Attaining The Dream Is Harder For This Generation Than Previous Ones. Sixty percent of respondents believe that it has become harder to reach the American Dream than it was for their parents' generation; only one-third feel that it is easier. And an even greater majority -- 68% -- say that it will be harder still for their children to reach the Dream with a stunning 45% believing it will be much harder;
• Majority Believe America Is In Decline. A majority think America is now in decline (58% compared to 32% who think the U.S. is on the rise) and a narrow majority who now believes, after the end of the so-called “American Century” and victory in the Cold War, that the world is looking elsewhere in terms of future success or direction;
• Outlook Is Bleak For Those Defining The Dream As Financial Security. The most negative assessments of the Dream come from those defining it in terms of financial security especially among white women living in the Midwest, particularly those 40 to 64 years old. Those using the other common definitions of the Dream -- opportunity, freedom and family -- have a more mixed view but one that is still largely negative.
• The Industrial Midwest Was The Most Pessimistic Of Any Region In The Country In Terms Of How Much Control Respondents Felt They Had Over Their Own Destiny. A bare majority of respondents felt they had more control over their destiny than people did in the past, while over a third disagreed. By way of comparison, in most other regions people felt they had more control over their destiny than in the past by a two-to-one ratio. Respondents in the industrial Midwest were most likely to associate the American Dream with jobs and other opportunities.
Not All The News Is Bad: Individuals Are Optimistic About Their Particular Prospects Even If Their “Macro” View Is Negative. While the general view of the Dream is negative, most believe hard work will lead to its achievement; and two-thirds are still at least fairly confident that they will reach the Dream even as they rate its condition mediocre or poor.
• New Immigrants, African-Americans and Latinos More Optimistic About Dream. African-Americans, Latinos and 1st or 2nd generation immigrants view the Dream more positively on nearly every measure than do white Americans. Put differently, the part of society that is still by and large worse off in terms of social or economic measurements is also the same group that is most positive about the American Dream.
• African-Americans Were Only Group In Poll That Think Dream Is Getting Easier To Achieve. African-Americans are, in fact, the only key demographic group in our sample where a majority believes that reaching the Dream is easier now than it was for their parents, and over forty percent believe it will be easier for their children to reach than it has been for themselves.
I was going to ask the same question, Set. Is it just a better life than the previous generation? I know the Boomers were to be the last generation in the near future to have a better life than their parents did.
I like that African-Americans are feeling so optimistic - we, as a country, must be doing something right to close that gap!
0 Replies
dyslexia
1
Reply
Mon 15 Mar, 2010 10:27 am
@Setanta,
just my guess but I'm going with the idea is that the american dream is that your children will have a "better" life than you had which would include such criteria as education, medical care, housing, employment, etc etc etc.
0 Replies
Setanta
1
Reply
Mon 15 Mar, 2010 10:33 am
Sounds like a variation on the Protestant ethic theme to me . . . i ain't no Protestant, so i think i'll go have a nice lie down . . .
well yeah, the Protestant ethic must be a major theme but also the movement of relative deprivation is a biggie. interesting to me.
0 Replies
djjd62
2
Reply
Mon 15 Mar, 2010 10:44 am
it's weird the american dream, where do the houses that nobody could really afford come in to it, does everyone in the house really need their own bathroom
there seems to be this list of things that we think we need. does it equate to a better life (multiple tvs, cars, cell phones, computers)
i think people have moved beyond the home and car, 3 squares a day, living wage job and simply replaced with a letter to santa, that can never be filled because there's anew toy and gadget just around the corner (we just got nearly everybody switched to hi def tvs and now they want to move to 3D)
yeah, that's what I meant by relative deprivation.
0 Replies
George
4
Reply
Mon 15 Mar, 2010 11:02 am
Who are these people, these faces? Where do they come from? They look like
caricatures of used car dealers from Dallas, and sweet Jesus, there were a hell
of a lot of them at 4:30 on a Sunday morning, still humping the American
dream, that vision of the big winner somehow emerging from the last minute
pre-dawn chaos of a stale Vegas casino.
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
0 Replies
Tai Chi
1
Reply
Mon 15 Mar, 2010 12:15 pm
@djjd62,
djjd62 wrote:
does everyone in the house really need their own bathroom
Guess we need another outhouse then...
0 Replies
edgarblythe
1
Reply
Mon 15 Mar, 2010 12:35 pm
I will not post my view, for fear of being branded even more of a nut than I'm already known to be.
I was in a cab on my way to the hospital. The driver was an immigrant from Singapore. He and his family used to live in an apartment in Queens. They recently bought a house on Long Island. When he told me this, he swung full around, smiled a big smile, and said, "The American Dream."
I especially like his closing line: "...the American dream. 'Cuz you have to be asleep to believe it."
0 Replies
edgarblythe
1
Reply
Mon 15 Mar, 2010 07:42 pm
Oh, well - - - Carlin said it for me. Amen.
0 Replies
plainoldme
1
Reply
Tue 16 Mar, 2010 07:28 am
I always thought that the American dream was home ownership, a job that one liked that would cover all the bills. For the parents of the Baby Boom generation (Tom Brokaw's greatest generation . . . sounds like the Trojan War generation as I write this now) the American dream could be accomplished.
However, it became more difficult for their kids for several reasons, including their sheer numbers. The BB was the result of the greatest homecoming since Ulysses landed. When the BB hit the job market, the country was in the middle of the Vietnamese War which, unlike WWII, actually made jobs a tad scarce.
Then, when they hit the housing market, they, of course, sent the cost of domicile soaring. There were other factors, but, the numbers probably trump them.
What made things worse is feminism and the pill came into play. More women were entering the job market with greater expectations. Emphasis is on greater expectations. How many women refused to take the title secretary or weather girl? Of course, the pill meant that women could control their reproduction.
Now, many leftists thought they could go to college, work as professionals and have the same level of income their parents had but with both husband and wife working part-time and sharing providing, homekeeping and childcare. Fat chance that had as business, industry and the professions (there was some flexibility in that last category) said no to job sharing and part-time employment. Everyone had to work full-time and that heated the economy, making life and living more expensive.
So, I thought those factors were part of the misery. What I hadn't counted was the fact that for 80% of the working population, real wages have remained flat since 1979.
That is costing us money now and that will bankrupt our children and grandchildren and not socialized medicine.
A friend that I have lost touch with was born on Pearl Harbor Day. The original. Her dad was an elevator operator and her mom stayed home. While his job no longer exists, a man earning at that level today would not be able to own his own home and his wife would be unable to stay in that home to raise their only child. That child would not have been able to take piano lessons and to major in piano performance at a private college. That was the American dream.
Stumble It!
Tweet This
Bookmark on Delicious
Share on Facebook
Share on MySpace