American Dream

The American dream is the easy availability of upward mobility for Americans. It means an open society with considerable movement up and down over the generations, as opposed to tightly structured society in which the status of ancestors determines one's life chances.

James Truslow Adams (1878-1949), a conservative histoian, was the first to name "the American dream" and interpret it as the full realization of human potential:

The American Dream is that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement. It is a difficult dream for the European upper classes to interpret adequately, and too many of us ourselves have grown weary and mistrustful of it. It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position.

Cullen (2003) argues that one meaning of the dream was encapsulated in Jefferson's classic phrase in the Declaration of Indpendence, liberty to seek life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Cullen (2003) argues there are multiple meanings for the term, all united by core values of "freedom" and "agency," through which individuals have control over the course of their lives. Agency, "lies at the very core of the American Dream, the bedrock premise upon which all else depends".

In 1993 President Bill Clinton's argued:

The American dream that we were all raised on is a simple but powerful one: if you work hard and play by the rules you should be given a chance to go as far as your God-given ability will take you.

Bibliography

• Cullen, Jim. The American Dream: A Short History of an Idea That Shaped a Nation. (2003) online edition
• Hochschild, Jennifer L. Facing Up to the American Dream: Race, Class, and the Soul of the Nation (1995) excerpt