American Dream Features the Individual; Justice Is the Community’s Solution
In a fascinating academic study, The American Dream and the Power of Wealth, sociologist Heather Beth Johnson and a group of researchers conduct interviews to try to discover how we “acknowledge structured inequality as we teach our children that individual achievement determines life chances.”
She is exploring our society’s cultural narrative of the American Dream, the idea that we live in a meritocracy where all can succeed if we work hard—where if we are strategic and patient, we can all win—where we rise or fall pretty much on our own. The book is filled with transcripts of the interviews the researchers conduct. Here is a typical sample:
- Interviewer: “Do you think there are some ethnicities, races, groups in this country that are more disadvantaged than others?
- Responder: “Yeah.”
- Interviewer: “So you think there are certain groups… as a whole that have a harder time making it today?”
- Responder: “Sure. Definitely.”
- Interviewer: “Okay, now, what about the American Dream? The idea that with hard work and desire, individual potential is unconstrained… everyone gets an equal chance