American Dream
The American Dream is the national ethos of the United States, a set of ideals including representative democracy, rights, liberty, and equality, in which freedom is interpreted as the opportunity for individual prosperity and success, as well as the chance for upward social mobility for each according to ability and achievement through hard work in a capitalist society with many challenges but few formal barriers.
The term "American Dream" was popularized by James Truslow Adams in 1931, saying that "life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement" regardless of social class or circumstances of birth.Proponents of the American Dream often claim that its tenets originate from the United States Declaration of Independence, which states that "all men are created equal" with the right to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness". The Preamble to the Constitution of the United States is used similarly, and states that the Constitution's purpose is to, in part, "secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity".Throughout American history, there have been critics of its national ethos. Some critics have said that American focus on individualism and capital results in materialism, consumerism, and a lack of worker solidarity. In 2015, only 10.5 percent of American workers were members of a labor union. The American Dream has also been criticized as a product of American exceptionalism, as it does not acknowledge the hardships many Americans face, namely in regards to the legacies of American slavery and Native American genocide, as well as other examples of discriminatory violence.Belief in the American Dream is often inversely associated with rates of national disillusionment. Evidence indicates that upward economic mobility has declined and income inequality has risen in the United States in recent decades. In 2020, a poll found 54 percent of American adults thought the American Dream was attainable for them, 28 percent believed it was unattainable for them personally, while 9 percent rejected the idea of the American Dream entirely. Younger generations were also less likely to believe in the American Dream than their older counterparts. Women are more skeptical of achieving the American Dream than men are.
