White Collar Crime Social Interaction & Conflict Theory

The American dream exists because everybody has a dream of what they want, or what they want to achieve. Americans achieve success through achieving their goals. The American dream is what gives people hope; it allows them to work hard to achieve happiness, and all the things that come with it. Like gaining all the things you want and need in life (Warshauer). The American dream is a big part of America’s culture. The American dream is based on the freedom of the people to pursue their goals through hard work and free chance (Malone). Maybe the American dream doesn’t exist maybe there was no American dream to start with. The American dream is dead for the majority of America” say’s financial guru Suze Orman, she believes that the dream of one day owning your own home and working one job till you retire, well and being able to retire will one day be crushed. Orman says we are on a road leading to poverty and there are no roads coming off of it. This is the end of the American dream some say “it has been sold” says (DCraig), but it’s the start of a new American Dream. The new American dream deals with responsibility, quality, ethics, and creativity while money takes its new place as a means.

But the American dream changes and changes in the 20th century, the American Dream was summarized as “a single family house in the suburbs with a white picket fence around it,” (Leinberger). So the American dream changes with time, as the world changes so does the American dream. The us bureau of labor stats that out of 100 people that started working when they were 25, by the age of 65, 1 percent are wealthy, 4 percent have retired, 3 percent are still working, 63 percent are dependent on social security and charity,29 percent are dead.

This represents real people who will most likely never make it to the top. This says that only 5% of the people you see will be finically successful. The worst thing about the American dream is that people would rather be rich and miserable than poor and happy. “I once said that at a party, and a woman about my age said, “Well sure I would. If I was rich, I could make myself happy. ” “Nope,” I replied. “That’s not the deal: You can either be rich and miserable, or poor and happy. Period. So which is it? ” She thought about it for several seconds. “I’d rather be rich. “ Said Francis Hare That’s the problem with the American Dream. It used to be that a person with good work ethic could become anything they wanted and be happy with it. Now it’s about all the money you can make how much you have and you social class. (Hare) Another way to achieve the American dream is through education; education is the key to success, if you don’t have the proper education it’s not likely for a person to succeed in life (Stone). If there is an American dream which means, people pursuing their dreams, then why is the unemployment rate so high?

The answer to that question is that the American dream has changed in some people’s eyes. The opinion I share is that the American dream has always existed in Americans dreams hence the “American Dream”. I think it is what people dream of having which varies from person to person, no one person has the same dream. It also changes from time to time; as new things come out people want them. Most of all people are losing sight of the American dream all they want is money and an easy was to get it, most people are trying to achieve their American dream the easy way through lawsuits or the lottery (Warshauer).

So I do think the American dream varies depending on the person. I can see why people think the American dream doesn’t exist. Since there is really no definition for the American Dream or you can’t really put your finger on what it actually is. Lorie A. Johnson says the American dream is getting farther and farther out of reach. Today, people cannot afford to buy a home; people are spending their money on other things to find happiness. But Lorie A. Johnson says that “in order to be truly happy, Americans need to reject the false American dream and create their own vision of happiness”. Johnson) But the real question is does the American dream still exist? The answer to this question is there is no answer, because it only exists in the people that believe in it and it’s also different from person to person. The American dream only exists in the people that believe in the American dream. For the people that still believe in the American dream, it gives hope of success in their life. For the people that don’t believe in the American dream, they are now slaves to their jobs don’t have goals to achieve.

Which makes it harder and harder to believe there is an American Dream? (Malone). The American dream can be said to be many things but one this for sure is that it is not gone. It just changes with the time, if America is still around so will the American dream no matter how bad the economy gets. The American dream is definitely still alive and kicking people just need to know that, the American dream is whatever their dream is or whatever they want to accomplish.