

increasingly it is more difficult to speak with another live person on the phone, while at

the same time it is rare to get a busy signal or unanswered phone. Alternate forms o

message exchange, such as electronic mail or e-mail, that use telephone lines but send

Encyclopedia of Contemporary American Culture 1112

written text from a computer have become increasingly popular for both business and

non-business purposes.

With the dawn of new technologies, the familiar telephone is undergoing a

monumental transformation, in which it is becoming an intelligent, multimedia center. As

newer forms of telecommuting emerge, the phone becomes a companion: the modem is a

medium between computers and telephone lines transforming digital data into analog

information; video conferencing too requires the use of the telephone. No doubt, in its

new, advanced form, the telephone will facilitate interactions between and among people,

machines, content, financial transactions, shopping, entertainment and games. Thus, it is

essential that the telephone and other networked terminals like the fax machine, cellular

hone, and personal and business computers are easy for the user and profitable for

manufacturer, wholesaler and retailer. With the advance of computer technology,

increasingly people’s activities on the computer and telephone can be traced, raising

concerns on issues of

privacy

and big-brother surveillance.

With the Communications Act of 1934 and the legislation that set up the

FCC,

telecommunications was established as a regulated and official industry although the

telephone and the telegraph had long been part of the American technological landscape.

One objective of this Act was to create an affordable, universal telephone service for the

American people. As a result,

AT&T

was chosen to monopolize the industry (RCA/NBS

continued its dominance of radio). Under the protection of the federal government, it

became the dominant telephone company (“Ma Bell”) and still exerts a tremendous

influence even after the government broke up the monopoly in 1984 (creating “Baby

Bells”). The trend was reversed in the 1990s, when AT&T bought big cable operators,

like Media One, and multi-national mergers of telecommunication firms were common.

Investors in the twenty-first century bet that telecommunications will assert its role in the

exchange of information and commerce.

Further reading

Crowley, D. and Heyer, P. (eds) (1999)

Communication in History,

New York:

Longman.

Fischer, C. (1992)

America Calling,

Berkeley: University of California.

Marvin, C. (1988)

When Old Technologies Were New,

New York: Oxford.

EDWARD MILLER

telephones

telecommunications

televangelism

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Christian media

television

The technology for television was developed in the 1920s. Nonetheless, it was not until

after the Second World War that television became popular in America. Since then,

television has been attacked as a detriment to its watchers’ lives and hailed as an

educational tool that opens up people to the world beyond their everyday experiences.

Both charges are true.

Despite differences in the media, American television was modeled after its

counterpart in radio. It took on a similar industrial set-up—around a few major

networks

and local franchises—and early programming relied on staples like

soap operas

and

tal

shows

. Similar governmental regulations—under the jurisdiction of the

FCC

—were also

adopted. That means that, like most

mass media

in America, commercial television

dominates, with public broadcasting playing a minor role.

Television’s expansion came at a time when Americans were emerging as a

superpower. With the soldiers coming home, the rise of

suburbia

and the new abundance

of material goods, TV became a new symbol for American wealth. The number o

television receivers rose from 10 million in 1951 to 50 million in 1959. Local stations

became points of metropolitan identity (while

radio

could be very localized, entire states

like New Jersey could be left without a commercial station).

Television was initially viewed by Hollywood as serious competition; cinema

attendance fell in the 1950s. Yet, the two media differ in their relationships with space

and audiences. The box in the house keeps its audience in, while the screen in the movie

theater takes people out of their homes. The success of TV in the 1950s was partly

embodied by the strong nuclear

family

suburban living arrangement. However, over

decades, closer relationships grew between television and film industries; they benefit

from each other by sharing their resources from production to distribution. The arrival o

color TV in the 1960s underscored this symbiosis. American TV is also global—

syndicated shows are sold worldwide, creating a dominance not unlike Hollywood’s.

American television relies on

advertising

revenue even as it presents itself as

providing services to the public (publicly funded television,

PBS,

was a late innovation in

the 1960s, targeting high culture and underserved populations). Commercial television

must sell its programs to the audience, then sell its audience to the advertisers. Hence,

broadcasters developed the

Nielsen rating

system to measure viewership at home.

Though inaccurate, these ratings can determine the life and death of TV programs. These

ratings have also promoted a culture where the group who has the highest spending

ower becomes the group that TV pleases. Broadcasters can also claim that they are

making shows that the public demands, while avoiding those with small audiences.

Encyclopedia of Contemporary American Culture 1114

American television is about show business and

news

. Following closely the successes

of radio, major TV genres include

game shows,

talk shows,

sitcoms,

various dramas,

soap operas,

variety shows

and sports events. News can exemplify how this evolved over

time. Television news not only provides information, local and national, but also sells a

restige product. Television changed the delivery of news. As in radio, it is

instantaneous, but it is also visual. Edward R.

Murrow

became the father and hero o

broadcast journalism, with his famous 1954 exposé of Senator Joseph McCarthy on

See I

. While people debate television’s role in the explosive events of the 1960s, from the

civil-rights movement to the Vietnam War, TV news was well respected for its

independence and authority. However, the

television

news

department, like other TV

roduction departments, also relies on audience ratings. In the 1990s, with TV stations

increasingly owned by even larger media conglomerates, TV news needed to be more

sensational. It is generally believed that this new news is exploitative, spending hours on

crime, celebrities’ deaths and fluff features, rather than any investigative journalism.

Political and critical debates about TV arise because it is seen to be a great force o

socialization. Television enters people’s

bedrooms,

and it connects people from children

to old age to worlds beyond their immediate environment. Despite its independence from

government control, TV content, because it needs to appeal to the widest possible

audience, tends to be middle-ofthe-road American fare, whether in dramas or in news.

Radicals point out a lack of diversity, while the ultra-conservatives find TV to have a

liberal bias with its slight engagement with issues of homosexuality or its attacks on

isolated corporate misdeeds. Yet television, especially with

cable

diversification, is about

audiences rather than ideas or even difference.

In the 1980s, the introduction of cable TV challenged the dominance of the three

national networks. New broadcast networks—FOX, Warner Brothers, UPN and Pax—

added further competition to the traditional three. Increasingly, the mass audience

ecame more of a targeted, niche audience where the industry seeks the most disposable

income. CBS’

Murder She Wrote

(CBS, 1984–97) for example, had impressive ratings,

ut since its demographics were mainly older, the show was cancelled. In the 1990s,

shows geared towards a young audience dominated. At the same time, one of the top

shows,

Seinfeld,

never attracted a minority audience. Both

NAACP

and La Raza have

challenged major networks to include minority characters in their sitcom line-ups at the

end of the century while worrying that other networks have become new ghettos.

Television has also been agglomerated into ever larger corporations. Of the three

surviving early networks, NBC is owned by GE, CBS by Viacom and ABC by Disney

New technological developments like Web/ interactive TV and HDTV will probably

not so much change television as offer more sophisticated delivery systems. Television

will still be contained in the home. The multiple-TV home,

VCRs

and the ability for the

new technologies to allow more self-selection may encourage more individualized home

entertainment. Yet, the development of HDTV would not only mean sharper pictures for

the consumers, it would also effectively eliminate the development of small networks

because of the prohibitive investment involved.

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