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Well as some of you know, I am an English teacher in a French high-school. This year, I teach "American history and culture".
So far we've studied the Mayflower, American Independence, the birth of a nation, Slavery, Manifest Destiny, the industrial revolution, Ellis Island, Irish, Jewish and Italian Immigration, Henry Ford and the assembly line, the Great Gatsby, The Great Depression, The Grapes of Wrath, Roosevelt. I still plan to talk about McCArthyism, the Cold War, the Vietnam war, The 60's counterculture, Hispanic immigration and demography, Chrisitan Fundamentalism and the Irak war. It sounds rather piecemeal, but I only have them an hour and a half a week and have to cram in as much "meaningful data" as possible.
What I'm interested in is why, despite the fact that eqaulity of opportunity has plumeted in the US compared to other "developped nations", a (small) majority of Americans still believe in the American Dream. 70% of Americans apparently still believe that hard work and luck are more important than the income level of a person's family in determining which income quintile a child will belong to in later years. This, despite incontrovertable evidence to the contrary, namely that US society is now more ossified in terms of class structure and social mobility than European, Canadian or Australian society.
Which illustrates the importance of the "American Dream" as a myth in the sociological sense : an account that seeks to embody and explain the values of a given society. Never mind the other sense of "myth" : a false and fabricated belief.
Two weeks ago, I polled 120 of my French high-school students and asked them if they thought "America was still the land of opportunity" and "is it easier for a poor person to make it in the US than in France". Well, 80% of students answered YES to both questions. One student even said :"people talk about an American dream but not a European dream, because there is more social mobility in America. Through hard work anybody can become a billionair in the US, whereas in France, your prospects in life are dependant on your parents' social status." When I showed my class Stieglitz's figures on social mobility (or lack thereof) in the US, they were extremely surprised. And then the inevitable question arose : why then is the "American dream" still something most Americans say they believe in ?
Which brought us to the way the concept of "equality of opportunity" obfuscates the reality of class and makes people blame themselves for their lack of success. And yet, my students pointed out anecdotal evidence from various success stories they had read in the newspapers of individuals becoming billionaires through a combination of hard work and good luck.In particular, the name "Steve Jobs" was mentioned many times.
Which brings me to my question(s) : is Steve Job's life a classical "rags to riches" story ? And does the American dream still fulfill an ideological function in contemporary America - i.e. do Americans really still view themselves as rugged individualists and pioneers ? If most American citizens view references to the "American Dream" as cynical ploys by politicians to maintain the status quo, then it no longer functions as a myth. And finally, does a substantial part of the American public regard people like say Henry Ford or Warren Buffet as "American heroes" ?
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