Several months ago, Filipe was kind enough to invite me to this blog. For a variety of reasons (mostly related to very little free time), I kept on delaying my 'effective entry' here. But I guess 'late is better than never'. Since I think I am clearly more leaned to the left of the political axis than Filipe, it's quite likely we'll often disagree (which, from my point of view is entirely positive).
Getting on to the post itself (the graph was taken from here, by the way), the message is really quite simple: why is it that we keep talking of an "american dream" if, in reality, among developed countries, it shows such a low level of social mobility and such a high level of income inequality? Is there any way to reconcile these two basic facts with such a "dream" (I wasn't able to do so)? Isn't such a "dream" more likely to be fulfilled in Scandinavia than in the USA?
From a leftist point of view (and for anyone aiming for anything close to "equality of opportunities"), I guess there are not really many doubts: if we must emulate another society we would be better served by looking north(east) rather than across the Atlantic.
Update: very basic question, Filipe: I had broken down the post in three paragraphs, any idea why they vanished?
Monday 18 October 2010
The myth of the American Dream
Several months ago, Filipe was kind enough to invite me to this blog. For a variety of reasons (mostly related to very little free time), I kept on delaying my 'effective entry' here. But I guess 'late is better than never'. Since I think I am clearly more leaned to the left of the political axis than Filipe, it's quite likely we'll often disagree (which, from my point of view is entirely positive).
Getting on to the post itself (the graph was taken from here, by the way), the message is really quite simple: why is it that we keep talking of an "american dream" if, in reality, among developed countries, it shows such a low level of social mobility and such a high level of income inequality? Is there any way to reconcile these two basic facts with such a "dream" (I wasn't able to do so)? Isn't such a "dream" more likely to be fulfilled in Scandinavia than in the USA?
From a leftist point of view (and for anyone aiming for anything close to "equality of opportunities"), I guess there are not really many doubts: if we must emulate another society we would be better served by looking north(east) rather than across the Atlantic.
Update: very basic question, Filipe: I had broken down the post in three paragraphs, any idea why they vanished?
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Thank you for this post. It confirms something I've suspected for a while: that "the American dream" is a reminiscence of a time long gone (early 20th century). It's a cultural myth, like the enlightenment of all of the founding fathers (even if some truly were enlightened).
ReplyDeleteCould you tell me though how the indicator for social mobility was calculated?