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JAY-Z - Empire State Of Mind ft. Alicia Keys

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JAY-Z - Empire State Of Mind ft. Alicia Keys

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This song explains how New York city where “Elis Island” was located is a city where dreams come true. It represents the hope New York brings to people’s dreams and New York is a chance to follow your dreams no matter where you come from. This song explains America, more specifically New York is a place where dreams come true. They say anything is possible here as it is a city of opportunity. In the song it repeats the phrase “Concrete jungle (yeah) where dreams are made of. There's nothin' you can't do”. This explains that in New York anything is possible and you can pursue your dreams easier there. This song also says “These streets will make you feel brand new (new) Big lights will inspire you”.This shows that being in America inspires people to pursue and start to have a better life.

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This article explains that the idea of the American dream has changed. It gives statistics of what people think the american dream is about. In the article it explains that, "45 percent said it was essential 'to have a better quality of life than your parents'" This shows that immigrants strive for a better life and come to america. At a higher statistic it is said,  “85 percent indicated that ‘to have freedom of choice in how to live’ was essential to achieving the American dream. In addition, 83 percent indicated that “a good family life” was essential." This ties back to my understanding that the american dream is the oppurtunity for freedom and being able to achieve what you want.

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Jairo, Miami: "My American dream lies where courage, freedom, justice, service and gratitude are cherished and practiced. I dream of that America that fought for me to become who I am today. An America where all children can have that opportunity to dream and succeed." Credit... Ian Brown, from "American Dreams"

Opinion
Most people in this country say that they are living it - but what they mean by the phrase might surprise you.

Jairo, Miami: "My American dream lies where courage, freedom, justice, service and gratitude are cherished and practiced. I dream of that America that fought for me to become who I am today. An America where all children can have that opportunity to dream and succeed." Credit... Ian Brown, from "American Dreams"

I am pleased to report that the American dream is alive and well for an overwhelming majority of Americans.

This claim might sound far-fetched given the cultural climate in the United States today. Especially since President Trump took office, hardly a day goes by without a fresh tale of economic anxiety, political disunity or social struggle. Opportunities to achieve material success and social mobility through hard, honest work - which many people, including me, have assumed to be the core idea of the American dream - appear to be diminishing.

But Americans, it turns out, have something else in mind when they talk about the American dream. And they believe that they are living it.

Last year the American Enterprise Institute and I joined forces with the research center NORC at the University of Chicago and surveyed a nationally representative sample of 2,411 Americans about their attitudes toward community and society. The center is renowned for offering "deep" samples of Americans, not just random ones, so that researchers can be confident that they are reaching Americans in all walks of life: rural, urban, exurban and so on. Our findings were released on Tuesday as an American Enterprise Institute report.

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Tamara and Chris Johnson, Centuria, Wis.: "Our American dream is simple," Ms. Johnson said. "The rewards are not things, they are experiences - a meal, a conversation, a walk, a hug. Our American dream is not easy. It requires grit, persistence and drive. Our American dream is not exclusive - it gives. In our American dream no one is left behind."

What our survey found about the American dream came as a surprise to me. When Americans were asked what makes the American dream a reality, they did not select as essential factors becoming wealthy, owning a home or having a successful career. Instead, 85 percent indicated that "to have freedom of choice in how to live" was essential to achieving the American dream. In addition, 83 percent indicated that "a good family life" was essential.

The "traditional" factors (at least as I had understood them) were seen as less important. Only 16 percent said that to achieve the American dream, they believed it was essential to "become wealthy," only 45 percent said it was essential "to have a better quality of life than your parents," and just 49 percent said that "having a successful career" was key.

This pattern - seeing the American dream as more about community and individuality than material success and social mobility - appeared across demographic and political categories. In the case of political party affiliation, for example, 84 percent of Republicans and independents said having freedom was essential to the American dream, as did 88 percent of Democrats; less than 20 percent of those in either party held that becoming wealthy was essential.

Helen and Jesse, Cleveland: "My family immigrated to the U.S. from China over 25 years ago. They left everything and everyone they knew so that they could give me a better life. That was their American dream," Helen said. "My American dream is the same as my parents'. I want my future children, everyone's children, to grow up in a country where they have opportunities to create a better life."

The data also show that most Americans believe themselves to be achieving this version of the American dream, with 41 percent reporting that their families are already living the American dream and another 41 percent reporting that they are well on the way to doing so. Only 18 percent took the position that the American dream was out of reach for them.

