The American Dream at the Turn of the 21st Century
Goal
The goal of this exercise is to compare people's attitudes about the American Dream with their experiences of upward mobility at the turn of the 21st century. Crosstabulation will be used.
Concept
The ideology of the American Dream pervades US society and culture and, as such, has long been of interest to sociologists. The phrase "American Dream" was coined in 1931 by author James Truslow Adams, who defined it as "that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement ... It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position." The American Dream has come to signify both the hope and the promise of material prosperity and happiness, predicated on the deep-seated belief in the egalitarian philosophy that, with strenuous effort, anyone can improve one's economic and social circumstances.
Social scientists have been interested in the American Dream for the profound ways in which it has shaped social behaviors, relationships, and policies in the US. The ideology of the American Dream tends to focus upon individual behavior and opportunity while downplaying the importance of structural factors in life outcomes. This narrow focus tends to undermine support for policies aimed at alleviating race and class injustice. It has also been linked to overinflated and unrealistic expectations of upward mobility. This, according to some sociologists, creates strain for some social groups and increases the likelihood that people will turn to illegitimate means (e.g. crime) of achieving the cultural goal of material success.
In this exercise, we will examine whether people still believe in the American Dream near the close of the 20th century, and whether their experiences of upward mobility are consistent with this ideology.
Examples of research questions about the American Dream:
- Do attitudes about the American Dream vary by age, sex, race, or class?
- What are the social and cultural consequences of a widespread belief in upward mobility?
- How does one's attitude about the American Dream affect one's support for social policies?
- How do different demographic factors affect one's ability to achieve upward mobility (a key component of the American Dream)?
- How do economic conditions affect one's attitude about the American Dream?
- Has the definition of the American dream changed over time?
This exercise will use the 1996 ABC News Listening to America Poll. This special topic poll, conducted April 30 to May 6, 1996, is part of a continuing series of monthly surveys that solicit public opinion on the presidency and on a range of other political and social issues. This poll sought Americans' views on the most important problems facing the United States, their local communities and their own families. Respondents rated the public schools, crime, and drug problems at the national and local levels, their level of optimism about their own future and that of the country, and the reasons they felt that way. Respondents were asked whether they were better off financially than their parents were at their age, whether they expected their own children to be better off financially than they were, and whether the American Dream was still possible for most people. Respondents then compared their expectations about life to their actual experiences in areas such as employment, health care benefits, retirement savings, and leisure time. Additional topics covered immigration policy and the extent to which respondents trusted the federal, state, and local governments. Demographic variables included respondents' sex, age, race, education level, marital status, household income, political party affiliation, political philosophy, voter registration and participation history, labor union membership, the presence of children in the household, whether these children attended a public school, and the employment status of respondents and their spouses.
List of variables used:
- American Dream is still possible for most people (Q9)
- If you work hard, you will get ahead (Q19B)
- Political party affiliation (Q901)
- Education level (Q909)
- Year of Birth (Q910)
- Race (Q918)
- Sex (Q921)
- Age (AGERECODE)
- Better off financially than parents were (Q10)
- Children will be better off than you (Q11)
- Had to work harder than expected (Q12)
- More job opportunities than expected (Q16)
Our objective is to examine whether people still believe in the American Dream near the close of the 20th century, and whether their experiences of upward mobility are consistent with this ideology.
Do people still believe in the American Dream?
This dataset contains two different measures of attitudes about the American Dream. The first one (Q9) asks respondents whether they think that "the American Dream is still possible for most people." In the second one (Q19B), they are asked whether they believe that "if you work hard, you will get ahead." Let us take a look at the frequency distributions of these two variables. What percentage of respondents said that the American Dream is still possible for most people? What percentage agreed that "if you work hard, you will get ahead?"
To explore this further, we created a series of crosstabs of Q9 ("the American Dream is still possible for most people"), with race (Q918), sex (Q921), age (AGERECODE) and political party affiliation (Q901) respectively. Note that the variable Q918, "Race", contains six categories: "White," "Black," "White Hispanic," "Black Hispanic," "Hispanic (no race given)" and "Other race." For ease of analysis, we collapsed the categories from six to four: "White," "Black," "Hispanic" and "Other." The recoded variable is called "RACE."
