American Dream

Influencing the American Dream

The American dream, which is perhaps a well-known term to many immigrants, has been a huge influence to both the Americans and many immigrants from other countries. The term American dream which was used to keep America as a community is a belief that people of America have freedom, equality, and opportunity, and by doing hard work, they would be able to achieve their ideal dream despite the difference in class. The ideal dream differs from person to person. For instance, it can be like buying a house, earning lots of money, or having a steady job. However, over time, the belief has changed due to several influences. The influences can be things such as family, economy, media, culture, or education. While influences like family and media affects the standard of the ideal dream, economy, education, and culture gives influence to the belief of the American dream. By reading the through the influences, one would be able to better understand the different influences that affected people to seek the American dream and how it affected the society.

First of all, an influence that people would probably first meet is family. In “American Dreams and Discontents: Beyond the Level of Playing Field”, by Isabel V. Sawhill and Daniel P. McMurrer, the authors quote that “As job opportunities for women have increased, their dependence on a husband’s earnings and on the institution of marriage has declined. This has led to more divorce, and to more childbearing outside marriage-trends that have been at least partly responsible for the dramatic growth of single parent families.” Due to the increase of single parent families, it became less likely to earn more money in order to support a family, which in result, caused people to have a lower level of ideal dream. In conclusion, family is an influence to the ideal dream.

Another influence is media. In the modern world, media would be one of the largest influences that affect people’s dreams due to...