The myth of American Dream - Essay Example

The American dream is that America is the land of opportunity that all can equally avail of; with immense possibilities and opportunities for upward mobility. It is closely related to the myth of meritocracy that those who work hard “will enjoy and profit from these opportunities” (Loupe & Ojeda 1). Thesis Statement: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the American dream, and the myths related to the concept. The American Dream The American dream includes not only the hope for a brighter future and a formula for success, but also knowledge of outcomes from the fulfillment of the dream.

The outcomes include home ownership, improving life chances for children which is today denoted as sending them to college, “having a chance to get rich, and achieve a secure and comfortable retirement” (McNamee & Miller 9). The prospects for making the American dream come true have declined in recent years, leading to American workers feeling pessimistic about the future. Social Mobility and Economic Success The American dream of the promised land of opportunities denotes the possibility and opportunity for social mobility.

Economic prosperity is considered to result in upward mobility, with inceasing income leading to a better position in society. Social and economic mobility are mutually related, and both are closely related to income. The American dream is mainly based on the promise of mobility in the economic ladder. According to Browne (p.1), “the ability of American families to move up or down the income ladder within a lifetime or from one generation to the next, is a unifying and core tenet of the American dream”.

Since opportunity is a core element in social mobility and financial success, education is a determining factor for getting opportunities. “Education is often considered to be at the heart of the social class equation” (Steinberg 269). In a society that values and rewards knowledge and associates it with power, education plays a crucial role in achieving social and economic success. Individualism as the Basis of the American Dream The American dream is founded on an emphasis on the individual and on individualism.

Significantly, individualism as the basis of the American dream is deeply rooted in the “religious, political, economic, and cultural experience of America as a nation of immigrants” (McNamee & Miller 4). Toqueville defines individualism as “a mature and calm feeling which disposes each member of the community to sever himself from the mass of his fellow creatures” (p.118). He particularly distinguished individualism from egotism; and linked individualism to equality and the absence of aristocracy.

Thus, in America people were free to achieve, not through hereditary title, but on their own merit. Therefore the emerging concept of the American dream included both political freedom from tyranny, and also economic freedom to achieve success through one’s own merits (McNamee & Miller 7). The Myth of the American Dream During the European colonization of America, the indigenous people of America were eliminated, displaced or assimilated, while the imported immigrants who formed other minority groups were exploited for their labor to “develop the vast resources of America, generate incredible wealth, build its infrastructure and establish cities, towns and industries that would be administered by the