Discuss the contrast between the American dream and American reality? Discuss these contrasts in our society..

Question

and in the 1920's.

Answer 1

The American dream in a country itself is to be viewed as better/superior,in one way or another,then other country's.But in reality the American governments not as Innocent as it leads the rest of the world to belive.The individual American dream seems to be money,lots of it,by working.Not working to hard one may think,or becoming famous by some simple means such as MySpace or Youtube.But the reality is very few of use will get that pleasure so we must work hard.And many belive that the American dream always is supposed to have a good ending,but most of the time it turns out to be an American nightmare.Americans in some way think there better than others liven in other countrys,not all but some,u know this is true dont lie.But in reality most are psycologicaly unstable,brainwash,and lied to on a daily,when there lead to belive they controll there surrondings.

Answer 2

OK... let me help you out a little bit by addressing the question.

First, the American dream is the cultural value system we have that says anyone can be successful if they work hard, get an education, keep their nose clean, etc.  If you play the game, you will get ahead.  The assumption here is that we all want to gather wealth and have the nice home, nice car, toys, etc.  It also assumes the opportunities are the same for anyone and everyone.  It is the classic capitalist view of society.

Now the reality.  The fact of the matter is, not all of us start out on even footing.  Clearly, the wealthy start out life with more opportunities, and have more resources available to them to gather more wealth.  The poor inner city youth has to work a lot harder than the Beverly Hills kid to achieve wealth and success.  Another reality is that not all people buy into the idea of the American Dream or agree with the goal of wealth and material possessions.  The other conflict is that people also agree with the goal of obtaining wealth, but don't buy into the legitimate means of getting it, so they turn to crime to bypass all that work and school stuff.

Now, for the 1920's.  This is a rather complex topic, so I will summarize.  This period of American history was one of economic prosperity for some and total poverty for others.  America was in a period of intense urban growth fueled by industrial jobs and a huge influx of immigrants who had come to America to live the American Dream. Once they got here, they found themselves facing long hours doing difficult work for little money.  Many aspects of social life, such as housing and sources for basic needs, were controlled by their employers, so what money they did make was given back to their employer to pay for survival.  Some immigrant populations were discriminated against and had little opportunity for success.  The inner city neighborhoods where these people lived were extremely dirty and congested and the housing was substandard.  In contrast, you had the wealthy business owners who lived in absolute luxury from the money they made off the labor and misery of their employees.  

There were two major social movements that came from this.  One was the Progressive movement that began to see the role of government to include addressing social problems, and the other was a variety of critical sociological theories that attempted to explain social problems by looking at the structure of society.

Answer 3

well im in junior high so...i dont know about the 1920's but i think the american dream is to come to american, which is supposed to be some kinda of promise land, find a job with little effort and a lot of help available, make a living, mary, and have kids. the american reality is that you come here, get called a teroist, if your lucky get a job, move into an apartment, and most likely go to jail....i know i probably didnt help any...sorry