American Dream

Abstract

American Dream is an important aspect of the American culture. Everyone in America whether he is an American citizen or immigrant strives for achieving that goal. This paper explains the history of American Dream and how one can achieve American dream. It briefly explains social mobility, social stratification, life chances in USA. It also explains three theories of sociology and how these theories are related to American Dream.

Introduction4

History4

Social Mobility and American Dream5

Life Chances and American Dream6

Structural mobility6

American dream; achievable or not7

Primary Theoretical Perspectives8

Conflict theory and American Dream8

Conflict Theory and Social Mobility9

Conclusion9

References10

American Dream

Introduction

It is a dream in America which says that every man and women have the right to live their life free of slavery. They should have their own small house, a good job, good education, and everything which is essential for living a better life. They should have the complete opportunity for achievements. Everyone should get according to his potentials and capabilities regardless of his birth and status. Everyone in America can lead a happy life through his own hard work, but there is so much inequality in US that it is not possible for everyone to attain that goal of “American Dream” (Library of Congress).

History

It was emerged in 1932. The word “American Dream” was first time used by the James Truslow Adams in his book “The Epic of America”. In the beginning, it is defined as “the ability of all individuals to live a luxurious life, have his own home and own car” but with the passage of time it has been changed and various other things are added into that. Nowadays, good education, high standard living, personal achievements can lead towards attaining American dream (Library of Congress).

Basically, it relates to desires and hopes for spiritual and materialistic satisfaction. It says that everyone is equal in the eyes of God, so it is the right of everyone to have the best living and spiritual satisfaction. Some sociologists says that American dream is failed to bring satisfaction in someone's life. It is failed to bring spiritual and material improvement. There is still poverty, social discrimination, unemployment and exploitation in the US society.

Social Mobility and American Dream

Social mobility, economic mobility, race, ethnicity and opportunity are among some of the characteristics of the American dreams. Social Mobility means movement of an individual and group from one class to the next one, it can also be a movement in terms of ethnic group, social level, education level and social status. Social mobility is the dream of every person in US, but it needs a lot of hard work.

Social mobility considered as an important part of the American Dream, but nowadays it is become difficult for Americans to easily move from the lower class to the upper class. There are two types of Social Mobility: one is the vertical and the other is the horizontal. Vertical Social Mobility means that one individual can move up and down from one social level to the next level. Horizontal Social Mobility means an individual can move ...