“Despite the Horatio Alger myth that anyone can make it in America, moving up the socioeconomic ladder is hard going: children from low-income families have only a 1 percent chance of reaching the top 5 percent of the income distribution, versus children of the rich, who have about a 22 percent chance.”
–“Making Schools Work”, David Kirp in NYT
image: Stephen Sheffield
About Tom MatlackTom Matlack is the co-founder of The Good Men Project. He has a 18-year-old daughter and 16- and 7-year-old sons. His wife, Elena, is the love of his life. Follow him on Twitter @TMatlack.
A Virginia man was accused of kidnapping his own children last week because, according to Walmart security, a white man with biracial children just didn’t “match up.”
A controversial debate within the Boy Scouts of America is coming to a head this week as 1,400 of its leaders vote on lifting the ban that doesn’t allow homosexuals or atheists into its ranks.
A new study finds that students bullied because they are believed to be gay are much more likely than others to be suicidal and depressed.
The Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek died Monday, he was 74 years old.
Try on eyeglasses from the comfort of your iPad. Part of the glasses.com try on revolution.
The first time a friend asked him to be best man at his wedding, Nathan Loewen wasn’t the best man he could be.
Chantele Theroux on how to live and love like the Man in Black.
This is a comment by Cameron Brown on the post “Makeup for Men? Why?”
This is a comment by Anonymous on the post “Should We Forgive Apologetic Bullies?”
| Join Our Mailing List |
Do you know the way to your own heart? Men who cook and write wanted.
Sometimes, what makes us do evil is easier to understand than the reasons why we choose to do good.
Copyright © 2013 GoodMenProject.com · Powered by WordPress, Genesis Framework & 
· Privacy Policy · Log in
Climbing up the social ladder is, usually, a slow process. It’s hard for one generation to make a leap from living in slums to upper middle class… it’s usually work of 2,3 generations.
That’s why hard work, work ethics, no drinking/smoking is so important : it helps in accumulating capital and, slowly, make things better for yourself and your children.
That is the problem.
Trust me, I don’t think you want to live in a world where the rich and the poor trade places too quickly. There is no stability in that type of world, and it smells more of luck and random happenstance than any actual ability or appropriate risk/reward. Revolutions, civil wars and other great social upheavels tend to do such things. None are great places to live.
Rather than going from poor to Top 5 (a pretty lofty goal given how well off the Top 5 is in America compared to most places) why not consider poor to middle class (which would be rich in most countries), a much more achieveable and realistic goal.
Looking at this, one finds that 60% of households in the lowest income quintile in 1999 moved to a higher quintile by 2007 – 8 short years and more than half of the poorest in the country had enhanced their circumstances. About 1/3 of the lowest quintile moved to … the middle quintile or higher. Rags to riches may be hard, but climbing the ladder and the American Dream is very much alive.
My stats come from the IRS, CBO and this link:
http://reason.com/archives/2012/01/12/for-richer-and-for-poorer
Well there Wirbelwind, why is it easier to move into the top in Canada, or Europe as compared to America?
Is it that we non-Americans actually took the dream to heart, or is it that Americans were duped?
You tell me.
BTW, Tom provided you some of the evidence. Here’s the money quote:
“By international standards, the United States has an unusually low level of
intergenerational mobility: our parents’ income is highly predictive of our incomes
as adults. Intergenerational mobility in the United States is lower than in France,
Germany, Sweden, Canada, Finland, Norway and Denmark. Among high-income
countries for which comparable estimates are available, only the United Kingdom
had a lower rate of mobility than the United States.”
Now why do you figure that is?
What is the American Dream? During the 16th century the American Dream was freedom from oppression. The early settlers coming from Europe were seeking a place for a new beginning. These settlers sought a place where they could live their lives in a manner of their own choosing. Residents of this newly found land struggled mightily simply to survive. Living under the oppression of the King of England for over two hundred years reinforced the dream of freedom from oppression. During the 18th century the American Dream – Freedom from Oppression – was the fuel that fed the flames of revolution. A new nation was born from the oppression that fed the American Dream.
