By: Jason Giombetti
It would be impossible to complete a comprehensive study of American history without analyzing the concept of “the American Dream” and what it has meant to different generations throughout the country’s existence. Certainly, America had always been viewed as a place where a person who was willing to work hard enough could make his dreams come true. America has been described by past presidents as “the world’s last best chance” and “the city on the hill”, a biblical allusion to Jerusalem (indeed, even the name of the New England town ‘Salem’ comes from the biblical city of jeruSALEM). Yes, America has always been a place where the ordinary person could work to become extraordinary.
It is thought by some that perhaps this fundamental American characteristic is backfiring. Perhaps it is so easy for a person to rise in economic status that now it is only the rich who get richer, and those left at the bottom of the proverbial totem pole are consequently stuck there. This article will seek to explore this phenomenon and to determine what, if anything, has caused the mobility factor in the United States to effectively work against itself, preventing those who sincerely want to work for success from gaining any economic ground in the constant struggle to improve their lives. To put it another way, is the American dream still feasible?
One of the founding principles of the United States was that it would be a society in which a person could elevate himself from one economic condition to the next. While it is obvious that classes necessarily developed from the American economic system, America has never been know to have a “nobility class” or a “peasant class”. While distinctive economic boundaries existed, it was always possible to elevate oneself to a higher position in society. Thus, one was never thought to be born into, and thus stuck in one class (with the exception of 200 years of American Slavery). This is an important principle to clearly understand when studying the American mobility factor for some scholars think that it’s entirely possible that this idea of “it could never happen to us” is the leading contributing factor to the situation America has found itself in. What is that situation? It was surprising to many, when both The New York Times (June 2005) and The Wall Street Journal (June 2005) published similar articles stating that just the problem that everyone thought could never infect the mainstream economic system in the U.S. exists in America today. Not only do classes exist, but it has become strikingly difficult for a person who finds himself in a “low class” to elevate himself.
The question must be asked, how is this possible? How has America come to embrace an economic model that it was founded to fight, and do it without anyone noticing? The Economist explored this very question in it’s July 16th article (2005) entitled “Degrees of Separation”. The article begins with striking statistics that point out how America’s population is one of the most rapidly increasing in the world. The article points out the in the 20th century, the American population has increased by 250% (whereas France’s and Britain’s prose by less than 60%). The author of the article states, “If a willingness to reproduce is a measure of a rich country’s confidence in the future, than America is supremely self-confident”. Confidence in the future, the article goes on to explain, leads to progress. America has experience extreme progress over it’s short life span. With progress, comes the increased ability to move up the economic ladder, which is exactly what has been happening. “The greatest asset of the American, so often ridiculed by Europeans, is his belief in progress...two thirds of Americans think they will achieve the American Dream of self improvement at some point in their lifetime”, writes one Swedish economist in the article. American have a right to be optimistic, the article later points out noting that, “The country’s size and wealth, combined with it’s meritocractic traditions and technological prowess, have made it unusually easy for Americans to move around in search of new opportunities”. So, because of new technological advances, those involved with those areas of expertise are being offered an incredible opportunity to quickly move up the economic ladder. However, there are negatives to this situation America has found itself in, and those negatives live right down the block.
Because technological innovations have created, and are continue to create more jobs, it stands to reason that technologically savvy people are taking advantage of these opportunities. With all of this mobility taking place, however, there is a group of people who are being left out, namely those who are not technologically advanced. The article Degrees of Separation from The Economist (July 16, 2005) explains: “The young move houses most often...overall, the most common reason for moving is to get a better house”. While the young and technologically advanced are moving, those who are involved in trades, either by choice or because of their age, are stuck in neutral and cannot improve their situations.
One way of viewing this phenomenon is to think of the American economy as being divided into two parts, business and labor, and each part being on either side of a pendulum, the pendulum representing what is popular in America at any given time. From post-World War II to about the early 1990s the pendulum pointed towards labor. In other words, it was looked upon as normal and even noble to be a skilled craftsman (plumber, electrician, etc...). Post 20th century, however, the pendulum has swung back towards being in a more business-like environment (behind a desk). While there is nothing wrong with this ideal, the lights still need to work and the water still needs to run. If, then, the overwhelming majority of high school graduating students opt for the office instead of the ladder, who is left to do the necessary trade jobs? Not many people... this, in turn, affects the owners of trade companies. Ask any electrical or plumbing contractor what the number one problem facing them is. It will not be a lack of work, but rather a lack of help. What all of these articles are now pointing out is that the pendulum is beginning to swing the other way. It is no longer easier to get a job as a “businessman” than as a skilled laborer, in fact it’s quite the opposite. These problems are then coming full circle and affecting the technologically advanced 30 year old, who has moved houses 3 times since he purchased his first home, and complains that it costs him $300 to have an electrical socket put in his home or to have his toilet fixed. The circle will go on and on and on and eventually the pendulum will swing back the other way.
America has been described as a place where a person can make their dreams come true; and indeed, historically it has been just that. But, as Steve Rattner put it, we cannot simply focus on the one problem of ensuring equality for all, we need to see the bigger picture: if “we pursue policies to fix inequality, social pressures may force unwise, even extremist moves [as the circle continues]. Income inequality is now wider in America than anywhere else in the industrialized world and on a par with that of the Third World country. Is this the American Dream?”. In other words, the solution to the problem may be what is slowly killing us. Society must take a step back and, by doing so, see that the answer is not always to take drastic moves in a direction that leads down an uncertain path but, rather to work with the system that is in place. The American economic system is by no means perfect, but it does provide a good foundation to build on.
In the end, the cycle of improving our state in life continues, not just for the average American but also for the American economic system as a whole as it continually strives to form a “more perfect union”.
WORKS CITED
Boston Sunday Globe “Economic Life: For wage earners, economic pie getting harder to digest” by Charles Stein. July 24, 2005
Business Week “The End of Upward Mobility? Not on Your Life”. By, Michael J. Mandel. June 20, 2005
Business Week “Ideas Outside Shot: The Rich Get (much) Richer”. By, Steven Rattner. August 8, 2005
The Economist “Degrees of Separation” July 16th, 2005
