CHARLES OCHIE: In pursuit of a sometimes elusive American Dream

The ethos of the “American Dream” has been an interesting and fascinating phenomenon, attracting millions of people all over the world to the United States. The American Dream has been essentially the center of American life, everyone struggling to earn enough to live the dream.

Many people believe today that the American Dream is well and alive. I believe, without a shadow of doubt, that the American Dream is well and alive, and many of us are witnesses.

However, the relevant questions associated with the ethos of the American Dream that beg for some analysis, such as: How much of an American Dream is well and alive for a significant number of Americans of all backgrounds? Is the American dream linked to crime and/or other social problems as claimed by some criminologists? Is there a link between the American Dream and criminality? Does the American dream contribute to crime directly by encouraging people to employ illegal means to achieve goals that are culturally approved as postulated by some criminologists? Are Criminologists right/wrong to explain that the pursuit of the American Dream and the extreme emphasis placed on monetary success in American society lead to high rates of serious crime? Does the American society stress economic achievement to a much greater extent than the use of legitimate methods to reach these economic goals? Is there a higher use of illegal and more efficient means, including violence, to achieve economic success? Is it true that other institutions in American society, like the family, schools, and political system that might buffer this economic emphasis and provide moral guidance, have become weakened by the overwhelming strength of the American Dream ethos?

While many Americans would dare not question the existence of the dream, these questions by criminologists present interesting analysis and are begging for answers. The vexing question is whether the anger and frustration felt by people not realizing this ideal create strains that lead them to turn to crime. Criminologists have long theorized that efforts to achieve the dream, requirements to achieve the dream, goal-setting, aspirations, desires and the necessary means to achieve those goals, and then the strain and pressures that come with them create “winners” and “losers.” So do those who perceive themselves as “losers” experience severe relative deprivations, anger and frustration that lead to crime/violence? How much crime does that contribute in a society of privilege, liberty and individuality, where people enjoy freedoms, both tangible and intangible?

The American Dream, a term introduced in 1931 by historian Truslow Adams, refers to a “broad cultural ethos that entails a commitment to the goal of material success, to be pursued by everyone in society, under conditions of open, individual competition.” The belief is that anyone, regardless of where they were born or what class they were born into, can attain their own version of success in a society where upward mobility is possible for everyone. For those who achieve it, many believe, they did so through sacrifice, risk-taking, and hard work, rather than by chance.

With the ethos of an American Dream, Americans are “socialized” to desire and aspire to realize this success, while believing that they can sufficiently achieve it despite any visible or invisible obstacles, and believing that America is a place of equal opportunity, where each person has the ability to pursue his/her endeavors and can feasibly attain his/her dream of material wealth and stability.

Criminologists argue that criminality can result because society places a premium on individual success. People learn early in life that becoming rich is a sign of respectability and prestige and that how wealth is acquired is often not closely scrutinized. Thus, results are what is important. For most people, hard work over many years is the route to relative success, and what they cannot achieve in their lifetime, they hope their children will accomplish. The children would have had benefits of more education and better opportunities, and most families expect to achieve social mobility one step at a time.

But criminologists also describe the society as one where legitimate means to acquire wealth are stratified across class and status lines. Those with little formal education and few economic resources soon find that they are denied the ability to legally acquire wealth. So, in the words of American Sociologist Robert Merton, “When socially mandated goals are uniform throughout society and access to legitimate means is bound by class and status, the resulting strain produces an anomic situation among those who are locked out (the losers) of the legitimate opportunity structure. Consequently, they may develop criminal or delinquent solutions to the problem of attaining a goal.”

Since the U.S. operates an open democratic-capitalistic system, and not a caste system, everyone is culturally socialized to be aspirational, to have goals, believe in goals and fully integrated in the value of success. We want the money, the standard of living that money can buy, right away.

But does it mean that everyone who finds himself/herself in this category is bound to deviate? The issue is what is important for society: Does society place more emphasis on the goals and aspirations, value of success, than the means to achieve those goals and aspirations? What is the right balance? What happens if children are taught to believe in the ethos of the dream but not equipped with the necessary tools to achieve those goals, and then suddenly come to realize that the opportunity to achieve the goals are blocked because they do not have all the necessary tools: education, hard work, discipline, differed gratification? Would society take the full responsibility for not properly educating their young people as to the reality of social life?

Ultimately, the ethos of the American Dream must live on, and society has a huge responsibility of properly educating our children about goals, aspirations and legitimate means of achieving these goals so that they do not get disappointed when they grow up and realized that they have not been equipped with the right tools to achieve their American Dreams.