Donald Devine's The Political Culture Of The United States

Literature Review The American Dream can rightfully be viewed as an overarching political ideology (Hochschild 1995, 37). Therefore, unlike much of the past scholarship, we must view it in the broader context of political science literature on values and ideology. The tensions between individualism and egalitarianism inherent in Trustlow’s seminal definition of the American Dream frequently appear in the body of research on values, and due to their seemingly incompatible nature, compel further exploration. In The Political Culture of the United States, Donald Devine (1972, 183) echoes William Mitchell’s argument that “the basic ideas of the American political ‘mind’ received their most explicit statement in the Declaration of Independence.”

He echoes Madison’s belief that political equality is a requisite for liberty; in the absence of political equality, a true democracy cannot exist. However, like Madison, Devine (1972, 203) recognizes that social and economic equality are neither the necessary preconditions for liberty or the guaranteed results of it; he finds that, “in the United States, belief in equality seems to center around belief in equality before the law and, in general, equality in any dealings with government. However, economic and social equality are rejected.” This raises interesting questions about the nature of the American Dream, and opens up a potential cleavage in ideologies; while an individualist would accept political equality as sufficient grounds for individual liberty and a chance to achieve the American Dream, an egalitarian would question one’s abilities to transcend social and economic inequalities to achieve equal success and a fair chance at the American Dream. These differing valuations of egalitarianism in the face of individualism suggest that these values are

He finds that all respondents, regardless of self-identified political affiliation, list freedom as one of their top four values; all of the variation is in regards to their valuation of equality, with liberals ranking equality higher than conservatives and moderates (Rokeach 1973, 181). Feldman’s (1988, 429) conclusion that the “equality scale… is very clearly the most consistent predictor of a wide variety of issues” supports Rokeach’s finding, lending further credibility to the idea that attitudes toward egalitarianism are the main differentiating factor in political ideology. Feldman puts this in concrete terms, finding that, relative to Republicans, Democrats value egalitarianism more and individualism less. This trend was also evident in support for presidential candidates in the 1968 election; supporters of all candidates, from Johnson to Reagan, ranked freedom third, whereas Johnson supporters rated equality fourth and Reagan supporters eleventh (Rokeach 1973, 180). This clearly demonstrates that political ideology, which both stems from and is expressed by the American Dream, plays a significant role in political orientation and support for candidates. It also raises important questions about the relative valuation of these two opposing ideologies amongst Democrats and