Social Mobility and the American Dream

As a personal opinion, I do not believe that social mobility is something we have very much of here in the United States of America. We have the opportunity to move up and down the social class ladder, but it doesn't happen very often. Then the question of hard work and money come along, does hard work really influence your financial status. And to this question I would also say no. There are so many families out there that work hard just to have a meal before them at dinner time and there are others that work hard to get the CEO promotion and along with that promotion comes money, where as the satisfaction of hunger does not.

In SOURCE C, the students use a reference from The Great Gatsby, the green light represents something that someone strives for. We all strive for something, some of us just haven't found it yet! One quote from SOURCE C is, "I think this American dream is an interpretation of a white, poor man's dream." This is unfortunately true. The American dream is something people always look forward to, but has anyone ever gotten there? I haven't ever heard of anyone saying, "Oh, I have reached the American dream!" No. It is a goal that we continue to strive for. It is a place we will never reach, but it is one of the best motivators out there. We will always have something to look forward to, that is what the American dream is.

When we say hard work do we mean physically or mentally? Or both? That is up to the interpreter, but in my case I would have to say both. You first need to put your mind to it, whatever it may be, then you must physically go out and conquer your goal. In SOURCE E, a profile was done on women whose fathers were doctors, but they went to gain a PhD in history with the aim of teaching at a public university or college. A PhD, they were surprised when they didn't make as much money as their fathers. They put in an equal amount of hard work though...why is that? It depends on multiple factors, which is why hard work and financial status have nothing to do with each other. Each situation is a different circumstance, so we cannot say that the two are related.

SOURCE A focuses on the lives of rich kids. These are the kids that are advancing, because their mom and dad have money to help the advance. I don't think that these kids are understanding how hard work really works. These are the kids that are getting things handed to them. They may be advancing financially, but they aren't getting the chance to work hard on their own. The kids that actually know how to work hard are the ones who have been put in situations where they have had to actually work hard, not the ones who just got it.

Social mobility is something we don't have much of now,but maybe in the near future we may be able to handle. I still and most likely will always believe that hard work and financials aren't always related. This blog was an eye opening one!