A Sociological Perspective Of The American Dream

A Sociological Perspective Of The American Dream

The American dream is the ideology of having a world where equal opportunities are available to available to all Americans regardless of neither their social class nor their place of birth. It is a concept that is deeply rooted in the declaration of independence, which is based on the premise that all men were created to be equal and they should all be treated the same (Lemay, 1986). The dream is based on acquiring prosperity at both the societal and personal level through hard work as nothing comes easy. This means that children get better education, there are equal opportunity as America will be rid of discrimination based on gender, race and even ethnicity.

Socially this means that all cultures of the people will be equally accepted without viewing any culture as superior to another. As America is achieving this dream, currently there is much, but also much has been done. In order to improve education, the curriculum is currently research based, this means it will include the immediate environment in which the school is in. This allows for the curriculum to adopt the culture, beliefs and customs of the people at school (Miller, 1974). This will increase the level of understanding and is a step in the right direction of achieving the American dream.

This comes in the light of a statistical revelation that realized the indigenous tribes in America like the red Indians are performing poorly in schools and most of them do not get to graduate. This was found out is because their culture is not incorporated in the curriculum and this makes education to be a foreign concept instead of being a part of their everyday life.

The American dream is also based on the establishment and accurate follow up of the civil rights of the people. This applies in the occupation and work environment where upward mobility both in position and in income is expected. This means with time people’s lives should get better as they advance in their carrier. The only condition that has to be in place for this to happen is to ensure that there is hard work and dedication on the part of the employees.

America being a big land physically, it has a large population that offers a ready market for goods and services. This means that the large population has to be well catered for. This falls well in line with the American dream; this is because there are four dreams when it comes to consumerism ( Miller, 1974). There is the dream of abundance of goods and services, this is to make sure that there is no one consumer who will be in need and will lack something. When all the consumers are able to have all the goods and services they require means that their basic and tertiary needs will all be satisfied.

The other dream of consumerism focuses on democracy of commodities. This means that goods and services will be available to all the citizens of the country regardless of their race, religion, gender and even ethnic affiliation (Lemay, 1986). This breaks the aristocracy that is always surrounding many societies where the rich and well connected in the society are the ones who always get the chance to have all at their disposal while the rest is left for the poor people in the society.

The other dream is the dream of freedom of choice; this means with the expanding variety of goods and services that come into the market the consumer can freely choose the basket of goods that give them the highest utility without fear of what effects they may have to endure. This also falls on the other side of supply; people are allowed to choose what they can supply as long as it falls within the legal framework of the law. This forms what is widely known as the free market (Lemay, 1986). This is whereby commercial operations are allowed without so many restrictions. This ultimately leads to new sources of markets within and outside the country. This explains the current issue of emerging markets whereby Americans investors are moving on to the international market to capture all the opportunities available and maximize on gaining more and more influence and profits.

Finally there is the dream of novelty; this is where brand new ideas and inventions are easily accepted into the market so as to increase the quantity and quality of goods available and at the same time to create new demand and supply of a product. This explains the introduction of new models of goods and services, increase in the level of technology that has created even more chances for the people. Technology has turned the world into a global village; this is whereby consumers and producers contact each other with the touch of a button even when they are physically and geographically miles apart from each other.

Home ownership is also very critical to the dream; this is because all Americans are expected to have a good home of their own where they can raise their families in peace. This is why having a mortgage is very important to all the Americans because it is part of a dream that has come a long way.

The dream is made to make sure that America provides good and peaceful environment that is war free. This is why America is on the frontline in fighting against production of nuclear weapons and terrorism.

Explore the interconnectedness of American Dream and the Nuclear Nightmare. How are they related? What are their implications?

            The nuclear nightmare is the actual threat that there is a country that is producing nuclear weapons that may be used against the Americans to bring harm to the people and to stop their lives from progressing as planned. The American dream is clearly outlined and in order to achieve it, there has to be a nurturing environment that is not under threat from any other country.

The Americans were the first to use nuclear weapons during the Second World War in Nagasaki and Hiroshima; by doing this they opened a Pandora’s.............