Let's talk about....the American dream.

Let’s talk about….The American dream.

In case you were not aware, the American dream was something that was sold heavily to my generation (and those before and after me) that told us if we worked hard we would have success. It is the belief that anyone can attain their version of success in a society in which upward mobility is possible for everyone.

However, I call bull shit. This is not true, I somewhat believe it never was true, and especially now, I do not feel like this is altogether true. Uh oh, here comes the shit storm for this one.

Let’s look at the first problem with the concept of the American dream. If you look at anything depicting this concept, you see a nuclear family, usually white with the picket fence. So, at the conception of this ideal, it was exclusive and typically meant white people, or white immigrants. Initially the promise of the American dream was to live in a county where you had the change to work your way up through labor and ingenuity – and having religious and other freedoms to also use as a benefit.

Again, this was not meant for anyone and everyone. And the opportunities were not there for everyone, the American dream is a white ideal that has lasted many years, but it’s origins were not inclusive.

This has changed since immigration has changed as well. Once upon a time, American was made up of many different groups of people and were welcomed and given the promise of the American dream. Now, however, it seems the country has a new outlook on immigration and what we see as “allowing” people of other countries to come live that dream.

It was also dependent on the general definition of success. A house, two cars, picket fence, married and with two kids. That was the general definition of success in the 1930’s and beyond, this is what was strived for. And thus, became the American dream. This is not longer the case, and no longer the general definition of success. I believe this started changing with my generation and moving towards more of a balance and success in terms of actual happiness and not the things we have accumulated in our lives. We became the generation that sometimes, but not always, needed to have things to show off to others to show how successful we are. We saw these items as debt and my generation has worked to get out of or not get in to in the first place, a lot of debt. We no longer have to accumulate things or get married and have babies to accomplish what we see as successful. This is a dramatic change in the definition and strive the now-old-school American dream.

Consumerism. Capitalism. Are they good things? Yes. Are they simultaneously terrible things? Absolutely. However, both of these items have completely redirected what the American dream means as well. We are consuming more than ever, and capitalism has taken over our lives in a whole new way. Businesses no longer care about their employees like they used – they do not get to know them and hope they work for them for years to come – employees anymore and expendable. Companies no longer made employees feel good about their jobs, or safe in their workplace. Companies no longer valued employees because they were easily replaced with someone else. Therefore, a wage that did not increase with the economy, poor working conditions and lack of retirement and future, caused a dramatic change in the idea of the American dream. Companies were not the same as they once were. People no longer stay somewhere for thirty years and retire.

This leads to people actually realizing what they want and moving jobs and standing up for themselves, which is not a bad thing, but those people are being replaced by others who need a job, so the companies are not being impacted by it like they should. This is changing since the pandemic – and employees are starting to get more control over employers, but there is still a way to go. It is a rarity now for companies to truly value their employees, especially the large corporations.

No to mention, there are now so many companies, there are not just a few like there were in the 50’s and people being treated well by those few so they stayed on and retired eventually – yet again, leading to a change in the American Dream. We cannot continue the idea of the old American dream in a world that has changed so much.

The middle class is what has driven the American dream, and that is also shrinking, therefore with less middle class, less people are putting faith in and believing the American dream. Lower class individuals and families are not even thinking about the American dream, they are just surviving. Upper class people are living what they consider the American dream.

The definition of success will vary from person to person, but even more so from generation to generation. And as the country grows and adapts to even more, and generations are born and changing what we consider to be success, so will the dreams of those people. It is no longer a house, car, picket fence, marriage and two kids – it is a whole different world now. It is also no longer a job we somewhat like with a happy retirement plan, but more and more people are focused instead on their actual happiness and how they can live life to their potential of success.

This topic fascinates me, one person who pointed out the exclusive ideas of the American dream was Mia Birdsong (How we Show Up), something I had not thought about before.

What is your definition of success? Of the American Dream? Do you believe we still have the ideals of the American dream, or how has that changed? Maybe even from your grandparents to you?

Let’s open up a conversation, let’s talk about it.