The American Dream and It's Limits Final Exam

American Identity

Ethno-racial view

• America historically defined for white people; tied to WASP dominance.

• Legal citizenship originally limited to “free white persons.”

• Immigration expanded “whiteness” gradually (Irish, Italians, Jews later included).

• White nationalism: seeks to re-establish U.S. as a white ethnostate. Connects to readings on nativism, eugenics, and contemporary demographic anxiety (Stern; Edsall).

Creedal view

• Identity based on values: liberty, democracy, equality, individualism.

• Emphasizes inclusion regardless of ancestry (Lipset’s “American exceptionalism”).

Modern fragmentation

(Packer’s Four Americas)

• Free America (libertarian)

• Real America (white, rural, culturally conservative)

• Smart America (educated professionals)

• Just America (inequality- and justice-focused)

Key connections to American Dream

• Identity shapes who is imagined as the rightful beneficiary of the Dream.

• American identity debates influence immigration politics and citizenship boundaries.

Citizenship

Legal citizenship

• Voting, work, protections.

• Birthright citizenship: central to debate about national belonging.

Social / cultural citizenship

• Belonging, acceptance, cultural membership.

• Beaman: “citizenship as cultural”—even legal citizens can be marginalized.

Citizenship & American Dream

• Full access to institutions (schools, jobs, mobility pathways).

• Undocumented immigrants face exclusion—contradiction with Dream’s promise.

Affirmative Action

Purpose

• Correct structural inequalities stemming from slavery, Jim Crow, segregation, exclusion.

• Focus: admissions, hiring, opportunity creation.

Debates

• Critics frame it as “reverse discrimination.”

• Portocarrero & Carter: intended vs unintended consequences.

• Beckman: legal and historical context of AA policies.

Relation to Dream

• Challenges notion that equal opportunity already exists.

• Attempts to realign conditions so Dream becomes attainable across racial groups.

Immigration & the American Dream

Historical context

• U.S. both immigrant-built and immigrant-restrictive.

• Racism, medical screening, exclusions (eugenics at Ellis Island; Chinese Exclusion Act).

Key policies

• 1924 Johnson–Reed Act: racial quotas, explicitly eugenic.

• 1965 Immigration Act: ends race quotas → rising Latinx and Asian immigration.

• Post-1965: immigrants reshape ideas of American Dream and success.

• Relationship to the American Dream

• Immigrants often strongly believe in Dream’s attainability.

• Barriers: legal status, discrimination, racialization, labor exploitation.

• Success often depends on proximity to whiteness.

Assimilation Theories

Anglo-conformity: erase difference → become white-coded.

Melting pot: cultures blend (still centers whiteness).

Cultural pluralism: multiple cultures coexist (Glazer & Moynihan tradition).

Segmented assimilation: different immigrant groups assimilate into different strata of U.S. society.

Ethnic enclaves & niches (Zhou): economic adaptation strategies. Enclaves are communities dominated by an ethnicity (Chinatown), and niches are a specific occupation, industry, or business sector where an ethnic minority group becomes overrepresented, often as a strategy to overcome discrimination, leverage ethnic networks, or meet specific cultural demands

Legitimation

Definition

• Processes that make inequality seem natural, fair, or deserved.

Mechanisms

• Meritocracy → suggests outcomes result purely from ability & effort.

• Ideology → “anyone can make it” legitimates massive inequality.

• Institutional narratives: schools, media, political rhetoric.

Legitimation & American Dream

• The Dream legitimates inequality by implying equal starting points.

• Mobility narratives obscure structural barriers.

Mobility

Economic mobility

• Central to belief in the Dream.

• Rank et al.: most Americans will experience poverty at some point; mobility much less common than perceived.

Chetty’s findings

• Zip code predicts mobility.

• Segregation reduces opportunity.

• Black boys have lowest mobility even when raised in wealthy households.

Implications

• Mobility is not equally available → Dream’s promise is conditional and often unattainable.

Global Context of the American Dream

Post-WWII U.S. hegemony (Pax Americana)

• Military, economic, cultural dominance.

• The Dream exported: consumer culture, media, universities.

Multipolar world

• Decline of U.S. relative power; rising China & EU.

• New global competition undermines domestic prosperity and opportunity.

America’s internal weakening

• Declining middle class.

• Rising inequality.

• Polarization → competing Dreams (Packer).

Theories of Inequality

Marx

• Inequality rooted in exploitation and class struggle.

• Capitalism generates wealth for some, poverty for others.

Weber

• Social inequality as multidimensional, arising from three distinct but interconnected spheres: Class (economic power/wealth), Status (social prestige/honor), and Party (political power/influence)

Davis & Moore

• Functionalist: inequality necessary for society.

• Critiqued as legitimating the status quo.

Collins (Marx in modern sociology)

• Systems maintain themselves through institutional power and conflict.

Tilly – Opportunity hoarding

• Groups monopolize access to valued resources.

Schwalbe – Rigging the Game

• Institutions systematically benefit some and harm others.

• Inequality reproduced through everyday practices.

Poverty

Desmond: Why Poverty Persists

• Poverty is maintained by policy decisions, not individual failure.

• Segregation, labor exploitation, housing markets, welfare cuts → structural.

Deserving vs undeserving poor

• Moral distinctions shape policy (welfare, criminalization).

Racialized poverty

• Housing, redlining, mass incarceration disproportionately impact Black Americans.

Relativity of the Dream

The Dream varies across:

• Race

• Class

• Immigration status

• Historical period

• Global economic conditions

What counts as “success” differs widely; Dream is not universal.

Race and the American Dream

African American experience

• Slavery → Jim Crow → redlining → mass incarceration.

• Persistent structural barriers → Dream less attainable regardless of effort.

Coates – Reparations

• Wealth gap rooted in government-backed discrimination.

• Shows how Dream was systematically denied.

Modern racism

• Not just attitudes—policies, neighborhoods, institutions.

Economic mobility research

• Class gaps ↑

• Racial gaps ↓ slightly, but Black Americans still face major structural disadvantage.

Assumptions Underlying the American Dream

1. Equal opportunity exists.

2. Hard work → success.

3. Institutions are fair.

4. Mobility is universally available.

5. Success = material prosperity.

Research contradicts these

• Chetty’s findings, inequality research, racial history all show these assumptions are false.

Humanism (Non-materialism) & the American Dream

Humanistic Dream

• Meaning, purpose, relationships, peace of mind.

• Spiritual or community-oriented value systems.

• Contributing to society

• Contrasts with materialist consumption-based Dream.

• A fuller life, not just a materialistic one

Key Moral and Social Concepts

Refugees vs Asylees

• Refugee: applies abroad.

• Asylee: seeks protection once inside U.S.

• Refugees morally framed as more “deserving.”

Moral panic

• Exaggerated fear of a group (immigrants, minorities).

• Drives xenophobic policy.

Hate crime

• Crimes motivated by prejudice or bias.

Group position theory (Blumer)

• Dominant groups react to perceived threat to status → explains nativism and racism.

American Exceptionalism

• Belief that U.S. is unique in freedom, democracy, mobility.

• Shapes ideology of the Dream.

Waning of the Dream

• Rising housing costs

• College debt

• Declining wages

• Globalization & job loss