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The American Dream is the faith held by many in the United States of America that through hard work, courage, and determination one can achieve a better life for oneself, usually through financial prosperity. These were values held by many early European settlers, and have been passed on to subsequent generations. What the American Dream has become is a question under constant discussion, and some believe that it has led to an emphasis on material wealth as a measure of success and/or happiness.

The American dream is a dream of having 2 children and living in a perfect house with financial security. This ideal is closely related to Horatio Algerism.

Historical background

The origin of the American Dream stems from the departure in government and economics from the models of the Old World. This allowed unprecedented freedom, especially the possibility of dramatic upward social mobility. Additionally, from the American Revolutionary War well into the later half of the nineteenth century, many of America's physical resources were unclaimed and held out the promise of land ownership and lucky investment in land or industry. The development of the Industrial Revolution combined with the great natural resources of the enormous and as yet unsettled continent created the possibility of achieving wealth.

Many early American prospectors headed west of the Rocky Mountains to buy acres of cheap land in hopes of finding deposits of gold. The American Dream was a driving factor not only in the gold rushes of the mid to late 1800s, but also in the waves of immigration throughout that century and the following.

Impoverished western Europeans escaping the Irish potato famines in Ireland, the Highland clearances in Scotland and the aftermath of Napoleon in the rest of Europe came to America to escape a poor quality of life at home. They wanted to embrace the financial mobility and constitutional freedoms that existed in the United States.

A sizable number of Chinese and Japanese immigrants also arrived in the U.S. in the mid 19th century seeking the American Dream. This led to the founding of several Chinatowns in locations such as San Francisco and New York City. Many immigrants from these countries also worked as laborers on the First Transcontinental Railroad.

During the mid-to-late 19th century prolific dime novel writer Horatio Alger, Jr. became famous for his novels that idealized the American Dream. His novels about down-and-out bootblacks who were able to achieve wealth and success helped entrench the dream within popular culture. Nearing the twentieth century, major industrialist personalities became the new model of the American Dream, many beginning life in the humblest of conditions but later controlling enormous corporations and fortunes. Perhaps most notable here were the American capitalists Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller. This acquisition of great wealth led to the myth, that if you had talent, intelligence, and a willingness to work extremely hard, you were likely to be a success in life as a result. However an 1870's study of 303 textile, railroad and steel executives, found that c.90% came from the upper or middle class*Howard Zinn, p.248; A People's History of the United States: 1492-present, HarperCollins, 2003 ISBN 0-060-52842-7.

Throughout the 19th century, immigrants fled the monarchies of Western Europe and their post-feudal economies, which actively oppressed the peasant class. These economic systems required high levels of taxation, which stymied development. The American economy, however, was built up by people who were consciously free of these constraints.

Settlement in the new world provided hope for egalitarianism. Martin Luther King invoked the American Dream in what is perhaps his most famous speech: "Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends. And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American Dream."

Immigration

The American dream, along with escape from persecution or war in one's home country, has always been the primary reason for immigrants wanting to come to America. Throughout its history, America has been seen as a place with high opportunity for entrepreneurs relative to other regions of the world.

By the turn of the 20th century, the promise of the American Dream had begun to lure substantial numbers of immigrants from Eastern and Southern Europe. Huge numbers of Italians, Poles, Greeks, Jews, Russians and others came to find work in industrial cities such as New York, Chicago, Philadelphia and Detroit. This wave of immigration continued until the outbreak of World War I. Following the war, nativist sentiment led to the restrictive Immigration Act of 1924, which was passed to preserve the culture and ethnic balance of the United States. This restriction continued until the Immigration and Nationality Services Act of 1965, which for the first time allowed large scale non European immigration for people in pursuit of the American dream.

The American Dream appears to have enduring appeal to many in other countries. The United States remains a magnet for immigrants today, receiving 1 million legal entrants annually — the largest influx in the world. Whereas past generations of immigrants tended to come from Europe, a majority of contemporary immigrants hail from Latin America and Asia.

The American Dream today

In the 20th century, the American Dream had its challenges. The Great Depression caused widespread hardship during the Thirties, and was almost a reverse of the dream for those directly affected. Racial instability did not disappear, and in some parts of the country racial violence was almost commonplace. There was concern about the undemocratic campaign known as McCarthyism carried on against suspected Communists.