During the 19th century this dream continued to be a driving factor in determining the fate of this nation and her citizens as the country was split in two by civil war. Wealthy land owners primarily in the south desired to maintain their slave labor force. Other forces posited that all men were created equal and that no man shall own another as property. These issues led to a divide over whether the individual states should possess the power to decide this and other issues from within its own borders or whether the nation of states united as one shall have a common standard. The leaders of several states dreamed of freedom from the oppression of a central government which wanted a one-size-fits-all solution to the issues of slave ownership and states’ rights.
Although the American Dream was freedom from oppression, that dream was not easily achievable. The forces who held the power (money) desired to maintain that power. To this subset of society more was better and often the ends justified the means. The industrial might of the Northern states overcame the revolt of the Southern states and slavery was abolished. The nation now had one standard – there shall be no slavery. The absolution of slavery in our nation did not bring about an end to the oppression. Jim Crow laws kept the former slaves under the oppressive “thumb” of the power holders. Black Americans and other minority races, Native Americans, women, the under-educated, and physically/emotionally restricted individuals were generally treated, at best, as second-class citizens.
By the beginning of the 20th century the American public was beginning to be more educated than previous generations. By mid-century two world wars had developed the nation into an industrial powerhouse. A middle class was beginning to develop and grow as moderately skilled workers had high paying factory jobs. Home ownership was on the rise. The American Dream began to look more like “Keep up with the Joneses”. Everyone was urged to own as much material good as their neighbor.
In the Presidential campaign of 1927, Herbert Hoover made a variety of optimistic statements, such as, “the slogan of progress is changing from the full dinner pail to the full garage,” and “given a chance to go forward with the policies of the last eight years, and we shall soon with the help of God be in sight of the day when poverty will be banished from this Nation,” but Hoover never promised “a chicken in every pot.”
The vast majority of Americans had enough food in the cupboards and pantries. The American Dream began to adjust to an evolving society; more was better. Soon garages were larger than an average home of only two generations previous. The natural mutation of this dream was to “Become the Joneses”. Keeping up with the Jones and ultimately becoming the Jones satisfied the original American Dream to be free from oppression for an ever increasing segment of the American population. However, there were still several sub-sets of the American populace that were not enjoying the American Dream. Members of these sets were not motivated by the materialistic forces of the general population, but the American Dream for these people was freedom from oppression as manifested by justice and equality for all.
Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, and many other social activists brought to the nation’s consciousness an awareness of the oppression suffered by many at the hands of the few. As a result of the efforts of these social change agents, a cultural revolution occurred. The concept of equal rights for blacks, women, disabled, and other marginalized groups was becoming the new way of life. Still there were those who opposed the changes that society was undertaking. They desired to maintain a culture of oppression of others. Even today, there are forces that desire to oppress others. Many do not actively support the human rights of minority populations.
Before the 21st century got underway, the American Dream experienced yet another evolutionary adjustment. The dream was split by three branches of ideology: (A) the few shall hold dominion over the many, (B) own enough to become happy, and (C) E. Pluribus Unum. Each of these forces can trace their lineage back to oppression. Those who hold dominion reach the dream of freedom from being oppressed by being the oppressor; those who are oppressed dream of obtaining freedom from oppression through social change.
So in the end, the more the American Dream changes, the more it remains the same. The American Dream, as I see it, is and always has been, to be free from oppression. However, to be free from the oppression of others, we must each have the freedom to identify how we want to achieve freedom from oppression. Some will choose to become free from oppression by becoming oppressors themselves, some will continue to struggle living under the force of oppression while dreaming of better days, and some will seek a society where there is no need for oppression.
As long as success is measured by the accumulation of wealth and power there will always be oppression. When the forces of oppression are replaced with equality and justice for all in a land of one people united for the common good the American Dream will surely die. The American Dream to be free from oppression is alive and well in America because there are still Americans who are oppressed.
The “American Dream” has morphed from being middle class to the equally unattainable hitting the lotto or becoming a pro athlete. You are either rich or dirt poor with a nearly non-existent middle class. It’s a 1 or a 0.
You can work hard all you want, but the only thing you’ll have to show for it is a worn-out body – and no healthcare to replace every worn-out joint.