Please study the results of the crosstabs. In the first table, what percentage of Hispanics expressed support for the idea that the American Dream is still possible for most people? How does this compare to other racial groups? Scroll down to look at the results of the crosstab of Q9 and sex. Were men or women more likely to say that the American Dream is still possible? Turning your attention to the crosstab of Q9 and AGERECODE, are there noticeable differences between the age groups in the sample? Which age group was most likely to say that the American Dream is still possible? Finally, let us take a look at the influence of political party affiliation. What percentage of Republican respondents indicated that the American Dream is not possible anymore? What percentage of Democrats felt the same way?
We then repeated the previous analyses, this time using Q19B ("if you work hard, you will get ahead") as a measure of respondents' attitudes toward the American Dream. What percentage of Black respondents disagreed with the statement? Were men or women more likely to agree that if one works hard, one can get ahead? What percentage of respondents over age 60 agreed? Which political group expressed the highest level of disagreement with the statement?
To what extent does the ideal of the American Dream match the reality of people's experiences of upward mobility?
Let us now explore potential measures of social mobility. Respondents were asked, "Are you better off financially than your parents were at your age?" (Q10). The crosstab of Q10 and AGERECODE shows how different age groups in the sample answered this question. What percentage of respondents over age 60 said they were better off financially than their parents? Which age group was most likely to say that they are not better off financially?
We might also consider a more objective measure of social mobility by examining educational attainment. Educational attainment is often used as a measure of social mobility and class because it is closely related to occupation and income. In this dataset, the variable measuring education level is Q909. It contains 6 categories: "8th grade or less"; "some high school"; "graduated high school"; "some college"; "graduated college"; and "post-graduate." We recoded this variable into four categories: "less than high school diploma"; "graduated high school"; "some college"; "graduated college or more." The new variable is called "EDUCATION."
We also used a slightly different variable for age in the next set of analyses because many of the youngest respondents in the sample's youngest age group are too young to have completed college or a post-graduate degree. These respondents may also be too young to have had many job opportunities or work experience. Therefore we chose to exclude those younger than age 25 from the next four analyses. To create the variable "AGEGROUPS", we first subtracted the respondent's year of birth (Q910) from 1996 to compute age and then we created the categories similar to the groupings in age group, except those under age 25, resulting in the following age groups: 25-30; 31-44; 45-60; and over 60.
We created a crosstab with EDUCATION and AGEGROUPS. Now please look at the results of the crosstab. What percentage of 31-44 yr-olds in the sample graduated high school, but did not take at least some college courses? Is this significantly different from other age groups? Which age group is most likely to have graduated college or more? Overall, would you say that the education level appears to have increased, decreased, or remained the same from one generation to the next?
In addition respondents were asked whether they "had to work harder than expected" (Q12). Please examine the results of the crosstab of Q12 and AGEGROUPS. What percentage of 25-30 year-olds indicated that they had to work harder than they expected? How does this compare with respondents in the other age groups?
Did respondents have more job opportunities than they expected (Q16)? According to the results of the crosstab of Q16 and AGEGROUPS, what percentage of respondents older than 60 indicated that they had more job opportunities than they expected? How does this compare with respondents in other age groups? Can you think of a possible reason older respondents have had such a different job experience?
To see whether respondents were hopeful about their children's future, we used variable Q11 (Do you think that your children will be better off than you?) in a crosstab with AGERECODE. Which age group was most likely to indicate that they thought their children would be better off? Are there significant differences between the groups? Do the results surprise you in light of earlier analyses?
What percentage of respondents said that the American Dream is still possible for most people? What percentage agreed that "if you work hard, you will get ahead?"
What percentage of Hispanics expressed support for the idea that the American Dream is still possible for most people? How does this compare to other racial groups? Were men or women more likely to say that the American Dream is still possible? Are there significant differences between the age groups in the sample? Which age group was most likely to say that the American Dream is still possible? Finally, what percentage of Republican respondents indicated that the American Dream is not possible anymore? What percentage of Democrats felt the same way?
What percentage of Black respondents disagreed that if one works hard, one can get ahead? Were men or women more likely to agree? What percentage of respondents older than 60 agreed? Which political group expressed the highest level of disagreement with the statement?
What percentage of respondents over age 60 said they were better off financially than their parents? Which age group was most likely to say that they are not better off financially?
What percentage of 31-44 yr-olds in the sample graduated high school, but did not take at least some college courses? Is this significantly different from other age groups? Which age group is most likely to have graduated college or more? Overall, would you say that the education level appears to have increased, decreased, or remained the same from one generation to the next?
What percentage of 25-30 year-olds indicated that they had to work harder than they expected? How does this compare with respondents in the other age groups?
