The American Dream?

The American Dream is the idea that every American has the ability to achieve and prosper no matter their circumstances if they employ work hard and dedication. It is founded on the basis of democracy and equal opportunity. The U.S. is theoretically a nation that has social class mobility, therefore any person, no matter what social class they were born into, can progress themselves and achieve whatever they set their mind to. While the idea is lovely and wonderful, the reality is a much different story. There are many studies that suggest people will most likely remain in the same social class into which they were born. As a result, the American Dream is just that, a dream, for many people.

I would define wealth as the amount of money one owns. Having immense wealth means having enough money to support all of your needs and some or most of your wants. Wealth is monetary security. Those with tremendous wealth mostly live without the fear that an emergency would bankrupt them. The wealthy live with a certain kind of comfort. There are different origins of wealth, however. As evident in The Great Gatsby, there is “old” money and “new” money. “Old” money is familial wealth that usually increases with age because of interest and investments. Examples would be the Mars family and the Du Pont family. “New” money is when a person becomes wealthy themselves. Examples would be people like Viola Davis and Mark Zuckerberg.

Americans range drastically in wealth. The U.S. is split up into 6 socioeconomic classes: Capitalist, Upper Middle, Middle, Working class, Working poor, and the Underclass (1). The majority of Americans are in the Middle and Working classes, totaling 60% of the population. 13% are in the working poor class, 12% are in the underclass, 14% in the upper middle, and 1% reside within the capitalist class. I would define the working poor and the underclass as living in poverty. The average American, someone from the middle class, most likely was born into the middle class and probably has experienced financial insecurity but never legitimate poverty. This average American probably grew up hearing the message that he/she can do whatever he/she wants to do when he/she grows up. This average American probably believes in the American Dream because there are very public examples of its success (ex. Jay-Z, Oprah, Ursula Burns, etc.). Alright, maybe this average American has resolved that he/she is not going to be some famous, wealthy celebrity, but certainly believes that he/she can get a respectable job and education and maybe they aim for the white picket fence type of American Dream. The average American probably sees extreme wealth as unachievable but believes that a comfortable amount of wealth is conceivable.

As for poverty, I would probably say that the average middle class American does not fully understand the severity and the extent of poverty in the U.S., depending on where they live. Also, I would say that many Americans reserve adjectives such as disgusting, lazy, dumb for those who are struck by poverty. Because the majority of Americans have not experienced poverty for themselves, they don’t fully understand it.

Similarly to the average American, I myself have never experienced poverty. However, because of my privilege, I have been able to travel on mission trips where I encountered those living in poverty within and without the U.S. I’ve seen extreme poverty in St.Mary, Jamaica, Pine Ridge, South Dakota, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and right here in Raleigh. My opinion on poverty, especially within the U.S., is that it’s a vicious cycle and difficult to escape. Those who are born into families that have more money simply have better opportunities to succeed. I also think that education has direct effect on poverty and wealth. In my research for my extended essay, I discovered that women who received a significant amount of education in Pakistan had much higher chances of not getting caught in poverty which sometimes resulted in human trafficking. Overall, wealth and poverty are both controversial topics that I am interested in learning more about.

1. Ferraro, Gary, and Susan Andreatta. Cultural Anthropology: An Applied Perspective. 9th ed. Belmont: Wadsworth, n.d. Print.

Picture: https://ourfuture.org/20110419/the_american_dream_deferred_pt_2