What is The American Dream?
Ask a dozen different people to define the American Dream and you will likely receive a dozen different answers.
Most people do seem to be able to define a version of it for themselves. The paradox arises only because the symbols of the American Dream are not the dream any more than a diploma is an education or a wedding ring is a marriage.
To understand the American Dream in its fullness, we must look beyond its symbols and examine the conditions that make it possible, the aspirations that give it meaning, and the mindset that shapes its pursuit.
While no framework can fully capture something as personal and evolving as the American Dream, a 3–3–1 framework offers one way to explore it.
The framework rests upon three foundations that make it possible, rises through three pillars that give it shape, and is guided by a uniquely American mindset that influences how people pursue it.
Together, these offer one way to think about what James Truslow Adams may have meant when he described the American Dream as a better, richer, and fuller life.
The 3-3-1 Framework
The foundations are the distinct American conditions that make the dream possible:
- Freedom is the ability to think, speak, believe, and choose one’s own path without undue interference from others or the state.
- Equal Opportunity is the ability to pursue one’s aspirations without discrimination and to advance according to one’s own capabilities, effort, and talents.
- Dignity of labor is the recognition that all honest work has value and deserves respect, regardless of status, prestige, or pay.
These foundations form the ground upon which achievement stands. They enable a society where individuals are free to pursue their own path where rights are viewed as God-given rather than granted by government, and where honest work is worthy of dignity and respect regardless of how much it pays.
Upon these foundations stand the three pillars of the American Dream:
- Prosperity is the ability to improve one’s condition, develop one’s talents, and build a better life.
- Belonging is the ability to form lasting relationships, put down roots, and become part of a community.
- Purpose is about the opportunity to devote oneself to something meaningful, whether through family, faith, work, community, or service to others, however small or grand.
Prosperity, belonging, and purpose reinforce one another. The question is not whether they exist, but whether we are cultivating them intentionally to create the balance that feels right to us.
This is why the American Dream cannot be reduced to a paycheck or riches. A mansion isolated in the middle of a desert is not exactly what we imagine when we picture our future. We don’t imagine success while being completely alone. No parent dreams only of accumulating wealth; they dream of seeing their children flourish.
As we saw in the chapter that outlined the paradox of achievement, what people truly desire is prosperity, connection, and contribution.
The final component is the American mindset which makes the pursuit of the dream unique.
A Pew survey conducted globally found that Americans are generally the most optimistic people in the world. They tend to believe that individuals possess the ability to improve their circumstances no matter their current standing, and that tomorrow can (or will) be better than today.
This optimism is not naïve. Americans do understand that luck, timing, family circumstances, connections, health, and countless other factors influence success. Life is rarely a simple equation in which effort alone determines outcomes. Yet, the core American mindset is to avoid being defined by things that cannot be controlled. We have traditionally believed that hard work and a pursuit that aims to find a way around external obstacles remain among the most important ingredients of success.
This mindset is central to the American Dream and makes it unique.
This 3-3-1 framework of foundations, pillars, and mindset is not just a reinvention of the American Dream, but a return to it.
That’s because the American dream was never solely about becoming richer. It was about building a better and fuller life than the previous generation had the opportunity to live.
Next Chapter: The American Foundations
Previous Chapter: A Vision of the American Dream