Jaiganesh Nagarajan - Week 5 - Is “The American Dream” still prevalent?
Throughout American history, especially during the Industrial Revolution (gilded age), the “American Dream” has always been a belief of everyone inside or outside of the United States. The “American Dream” is the idea that anyone no matter of race or class can be successful in America and can live their dream lives through hard work and patience. Everyone from all around the world wanted to be rich so they all moved to the US to work in hopes of achieving the dream. New regulations and laws lowered everyone’s salary; it made that dream harder and many had lost hope.
While those times are long gone, the question still stands, Is “The American Dream” still prevalent in today's society?
The idea that people can work hard to achieve anything they want is a common belief in society today. The “American Dream” However is not necessarily what it used to be. In many other countries you can work and get the same amount of wealth as you would if you were to be in America. The meaning of the phrase is slowly lost as society progresses. The “dream” is still achievable but now there are many obstacles that make it much harder for many. The cost of student loans and other insurances rise by the day. There is no longer an influx of job opportunities as many tasks are automated by robots or AI. An example of this is with the improvements with AI, many research based jobs will be taken from humans and be replaced by a singular robot. While there are still jobs that need human input, the skill needs become more narrow by the day.
While the phrase may lose its true meaning in the future, everyone has their own idea of what their “American Dream” is. The end goal is always different for everyone. The idea of success becomes more and more based upon perspective than a universal belief.
Hey Jaiganesh! Your blog about the “American Dream” really made me reflect on how most people actually think about the “American Dream.” There is an unspoken attitude of working hard, and despite the news of prejudice and discrimination, the battle for equal rights has been perceived as generally won. Yet, the “American Dream” as a phrase does not carry as much weight anymore, at least from the point of view of an American citizen. I strongly agree with your argument about the growing progress of other countries influencing the notion of the “American Dream.” Now, most countries are democratic with governments protecting their citizen’s economic interests and civil rights. The “American Dream” stood out in a time when the US stood out, but now, the ability to achieve and earn more by working harder is not unique to the US. Yet, maybe the idea of the “American Dream” remains in people from developing countries. From the point of view of those who are starving, running from war, or in need of medical aid, the USA carries a reputation for security and power. While domestic issues chip away at the average American’s perception of their own nation, people from those countries have too many of their own issues to consider the US anything less than a beacon of hope.
ReplyDeleteHi Jaiganesh! The “American Dream” is a topic that is prevalent when people think of American culture. The “American Dream” is defined as “the ideal by which equality of opportunity is available to any American, allowing the highest aspirations and goals to be achieved” by the Oxford dictionary. A lot of people immigrate to America for the opportunities that can be found in this country. While American is often viewed as a place filled with hope and dreams, like you mentioned, it is also true that there is still a lot of prejudice and inequality in American today. For example, there is still a large gender disparity in engineering fields and race disparity at prestigious universities. While America has many problems, just like every other country, people still hope to achieve the “American Dream,” which is what makes America so unique. I also agree with your statement that the meaning of the “American Dream” changes depending on the person who is defining it; for some people it can be owning a home and starting a family, while for others it can be making as much money as possible. Even with all of its problems, Americans still have hope and that is one of the reasons why America is considered a land of opportunity and freedom.
ReplyDeleteHi Jaiganesh. Last week in U.S History, the topic discussed was how people from all over the world immigrated to America in order to experience the “American Dream.” However, even back then, the dream was not realistically achievable. Everyone assumed that all people, despite race or rank, could succeed, as you mentioned in your article, but there were many restrictions back then as well. For example, a lot of Chinese people immigrated to America and had to deal with tons of racism which eventually resulted in the Chinese Exclusion Act. This stated that they could not be citizens, making it harder for them to get jobs, and therefore succeed. Even back then, this idea of the “American Dream” was something that people held on to just for the sake of hope, but the reality proved otherwise. Your inclusion of student loans, insurance costs, and other things that hold individuals back in the present day highlight this idea that there are always going to be restrictions from achieving the dream. I really like your topic because it was relevant in the past and is relevant in the present which shows how some parts of America have stayed the same since its beginnings.
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