The Fading Concept of the American Dream
The American dream was a great catalyst for significant economic and social development in the United States. The dream holds that everyone can prosper through hard work and determination regardless of their social class. The believers of this dream, especially in the 20th century, experienced vital development in their lives. However, social changes, such as social inequality and social injustices, have negatively impacted the American Dream. Therefore, the achievable American Dream is a fading concept due to increased inequality between the rich and the poor and social injustice.
The American dream agrees with the concept of life chances. Life chances are individual’s long-term possibilities and the potential based on their current attributes such as education status, life skills, and social networks. Further, the ultimate goal of the American dream is upward structural mobility. Structural mobility emphasizes the societal changes that make society move vertically upward or downward on a social ladder. Therefore, when American society achieves the American Dream, then the dream will have enabled the whole society to move up the social ladder. However, achieving the American dream seems to be fading as time moves on. The American dream is unachievable because of the growing social inequality between the rich and the poor. In my opinion, when the wealth dominates on one side of the rich, then the poor will continue to live in poverty and eventually never achieve the American dream.
Besides, social injustices such as police brutality, racism, and discrimination are also a contributing factor in the fading American Dream. I believe that for society to develop positively, social injustices must be solved. However, in our today’s American society, social injustices are on every corner. As a result, people have no equal access to opportunities and resources critical in the realization of the American Dream. Consequently, some have abundant access to opportunities, while others have minimal or no access at all. These social injustices are a great threat to achieving the American dream. Even if one is willing to work hard and be successful, when they lack the opportunity to build their ideas into achievable goals, the whole process fails.
Conclusively, the American Dream is both a personal and societal dream. The social changes play a crucial role in helping an individual to achieve this dream. Social injustices and social inequality are the biggest threat to the realization of the American Dream. The poor have less access to opportunities while the rich have vast access to opportunities, making it hard for the poor to live up to the American Dream.