Collectively, 82 percent of Americans said they were optimistic about their future, and there was a fairly uniform positive outlook across the nation. Factors such as region, urbanity, partisanship and housing type (such as a single‐family detached home versus an apartment) barely affected these patterns, with all groups hovering around 80 percent. Even race and ethnicity, which are regularly cited as key factors in thwarting upward mobility, corresponded to no real differences in outlook: Eighty-one percent of non‐Hispanic whites; 80 percent of blacks, Hispanics and those of mixed race; and 85 percent of those with Asian heritage said that they had achieved or were on their way to achieving the American dream.

Income did make a difference, with 72 percent of those earning under $35,000 expressing a positive outlook about the American dream, compared with 90 percent of those earning over $100,000 - but those numbers are still overwhelmingly positive. Another difference was generational. Eighty-three percent of baby boomers, 80 percent of Gen Xers and 81 percent of millennials were optimistic about the American dream. But those in Gen Z - Americans born in 1997 or later - were notably less optimistic at 73 percent.

Brothers Chase and Connor LaCoste, Amite, La. "I think the American dream is that all people should be equal, no matter if you're black or white," Chase said. "As an African-American young boy I just hope I can can live to be a black man. Two main things you should always have is freedom and liberty."

In general, though, the data are clear: Individuality and family, not wealth and real estate, are what Americans seek and believe they are finding in the national "dream."

What conclusions should we draw from this research? I think the findings suggest that Americans would be well served to focus less intently on the nastiness of our partisan politics and the material temptations of our consumer culture, and to focus more on the communities they are part of and exercising their freedom to live as they wish. After all, that is what most of us seem to think is what really matters - and it's in reach for almost all of us.

Samuel J. Abrams is professor of politics at Sarah Lawrence College and a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.
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Opinion | The American Dream Is Alive and Well (Published 2019)

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Opinion Most people in this country say that they are living it - but what they mean by the phrase might surprise you. Jairo, Miami: "My American dream lies where courage, freedom, justice, service and gratitude are cherished and practiced. I dream of that America that fought for me to become who I am today.

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In chapter 20 of "The distance between us" is when Reyna arrives to El Outro Lado. On her journey to the other side her father explains," I brought you to this country to get an education and to take advantage of all the opportunities this country has to offer. "(Grande 19). This tells us the reason they are going to America is because of the opportunities it has to offer. This book shows the extremes immigrants go through so that they can start the journey to their better life. They very clearly don't have access to these opportunities in Mexico. Therefore they have to immigrate somewhere that their dreams are possible. America seems to be the perfect place to attempt to achieve these dreams.

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Immigrants Perspective on American Dream

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Immigrants Perspective on American Dream

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This video is all people that have immigrated to America for a better life. They often state that they came to America for the freedom and larger opportunities. The dreams they planned on pursuing were not available where they lived. Some of the immigrants also moved to America to be more happy and make them feel accepted from gender to sexuality. They believe that anyone can come here and be able to start a life if the work hard towards success. All of the Immigrants believe the American dream is real because they pursued it.

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🗽 Immigrant Perspectives: The American Dream

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I asked my mom,Elisangela, about her understanding of the "American Dream" as she is an immigrant from Brazil. She says the American dream is all about opportunity, progress, and the pursuit of a better life. She feels the American Dream is only achievable by hard work and optimism. This dream is not easy to achieve. She explains that coming here gave her a great opportunity to start her family. As she also explains her American dream changed as she became older. It varied from wanting to become a nurse to being able to provide for her family and give the best life for her kids. She believes the American Dream is very well and alive if you strive hard for it.

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To succeed in life you need to have the freedom to work and make money. I know I can succeed to be able to make my own money so I can build my life up. Making money can help us reach our goals in life.

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Travel is a big part of my personal American Dream. It is my dream to be able to adventure the world. I would love to have the freedom to travel and it would be apart of my ideal life.

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James Truslow Adams coined the phrase "American Dream" in his 1931 bestseller The Epic of America. He states “a dream of a social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position.” My understanding of the american dream is that everyone has an equal chance to succeed what they want in life. People can normally succeed what they want in America due to accessibility and freedom. Due to not being able to achieve this in their home country people normally accosiate their dreams with America.The american dream is more about freedom to live your ideal and/or best life.

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My American dream incluedes being able to work at a job that interests me. I want to be able to work on something that I enjoy and would be glad to do. This for me personally be to work in forensics.