AMERICAN DREAM
The American dream is dead. Replaced by something new, something that is the product of what was considered the American Dream to the generations that came before us. The idea of the nuclear family, living in a house with a yard and a white picket fence. A garage to park your American vehicle. A son and daughter who are seen but not heard, and a wife to make it all run smoothly.
A lot of these ideas today seem out of date, and it’s because they are. But apart from the societal evolution that has made us view our dreams in a new light, there have been changes in the economy, political infrastructure, and entertainment that have made us reevaluate our priorities.
The America that Baby Boomers yearn for and have romanticized in their minds is one where you lived a life contrary to the ones being lived today, for better or worse. Most of us would be exchanging one thing for another, so as far as Making America Great Again, one would have to count the wins next to the losses and evaluate for themselves whether or not they would be better off in that kind of world.
We live in a hyper-individualized world today, and for all of its ups, it also comes with its share of downsides. For most people, those will fluctuate and depend on their lifestyle and preferences. One person may have loved to work in a baked beans factory all their life; some would enjoy the stability. Others would miss the chance to truly do whatever it is you want in this life, to go as far or as short as your heart desires.
There are six factors used to study the growth of individualism and its rapid spread amongst our culture. The first is urbanization. In every corner of the United States, people flock to major cities and leave behind the small towns they grew up in. People seek more than they had, and in sprawling urban centres, it feels as though the American dream is possible, whatever that dream may be.
The second factor that was studied is secularism. I have personally been noticing a trend indicating a return to faith for many, including myself. But for many decades, the hip thing to do was to mock religion, whichever one. It was not popular to be pious for a long period of time. Many people hid their religious views the way one might hide their political views; today it seems both are expected dinner conversation.
The socio-economic status of the country is another factor that contributed to the rise in individualism. As the demands of the U.S. economy shifted from the factory to the office, the worker was trained in different ways and to do different things. Employees became more educated and wealthy, both things that influence individuals to express their personalities.
The climate was looked at as well. Few things are as divisive as political topics like climate change. But as Sun Tzu famously said, divide and conquer. The country has not been more divided maybe ever. If ever there was a time to conquer the United States, it would be now, when people have zero interest in fighting for their country or even their countrymen.
In addition to climate change, maybe the next most impactful and the last on the list to be studied is Disease & Disaster. 9/11 brought us the Patriot Act, which stripped Americans of basic freedoms, and the recent pandemic still has people reeling from the societal and medical effects it had. The effects the cure had were almost more dramatic than the plague itself. The resulting damage that it did to families and friendships is likely still being felt to this day.
We live now in a time where there is an ‘I’ in TEAM. So be it. Focus on the only person who cares about you this year. Be a little selfish.
sources
“Society Began Shifting towards Individualism More than a Century Ago | Waterloo News.” Waterloo News, 5 Feb. 2015, uwaterloo.ca/news/news/society-began-shifting-towards-individualism-more-century? Accessed 2 Jan. 2026.