Blog #9: The American Dream Changes, but Never Dies

As college students, we often have simple American Dreams for the time being. Our idea of living the good life is often having enough money for food and going out on the weekends, sleeping until we aren't tired anymore, and passing our classes. But what comes next? When we graduate and launch into our careers, how will our dreams change? Maybe we think we will buy nice houses and fancy cars, or go shopping and be able to buy whatever we want. In reality we will probably not be dreaming of these things. As discussed in John Zogby's chapter in The American Dream in the 21st Century, "Want Meets Necessity in the New American Dream", we will probably find ourselves having less lavish dreams such as making rent, car payments, having food, and other things we need to live.

In this chapter, Zogby talks about the American Dream changing over the years to be more focused on necessities in life, and the reasons for this change. He also explores the idea of Secular Spiritualism, a term used to describe people who believe the American Dream can be fulfilled spiritually instead of materialistically, and how this change from "wants" to "necessities" doesn't have to be a negative view of the American Dream. He evaluates this by looking at people's beliefs based on generational differences.

The claim that stands out the most to me is Zogby's claim that the whole world is changing, there is less money to spend on leisurely goods, therefore the American Dream must adapt, but never die. He first supports this claim with some shocking statistics that in a poll taken by Zogby and his wife in 1987, 21 percent of people said they have gone a whole 24 hours without eating food, and 6.8 percent of these people where middle class Americans! This draws an interesting conclusion that back then, people would rather give up a basic need, food, than adjust their lifestyle. But why would they have to give up food? What changed? Zogby states that "In 1990 one in seven people nationwide reported earning less than they once did"(106). At this time, people seem less willing to adapt the dreams, but as we look forward into new generations, that outlook will change.

Since 1990, people generationally have had less money to live on, which has paved the way for Secular Spiritualism. Why did people all of sudden start believing in the American Dream as a spiritual idea? Interestingly, Zogby proposes that it happened gradually, explaining that those who were once angry about earning less money adapted and accepted new, reduced expectations (Zogby 108). This change happened over generations, all the way from Baby Boomers to us. But why doesn't  this pose a generally negative view of the American Dream or show that the American Dream is dying? I believe that it is because as time goes on, people don't know any different. We have no concept of once having more money than we do, because we weren't alive and working all those years ago to be experiencing it. We base our dreams on not only what is somewhat reasonable for the current economy and job that we want, but what we want out of life. Happiness, love, compassion, faith, security, and more. Zogby explains that a lot of this has to do with generations becoming more open minded and tolerant as time goes on. That's why this change to Secular Spiritualism grows over generations as values change to reflect the state of the world, and why it doesn't give people
a negative view of the American Dream, just a different one than generations past.