What percentage of respondents over 60 years old indicated that they had more job opportunities than they expected? How does this compare with respondents in other age groups? Can you think of a possible reason older respondents have had such a different job experience?
Which age group was most likely to indicate that they thought their children would be better off? Are there significant differences between the groups? Do the results surprise you in light of earlier analyses?
Interpretation
Things to think about in interpreting the results:
The numbers in each cell of the crosstabulation tables show the percentage of the people who fall into the overlapping categories, followed by the actual number of people that represents in this sample. The coloring in the tables demonstrates how the observed numbers in each cell compares to the expected number if there were no association between the two variables. The accompanying bar charts display the patterns visually as well.
Weights (mathematical formulas) are often used to adjust the sample proportions, usually by race, sex, or age, to more closely match those of the general population. The analyses in this guide used weights to increase the generalizability of the findings, so the resulting tables are meant to reflect the relationships we would expect to see in the general population.
Reading the results:
- Almost three quarters (73.1%) of respondents said that the American Dream is still possible for most people, and two thirds (66.5%) believe that "if you work hard, you will get ahead."
- Of all the racial groups in the sample, Hispanics were the least likely to support the idea that the American Dream is still possible for most people (64.2% agreed, compared to a little over 70% agreement among respondents in other racial groups). Similarly, 77.5% of men, but only 69.1% of women indicated that they still believe in the American Dream. There were no significant generational differences, with 18-30 year-olds being only very slightly more likely than other age groups to agree that the American Dream is still possible (74.7% vs. 72.2%). However political party affiliation does appear to be associated with respondents' attitudes about the American Dream, with Democrats being almost twice as likely as Republicans to say that the American Dream is no longer possible: 32.8% vs. 17.9%.
- 40.9% of Black respondents indicated that they disagreed that "if you work hard, you will get ahead". 70.3% of men, and 63% of women agreed with the statement, as did fully three quarters of respondents older than 60 years of age. Independents were most likely to disagree (40.4%--twice as many as Republicans: 21.4%).
- 85.3% of respondents over age 60 said they were better off financially than their parents were at their age. On the other hand, with 37.5%, 31-44 yr-olds were most likely to indicate that they are not.
- 35.4% of 31-44 yr-olds graduated high school without taking at least some college courses, which is not significantly different from other age groups. Respondents 25-30 years old were the most likely to have graduated college (37.9%). Overall, there are some indicators that suggest that younger generations are more educated noting the low percentage of respondents under age 45 who did not finish high school. Additionally, respondents aged 31-44 yr-olds were almost twice as likely to graduate from college (32.3%) compared to respondents over 60 years old (16.4% graduated college, and 4% had a post-graduate degree).
- 57.9% of the 25-30 yr-olds answered that they had to work harder than they expected. This was very similar to the 45-60 year olds (57.5%) whereas 31-44 years old had a slightly higher percent answering they had to work harder than expected (60.6%). The oldest respondents had a notably lower percentage agreeing with this sentiment.
- In keeping with the results from the previous analysis, 62.8% of respondents in the oldest age group said that they had more job opportunities than they expected while the majority of respondents from each of the other age groups reported fewer job opportunities than expected. This may be because the oldest respondents were born before or during the Great Depression, but found plentiful work during the post-WWII era, when the US economy was booming.
- With 65.4%, 45-60 yr-olds were slightly more likely to indicate that they thought their children would be better off than them, compared to other age groups (ranging from 59.7% to 63.8%). This indicates that the younger respondents have a similar level of optimism, if not slightly higher than the oldest respondents despite the younger respondents' belief that they had to work harder than expected and have had fewer job opportunities. This optimism about the future may be an indication of the strength of their faith in the American Dream even in the face of relative adversity.
Summary
The goal of this exercise was to compare people's attitudes about the American Dream with their experiences of upward mobility at the turn of the 21st century. Taken together, the results show that belief in the American Dream is influenced, quite significantly in some cases, by race, sex, age and political affiliation. Interestingly, the American Dream ideology appears enduringly strong, even though it might be incongruous with the realities of respondents' experiences of upward mobility (or lack thereof). Indeed, while it appears that the education level has increased over the past 50 years, these gains are not reflected in easier access to employment for younger generations.
Further research might explore this paradox, perhaps by examining more closely the influence of demographic characteristics such as race or sex on one's ability to achieve upward mobility.
CITATION: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research. The American Dream at the Turn of the 21st Century: A Data-Driven Learning Guide. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2010-12-10. Doi: https://doi.org/10.3886/americandream
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.