Thursday, September 22, 2011

The American Dream, changing with the times

This article presents an interesting view on the economic and social factors that have lead to changes in what we consider "the American Dream." The 40's and 50's were the birth place of the dream. Hard work and sacrifice were rewarded by a healthy, steadily growing economy. The success of these decades continued through the 60's and 70's, but merely succeeding was not enough. Instead, it was expected that the aforementioned qualities of hard work and sacrifice would lead to a "full and rich" life. The economic uncertainty of the 80's gave birth to new ways of looking at the dream. People questioned if the American Dream was still a reality. Social factors such as increased divorce rates, more cases of sexually transmitted diseases, and declines in education all forced people to question whether or not the American Dream could be found beneath the chaos and instability of everyday life. As we know, with the 90's and early 2000's came the housing bubble. Suddenly the American Dream was back in full swing. It wasn't long until that dream faded into today. Now, what will tomorrow bring? Can we overcome high prices and risky markets to rediscover the dream of the mid 1900's?

http://www.knowledgenetworks.com/know/2004/fall/article8.html

1 comment:

  1. It is a very interesting point how the uncertainty of the 80's affected the changing of the American dream. I think tomorrow the American dream will most likely change depending on the economic factors surrounding our economy. With unemployment and many workers being laid-off the American Dream could easily be to just be employed and able to live under shelter with food and water. We can overcome high prices and the risky markets but the dream will change from the dream back in the 1900's but it will be close in similarity.

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