The American Dream
The American Dream offers the freedom to make decisions and promises equality. In essence, it enables a person to make decisions that influence their ambitions and the possibility to achieve them, ability to gain wealth, live a dignified life based on their personal values even they might contradict social norms. In most societies and epochs, relation to externa entities such as social norms and deities determine values. Contrastingly, individualism perceives values as individual choices since people are free to decide on both the definition and means of pursuing happiness as long as they do not affect other people’s ability to achieve their good life. Although making the American Dream promotes individual upward mobility, values that determine character and behavior are social. Thus, by promoting self through selfish ambitions, personality and behaviors disintegrate leading to society without values.
Several sociologists and philosophers criticize how individualism shapes people’s perception of the American Dream. They argue that separating self from society is impossible since personal values are derived from social norms. That is, social surroundings define and determine the various forms taken by selfhood. The ethics of self-improvement through individual efforts is also questionable. In essence, self-oriented exercises cannot inculcate good life, wellbeing and happiness. Notably, not every person enjoys happiness and a good life due to different socio-economic factors. For instance, inequality based on power and status due to caste, gender, race, social class, and nationality influence a person’s wellbeing. These structural disparities significantly impact a person’s access to economic, social and educational opportunities, equal justice, secure living places, long life and a promising future. Thus, achieving these primary conditions based on self-improvement alone is impossible. In other words, self-help programs cannot suffice without social transformations and implying otherwise is morally repugnant.