18 Facts About American Dream

1.

American Dream is a national ethos of the United States, the set of ideals in which freedom includes the opportunity for prosperity and success, as well as an upward social mobility for the family and children, achieved through hard work in a society with few barriers.

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2.

The term "American Dream" was coined by James Truslow Adams in 1931, saying that "life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement" regardless of social class or circumstances of birth.

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3.

Historically the American Dream originated in the mystique regarding frontier life.

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4.

Turner first announced his thesis in a paper entitled "The Significance of the Frontier in American Dream History", delivered to the American Dream Historical Association in 1893 in Chicago.

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5.

Turner's emphasis on the importance of the frontier in shaping American Dream character influenced the interpretation found in thousands of scholarly histories.

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6.

Concept of the American Dream has been used in popular discourse, and scholars have traced its use in American literature ranging from the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, to Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Willa Cather's My Antonia, F Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, Theodore Dreiser's An American Tragedy and Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon .

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7.

The American Dream is discussed in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman as the play's protagonist, Willy, is on a quest for the American Dream.

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8.

Many American Dream authors added American Dream ideals to their work as a theme or other reoccurring idea, to get their point across.

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9.

American Dream has been credited with helping to build a cohesive American experience, but has been blamed for inflated expectations.

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10.

For example, Jay Gatsby's death mirrors the American Dream's demise, reflecting the pessimism of modern-day Americans.

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11.

The American Dream is a main theme in the book by John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men.

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12.

In 1949, Arthur Miller wrote Death of a Salesman, in which the American Dream is a fruitless pursuit.

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13.

The exact meaning of the American Dream became for at least one commentator a partisan political issue in the 2008 and 2012 elections.

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14.

Key element of the American Dream is promoting opportunity for one's children, Johnson interviewing parents says, "This was one of the most salient features of the interview data: parents—regardless of background—relied heavily on the American Dream to understand the possibilities for children, especially their own children".

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15.

Several public figures and commentators, from David Frum to Richard G Wilkinson, have noted that the American dream is better realized in Denmark, which is ranked as having the highest social mobility in the OECD.

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16.

Knights and McCabe argued American management gurus have taken the lead in exporting the ideas: "By the latter half of the twentieth century they were truly global and through them the American Dream continues to be transmitted, repackaged and sold by an infantry of consultants and academics backed up by an artillery of books and videos".

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17.

Chinese American Dream describes a set of ideals in the People's Republic of China.

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18.

Chinese American Dream can be interpreted as the collective consciousness of Chinese people during the era of social transformation and economic progress.

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