The American Dream
The American Dream & Hardin’s “Tragedy of the Commons”
While the American Dream is different for everyone, it is most associated with the hope and belief that one can achieve success and freedom in the United States, which leads to happiness. America would provide the opportunity for people to grow and have a prosperous life with a lot of money, a good job, and expensive possessions. However, there is much debate whether or not such a “dream” of a life is possible. While many in today’s society all hope and strive for this dream, the likelihood of achieving it is very slim. Therefore, by studying American society today, evidence seems to indicate that the dream is merely a myth. With the large degree of inequality and poverty in the United States, the American Dream is deemed a falsehood.
My opinion about the American Dream being a myth or truth has somewhat changed during the course of this semester. At the beginning, I had believed that the American Dream was less likely in today’s society because of my awareness of the current economic recession and ongoing debate about racial and gender inequality, which is predominately evident in positions of power such as presidency. However, throughout the semester, I was exposed to a plethora of detailed information about the true, hard reality many Americans face today. The inequality is far larger than I had ever imagined. Studying the current poverty circumstances and statistics in education also helped me realize that the country was certainly not in good shape, and the American Dream was beyond the reach of almost the entire country. Therefore, the course helped support my prior opinion that the American Dream is simply a myth.
American ecologist Garrett Hardin claimed “the good of the many outweigh the good of the individual” in his article “The Tragedy of the Commons.” In his quote, Hardin was referencing a current challenge and conflict society faces today. The “commons,” which are the shared lands and
While the American Dream is different for everyone, it is most associated with the hope and belief that one can achieve success and freedom in the United States, which leads to happiness. America would provide the opportunity for people to grow and have a prosperous life with a lot of money, a good job, and expensive possessions. However, there is much debate whether or not such a “dream” of a life is possible. While many in today’s society all hope and strive for this dream, the likelihood of achieving it is very slim. Therefore, by studying American society today, evidence seems to indicate that the dream is merely a myth. With the large degree of inequality and poverty in the United States, the American Dream is deemed a falsehood.
My opinion about the American Dream being a myth or truth has somewhat changed during the course of this semester. At the beginning, I had believed that the American Dream was less likely in today’s society because of my awareness of the current economic recession and ongoing debate about racial and gender inequality, which is predominately evident in positions of power such as presidency. However, throughout the semester, I was exposed to a plethora of detailed information about the true, hard reality many Americans face today. The inequality is far larger than I had ever imagined. Studying the current poverty circumstances and statistics in education also helped me realize that the country was certainly not in good shape, and the American Dream was beyond the reach of almost the entire country. Therefore, the course helped support my prior opinion that the American Dream is simply a myth.
American ecologist Garrett Hardin claimed “the good of the many outweigh the good of the individual” in his article “The Tragedy of the Commons.” In his quote, Hardin was referencing a current challenge and conflict society faces today. The “commons,” which are the shared lands and