AP Syllabus focus:
‘Use evidence from Period 9 to explain the relative significance of post-1980 changes for American national identity in a clear, defensible argument.’
American society after 1980 experienced transformative political, economic, social, and global developments that reshaped national identity. Understanding these changes requires evaluating their significance and crafting defensible historical arguments.
Building Historical Arguments About Change After 1980
Developing a persuasive argument about change over time requires identifying major developments, selecting relevant evidence, and explaining how specific shifts influenced evolving ideas of American national identity, defined as shared beliefs about the nation’s values, role, and character.
American national identity: The shared and evolving understanding of the nation’s core values, political principles, and place in the world.
A strong argument emphasizes relative significance, comparing the influence of multiple factors rather than treating each as equally important.
Political Change and Conservatism’s Influence
The Conservative Movement’s Policy Goals
After 1980, the ascendant conservative movement—embodied by the Reagan administration and subsequent leaders—reshaped political expectations about the size and purpose of the federal government. This included promoting limited government, free-market principles, and traditional social values. These ideas became deeply woven into national political discourse.
Key political transformations included:
Reductions in federal taxation and regulation associated with supply-side economics.
Calls to reduce or reform liberal welfare programs.
Heightened national debate over immigration, gender roles, and family structures.
These political developments mattered because they redefined what many Americans saw as the proper relationship between citizens and the federal government, helping shift the center of political gravity rightward.
Assessing Relative Significance
To argue significance, students should consider whether conservatism produced the most lasting national transformation. Its influence remained strong for decades, shaping bipartisan approaches to deregulation, free trade, and welfare reform. Yet its significance must be weighed against economic and demographic forces that sometimes moved in opposing directions.
A common thesis emphasizes how the rise of conservatism under Ronald Reagan reshaped debates over the size of government and social values.
This photograph shows President Ronald Reagan working on the 1982 State of the Union Address at the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office. It underscores Reagan’s central role in launching the conservative turn of the 1980s, which shaped debates over limited government and national priorities. The image does not explain policy details, so students should pair it with specific political evidence when forming arguments. Source.
Economic Transformations and Identity in the Information Age
Technology, Globalization, and Work
Economic shifts after 1980 fundamentally restructured daily life. The rise of digital communication, computing, and internet technologies increased productivity and created a new information-driven economy. Simultaneously, deindustrialization—the decline of manufacturing employment—reshaped regional economies and contributed to wage stagnation and rising inequality.
Key economic changes included:
Global competition and outsourcing of manufacturing.
Growth of service-sector employment and decline in union power.
Expanding access to information and new social networks.
These developments affected national identity by altering Americans’ sense of opportunity, work expectations, and economic security.
Deindustrialization: The long-term decline of manufacturing industries and associated employment within a national economy.
Economic change: deindustrialization, the rise of the service and information economy, and growing income inequality.
This chart illustrates the decline of union membership alongside rising income concentration among the top 1 percent in the United States. It visually supports discussions of weakening labor influence and growing inequality—central evidence for evaluating economic transformation after 1980. The timeline includes earlier decades, adding context beyond the syllabus focus. Source.
Comparing Economic and Political Significance
Students must evaluate whether economic restructuring reshaped social and political assumptions more profoundly than ideological conservatism. For example, wage stagnation and job insecurity helped fuel political polarization and new cultural debates, suggesting deep and lasting effects.
Demographic Shifts and Cultural Change
Immigration and Diversity
After 1980, large-scale immigration from Latin America and Asia expanded the nation’s cultural diversity. Population movement toward the South and West altered political representation and economic influence. These changes prompted national debates over multiculturalism, citizenship, and the meaning of American identity.
Major demographic developments included:
Rapid growth of Latino and Asian American populations.
Increased linguistic and cultural diversity in schools and communities.
Shifts in electoral maps and party coalitions due to regional population growth.
These demographic shifts were significant because they redefined the cultural composition of the United States and introduced new perspectives into national conversations.
Evaluating Cultural Influence
When constructing an argument, students may claim that demographic change had the greatest impact on national identity because it directly reshaped American cultural norms, family structures, and political alignments.
Global Challenges and America’s Role in the World
End of the Cold War and the War on Terror
The conclusion of the Cold War required the United States to rethink its foreign policy role without a peer superpower rival. Later, the September 11, 2001 attacks and the subsequent Global War on Terror reoriented national priorities toward security, counterterrorism, and debates over civil liberties.
Major global developments included:
Shifts toward peacekeeping and humanitarian intervention in the 1990s.
Expansion of executive power in the name of national security.
Ongoing debates over the limits of American global leadership.
These changes influenced national identity by reshaping public views of American power, security, and the nation’s purpose abroad.
Crafting a Defensible Argument
To meet the AP requirement, students must:
Identify multiple major changes after 1980.
Use specific evidence from political, economic, social, and global developments.
Compare their relative significance.
Explain clearly how one factor had the greatest effect on shaping American national identity.
This approach ensures a persuasive, evidence-based interpretation of change in Period 9.
FAQ
Historians assess significance by evaluating the scale, duration, and depth of a change’s impact on society. A development that alters political expectations, cultural norms, or economic structures is more likely to shape national identity.
They also consider whether the effects were widely felt across social groups or primarily confined to specific regions or communities.
Effective evidence often includes policy outcomes, demographic data, economic indicators, and shifts in political rhetoric.
Useful categories of evidence include:
• Statistical trends showing long-term economic or demographic transformations
• Legislative acts or major court decisions
• Public opinion polling
• Key speeches or party platforms reflecting evolving political values
Comparative analysis allows students to demonstrate historical reasoning, a core skill in AP US History.
It also highlights how political, economic, and demographic developments often interacted. For example:
• Economic insecurity could intensify political polarisation.
• Demographic change could influence debates over national identity and immigration policy.
Students should move beyond listing events by consistently connecting evidence to its broader impact on national identity.
Strategies include:
• Using phrases such as “this was significant because…” or “this mattered more than…”
• Prioritising causal explanation over narrative summary
• Explicitly comparing the magnitude or reach of different developments
Many students choose a factor but fail to justify its superiority with clear criteria. A defensible judgement requires showing why one development had deeper, longer-lasting, or more widespread consequences than others.
Students should avoid vague claims and instead reference measurable effects, such as shifts in voting patterns, economic restructuring, or long-term cultural trends.
Practice Questions
(1–3 marks)
Identify one major post-1980 development that significantly influenced American national identity and briefly explain how it contributed to change during this period.
Mark Scheme
Question 1 (1–3 marks)
• 1 mark: Identifies a relevant post-1980 development (e.g., rise of conservatism, deindustrialisation, immigration from Latin America and Asia, spread of digital technology).
• 1 mark: Provides a valid explanation of how this development influenced national identity.
• 1 mark: Demonstrates clear linkage between the development and broader social, political, or economic change.
(4–6 marks)
Using specific evidence from Period 9, evaluate the relative significance of economic, political, and demographic changes after 1980 in shaping American national identity. In your response, make a clear judgement about which factor had the greatest impact.
Question 2 (4–6 marks)
• 1 mark: Identifies at least two major post-1980 developments from Period 9 (political, economic, or demographic).
• 1 mark: Provides accurate and specific evidence for each development discussed.
• 1 mark: Explains how each development influenced American national identity.
• 1 mark: Compares the significance of the developments (e.g., weighing economic change against political conservatism).
• 1 mark: Makes a clearly stated judgement about which development was most significant.
• 1 mark: Supports the judgement with well-reasoned historical analysis.