Since the end of World War II, young American families have sought to live in relative comfort and stability in the suburbs that were built up around major cities. This led to the rise of the relatively conservative 1950s, when many pursued the "perfect family" as a part or consequence of the American Dream. This period was shattered by a new generation of young people who embraced the hippie values of the 1960s, denying traditional values such as the American Dream. In modern times, the American Dream is seen as a possible accomplishment, as all children can go to school and get an education. Though the drive to it waned during those years, the dream itself has never died out.

In the 1990s, the pursuit of the American Dream could be seen in the Dot-com boom. People in U.S., as well as the world poured their energy into the new Gold Rush - the Internet. It was again driven by the same faith that by one's ingenuity and hardwork, anyone can become successful in America. Ordinary people started new companies from their garages and became millionaires. This new chapter of the American Dream again became the beacon to the world and attracted many entrepreneurial people from China and India to Silicon Valley to form startups, and seek fortune in America.

Another recent example of the American Dream being realized is the case of Tamir Sapir. An immigrant from the former Soviet republic of Georgia, Sapir arrived in America in 1973 and started as a taxicab driver in New York City. Saving up to buy an electronics store, he catered primarily to Russian clientele. Eventually he made contacts with the Soviet contingent to the United Nations in New York, and traded electronics for oil contracts, which he then sold to American companies. Investing the profits in Manhattan real estate, he became a billionaire by 2002, less than thirty years after arriving penniless in America. Like many rags to riches stories, his is a unique one that would be hard to replicate. Yet today Sapir is becoming known as America's "billionaire cabbie".

Criticism

The concept of the American Dream has been the subject of much criticism by, for example, Joseph Stiglitz. The main criticism is that the American Dream is misleading. These critics say that, for various reasons, it simply is not possible for everyone to become prosperous through determination and hard work alone. The consequences of this belief can include the poor feeling that it is their fault that they are not successful. It can also result in less effort towards helping the poor since their poverty is seen as "proof" of their laziness. The concept of the American Dream also ignores other factors of success such as luck, family, language, and wealth one is born into (although proponents of the dream would claim that starting wealth is irrelevant because of the belief that there is no level of poverty one cannot rise from with hard work). It also fails to take inheritable advantages such as intelligence quotient and physical attributes including height, shape, and beauty into account.

The American Dream is seen by critics as being somewhat superficial or meaningless. Many literary works level exactly that criticism at the American Dream, such as Arthur Miller's play Death of a Salesman. The play, a classic American work of literature, finds the main character Willy Loman struggling to come to grips with the fact that his American Dream is unattainable. Such arguments are essentially rehashes of the old adage "Money doesn't buy happiness", and that perhaps not everyone's dream should be to achieve great monetary gain. In particular some of the criticisms are:

  • Higher Education can be very expensive in the USA. This can act as a bar on children from poorer families from entering professions which require a college degree. The counter argument would be the availability of financial aid, whereby the poorest students are increasingly being given guarantees of a high proportion (up to 100%) of grants, removing the obligation to pay back their university.
  • Social Control: The American Dream has been criticised as a useful myth for social control which bears no relation to the reality that most wealth in the USA is inherited, not earned.
  • Wealth retention – Certain laws allow the wealthy to keep more of their money. For example, the recent lessening of estate tax and capital gains taxes may work to further solidify wealth once it is earned.
  • Economies of scale – It can be difficult to successfully start a business. One reason is because of the economies of scale necessary to survive in a commoditized market, although many markets today are not commoditized.
  • Genetic lottery – Research has suggested that features like IQ and extroversion may give certain people some advantages over others when it comes to making smart business decisions or career choices, and in establishing a social network.
  • Ethical differences – As in other countries, actions considered ethical vary between Americans. For example, a CEO who sees certain stock options as excessive monetary gain would find it harder to attain great wealth than one with a different viewpoint.
  • OECD data suggests that the USA has lower levels of social mobility than other developed countries. In particular, in countries with high state funding for pre-schools, children from poorer backgrounds tend to do better at school and subsequently later life.

References

See also

Recommended related reading

External links

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American culture

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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "American Dream".

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