The American Dream has come to be a
symbol of what we value and strive for.
Americans have been told since their birth and their parents' births that
this Dream was for all to attain, if only they worked hard enough for it. The
dream of eventually having all you could desire: a great home, great job, beautiful family,
nice possessions, and of course, happiness.
The American Dream is a unique image, a specific group of ideas in each individual's mind,
relative to each of the dreamer, while also always remaining a generic symbol for the American way of life. Along with the
symbol is the belief that in order to attain your Dream, one must simply put in
your time and work hard, make smart choices such as saving money, being
innovative, and then reap your benefits down the road (quick aside: interesting how the rewards of belief
structures such as the American Dream & Christianity are always
delayed…always something to be received at a later point. No doubt this is at
least partly due to the fact that the creators of the “American Dream” also
happened to believe in the Christian Creator and the tenets of that faith). The pursuit of your own American Dream has
come to be a primary source of meaning for the day to day lives of Americans,
something to continue working diligently towards…and believing in. But just like the promise of a beautiful afterlife, the American Dream tends be be unfulfilled goals for most people. It begs the question: Is the concept of the American Dream a misguiding goal? The creation of an ends driven society focused on things to work for while neglecting the importance of learning how to live? I certainly think so.
Upward social mobility: This is another
staple of the great American narrative. It is the concept that individuals can
work their way up the economic and social ladder through hard work and/or
education and/or plundering. This
has served as not only a rationalization for the successes of a tiny privileged
few and your even tinier rags to riches stories, but also for the justification
for the perpetual impoverishment of the entrenched lower classes, especially minorities.
Despite evidence to the contrary, Americans are still more likely to believe in
upward mobility than citizens of any other developed country.
If a person goes from abject poverty to fame and fortune, the
narrative that ends up being told over and over is one of hard work, sacrifice,
education, and the individuals’ virtues.
We attribute the success almost solely to the individual. The truth is
that for the miniscule number of rags to riches stories, they did have to
overcome incredible obstacles, work hard, take advantage of opportunities, and
just plain out be lucky from time to time.
But this is not the norm. It cannot be the norm. But, this narrative is
taken and retold over and over again as evidence that it is possible to move up
the ladder of society and that you are solely responsible for making it happen. But by decoupling the individual from the incredible
circumstances that makes for each of these stories possible, a distortion of
perception is created. People believe that it too can happen to them. And so
they continue to believe the myth…But when we think about the rags to riches
from an analytical point of view using statistical odds, we realize that that
story is akin to the person who has just won the Powerball lottery. Millions of
people think it can happen to them, but it takes extraordinary luck and circumstances for it to happen.
The other side of the coin, using upward social mobility as a
justification for the poor, is just as disingenuous. When discussing a specific
person or group of people who have been entrenched in poverty, the narrative
being told over and over again usually comes to tell about that person(s) lack
of virtue, that they have not worked hard enough, not sacrificed enough. Lost in this blame game are again…the
incredible circumstances that surround the individual(s). Instead of giving consideration to the effects
of growing up surrounded by poverty, the responsibility is placed almost solely
on the individuals (and their lack of virtue).
Side Note: For those with extra time and interest on the topic, here is the basis for my conjectures (no, I didn’t just make these statistics up!):
1. The Economic Mobility ProjectThe Economic Mobility Project is a unique nonpartisan collaborative effort of The Pew Charitable Trusts and respected thinkers from four leading policy institutes — The American Enterprise Institute, The Brookings Institution, The Heritage Foundation and The Urban Institute.2. Understanding Mobility in AmericaA report by the Center for American Progress, a progressive think tank focusing on economic issues.
How could two ideas which have shown to be hollow and ultimately
unfruitful for the majority of their believers continue to be so widely
believed in? The American Dream and the belief of upward mobility are protected
by obedience to the tenet of American
Exceptionalism. This is the theory belief that the United States is
qualitatively different from better than other countries.
The United States was founded under such pretty wild circumstances
by some pretty wild dudes (and by wild I mean wildly wealthy white dudes). They
thought they had something pretty special going on. And by all accounts, they did. They worked to
create one of the most free and open societies...for white male
landowners. But they did a great job in
making everyone believe they were free! And relative to other countries in the
world, people were pretty free. Oh, except for African-Americans. But then again, they were only considered a fraction of a person back then. Moving right along…it seems our country has had this
self-image versus reality problem all along.
We want to and do believe in the IDEA of America and all it
represents. We ascribe to the tenets of the
belief in America. We want to and do believe in the mostly unfailing awesomeness
of America. Yet these beliefs don’t
quite match reality. Like many religious
systems though, our country has used the promise of deferred gratification,
obedience to authority, and ostracization of nonbelievers to keep the
worshippers coming to service, so to speak.
A heavy dose of humility would do our country a whole lot of good right about now. A great first step would be to acknowledge and release our feeling of superiority in order to open up room for critique and dialogue about our country and its deep flaws. A sound second step would be to stop looking outward to other countries for points of comparison and start looking inward. Instead of comparing our reality to that of another country, let's compare our reality with our ideology. That should be the real test of our country's supposed greatness. We have all of these ideals that we were founded upon, but is this greatness real and more importantly, is it real for all Americans?
When we defer to dogmatic beliefs that distort our perception of our collectively constructed reality, we minimize our ability to clearly see need for change, suffocate those voices trying to draw attention to that reality, and ensure the perpetuation of a status quo that fails to realize the embodiment of our greatest ideals.
A heavy dose of humility would do our country a whole lot of good right about now. A great first step would be to acknowledge and release our feeling of superiority in order to open up room for critique and dialogue about our country and its deep flaws. A sound second step would be to stop looking outward to other countries for points of comparison and start looking inward. Instead of comparing our reality to that of another country, let's compare our reality with our ideology. That should be the real test of our country's supposed greatness. We have all of these ideals that we were founded upon, but is this greatness real and more importantly, is it real for all Americans?
When we defer to dogmatic beliefs that distort our perception of our collectively constructed reality, we minimize our ability to clearly see need for change, suffocate those voices trying to draw attention to that reality, and ensure the perpetuation of a status quo that fails to realize the embodiment of our greatest ideals.