The Routledge Handbook on the American Dream
Volume 1
Mitja Sardoč editor Robert Hauhart editor
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Taylor & Francis Ltd
Published:23rd Aug '21
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
What do we mean by the American dream? Can we define it? Or does any discussion of the phrase end inconclusively, the solid turned liquid—like ice melting? Do we know whether the American dream motivates and inspires or, alternately, obscures and deceives? The Routledge Handbook on the American Dream offers distinctive, authoritative, original essays by well-known scholars that address the social, economic, historical, philosophic, legal, and cultural dimensions of the American dream for the twenty-first century. The American dream, first discussed and defined in print by James Truslow Adams’s The Epic of America (1931), has become nearly synonymous with being American. Adams’s definition, although known to scholars, is often lost in our ubiquitous use of the term. When used today, the iconic phrase seems to encapsulate every fashion, fad, trend, association, or image the user identifies with the United States or American life. The American dream’s ubiquity, though, argues eloquently for a deeper understanding of its heritage, its implications, and its impact—to be found in this first research handbook ever published on the topic.
This collection from editors Hauhart (Saint Martin’s Univ.) and Sardoc (Educational Research Institute, Slovenia) compiles 19 scholarly essays that consider the American dream from sociological and political perspectives. Collectively, the authors seek to define the dream as both a concept and an ideology and examine its relevance in the lives of different Americans and those in other nations. They agree that the dream refers to the persistent cultural and historical myth of the US as the land of hope, equality, freedom, and economic and political optimism that can lead to personal well-being and a good life. Essays focus on Americans who are exemplars of dream seekers including individuals from rural areas, LGBTQ youth, and Asian and Latinx Americans. Authors also discuss the impact of crime and migration. The American dream, defined differently for different groups and different times, seems out of reach for many who believe in it. Roadblocks to achieving the dream include individual expectations and the lack of equal opportunity based on race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, geography, poverty, and immigration status. The book lacks sufficient discussion of African Americans who have historically been denied equal opportunity to achieve the American dream. References follow each essay.
Summing Up:
★★ Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty; professionals.
—D. A. Lincove, emeritus, Ohio State University
ISBN: 9780367895990
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: 453g
298 pages