A look into the American Dream and the traditional American values
By Laís de Oliveira Nobre .
The American Dream is, undoubtedly, a concept known and spread around the world, and it has, also, a vast meaning. For example, the Cambridge Dictionary (2021) defines it as a "belief that everyone in the US has the chance to be successful and happy if they work hard", the Dictionary.com (2021) relates it to "the ideals of freedom, equality, and opportunity traditionally held to be available to every American", and to a "life of personal happiness and material comfort as traditionally sought by individuals in the US". In the same way, the Oxford English Dictionary (2021) states “the ideal that every citizen of the United States should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination and initiative”.
In the statements above, some words are recurrent, and this is not a coincidence, for these are key words that help us to understand the culture of the US and its values. The Declaration of Independence (1776) presents these aspects as well, when it affirms: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”. The United States has been considered a place where people may achieve their goals, and have more opportunities, this was one of the main reasons why the first European settlers came to the country. Over the years, this sense of being distinct, and separated from the Britain system helped to boost the traditional values, such as individual freedom.
In light of this, Datesman et al. (2014, p. 32) declares that “the United States has been viewed as ‘the land of opportunity’, attracting immigrants from all over the world”. That way, it is evident that the American Dream has its roots in the traditional values of the country, and it is not only pursued by those who were born in U.S.; in fact, Datesman et al. (2014) also says that, among the reasons why people have been drawn to U.S., the chance for individual freedom, equality of opportunity, and material wealth are the main ones. The video below is a lecture given for TED by Pooja, an engineer who strove to achieve her career goals, but faced challenges and a reality different from what America apparently promises.
In this regard, in consequence of the three values mentioned before, more three are added, which are considered the price to be paid to have the other ones: self-reliance, competition and hard work. The United States is a place where people can build their career, and develop their goals; however, as it is reflected on the video, many obstacles may come up, and the opportunities and treatments given are not very equal as the concepts of American Dream claims.
Furthermore, other aspects of the American Dream is conected to the desire for a more comfortable life, in every sense, such as having a great suburban house, a new car, technology assets and gadgets, and so on. Comfort and material wealth is one of the reasons that move the idea of work for Americans, leading to hard work.
Suburban houses in U.S.
Meanwhile, according to the historian Truslow Adams, “America had lost its way by prizing material success above all other values: Indeed, it had started to treat money as a value, instead of merely as a means to produce or measure value” (CHURCHWELL, 2021). Adams affirms that material success was not the definition of the American Dream, for him, it is more about a dream of social order (CHURCHWELL, 2021). Moreover, it is important to say that the American Dream can change through generations, and may vary according to each individual, the following graphic shows what Americans often view as their American Dream, based on a national survey applied in 2014 by New Dream.
Souce: New Dream, 2014.
On this matter, the American Dream holds good intensions, but, when it comes to reality, there are lacks that must be rethought, so there is certain distance between what is presented of the US regarding the American Dream, and what people actually face living in the country. Adam Baroni (2021) shows some pros and cons of the concept here discussed, he consider as pros the freedom and equality it fosters, and the motivation its ideals promotes, for example, the freedom of being in charge of one's own life, and as cons the fact that it often falls short of the idea itself, and the increasing of the income inequality, making this dream less attainable .
In U.S., there are plenty of movie productions that depict the pursuit of American Dream and shows the values commented in this post, probably the most famous and relationg is The Pursuit of Happyness, stared by Will Smith. The movie is based on real facts, and portrays Christopher Gardner's story, a man who strives to get a better job in the face of financial and personal struggles. The narrative dialogues with values such as hard work and self-reliance, and exposes the existing difficulties in the job market, as well as social issues. The trailer can be watched bellow.
To end this post, it is left bellow a quote that represents and contributes to the comprehension of one relevant aspect, among the others that envolves the American Dream, from Martin Luther King’s speech given in 1963 on the civil rights struggle:
I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal...”
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
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