Social Mobility and American Dream
Social mobility refers to the movement of individuals, families, or group of people from one social status to the other either lower or higher. It describes the changes in wealth possessions, education levels, or social class. The American dream is a social ideal which stresses attaining the highest social class possible and the opportunities are open and equal for every American with the ability and desire to achieve more (Cooper, 2012). ORDER NOW
The social mobility in America used to be in an upward direction in some years ago. However, I have had a different experience during my past years of stay in America. I have seen most people struggle to sustain their lives while others have their lives smooth. I had to look for casual works to earn a living and the opportunities were not equally distributed. Some people could also be lazy and unwilling to pursue the American dream despite having the opportunity while other people worked hard to achieve it hence creating a gap (Wedekind, 2016). Personally, I was willing to work hard for those years but the opportunities were not opening to me hence had to remain in the low social class.
The American dream stresses that people can prosper by just working hard. However, the dream does not really exist as the declining social mobility of the Americans has been documented by the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. This is due to the rising rate of inequality in opportunities and distribution of wealth in America. Additionally, most of the 30-year-old Americans are living below the standards that their parents lived at the same age hence the American dream has become impossible to achieve (Wedekind, 2016). ORDER NOW
References
Cooper, D. P. (2012). Unlocking the American dream: Exploring intergenerational social mobility and the. Place of publication not identified: Proquest, Umi Dissertatio.
Wedekind, P. A. T. R. I. C. K. (2016). Exposing the downside of the American Dream. Upward social mobility, crime, and questionable… (Business) ethics in Mamet’s -glengarry glen ross-. S.L.: grin publishing.