Absolute mobility: fraction of children who have a higher standard of living than their parents…High rates of absolute mobility are a defining feature of the American Dream [Samuel 2012].
- Chetty, R. et al (2016) The Fading American Dream: Trends in Absolute Income Mobility Since 1940
Constantly coming and going, the American Dream seemed to almost always reside in the past or loom in the future, rarely ever existing in the here and now. Although frequently on the horizon, just around the next corner, it was more often viewed as having once thrived, its (and thus our) best days behind us. The Dream was commonly described as “fading,” “withering,” “shrinking,” “sliding,” “unraveling,” “squeezed,” “threatened,” “broken,” “going backward ,” “in reverse,” and “dying,” when it was not already “dead.”
- Lawrence R. Samuel (2012) The American Dream Excerpt from Conclusion
Ok, so this post isn't really about The American Dream. It's partly about ambition, a way of making a name for yourself: find a problem, exaggerate its importance, and all sorts of people will thank you for it. I'd rather explore what other people define as a problem and try to figure out if it is really something we should be concerned about.
Yes, many generations of Americans wanted to do better than their parents - especially when their parents struggled. For much of American history, our parents struggled. It's only been the last 50 or so years that most of us could take a breather. Is doing better than one's parents still the be all/end all of the American Dream? Should it be? Why, why not?
Is the fact that many Americans are not doing better than their parents a symptom, disease, or chance to re-evaluate what matters? Just starting.