One of the most prominent concepts in the United States is “The American Dream”. The idea of the American Dream, of course, is that any individual has the capability of obtaining what they desire through hard work and perseverance. Implicit in this idea is the concept that the only one’s determination and biological capacities may act as a constraint on personal fulfillment. By extension, the social environment cannot restrain the individual.
The idealized version of the American Dream presents the idea that one is capable of absolute fulfillment. However, the very concept of absolute fulfillment often entails the subordination of another individual. To explain this subordination away we consider the actions of the subordinate as inferior to those of the superordinate. In this way, we see that the concept of “hard work” is not an absolute quality, but a relative one. Considering this and the idea that one’s work corresponds to the fruits of their labor, it is apparent that fulfillment also exists as a relative quality.
From this idea, we may derive the image of the population engaged in a constant struggle with one another for limited resources. Yet, there are a multitude of other factors, which operate to complicate/soften this image. We may consider the perception of status set fourth by Weber as consisting of qualities beyond class, namely: status and party. In this conception, there are various ways of asserting one’s high position on the social hierarchy, which do not necessarily correspond to economic wealth. Moreover, we can consider the role of comparisons across time. We may compare our current conditions with those of our ancestors as a means of seeing progress. As each of these processes suggest, there are a multitude of strategic ways of positioning our bodies as having a relatively great value. In the next blog, I hope to expand upon this theoretical basis, and lend some life to this claim.
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