Wyatt-Nicol: The American Dream

The American Dream is an ideal that has been part of the backbone of the United States since the nation’s conception. Over the past few decades, the American Dream has evolved, but it is still a prevalent force in American society. Stories of class ascendancy are deeply ingrained into American culture, and often, these very stories inspire foreigners to immigrate to the United States. Scholars agree that the ideal of the American Dream encourages rootlessness and restlessness in the United States; however, only some argue that it is a realistic and attainable dream. Others claim that it is a misguided force that depicts upward mobility to be far too easily attainable.

It is largely agreed upon that the American Dream encourages individuals

Jasper and Jan Willem Duyvendak present themselves as optimistic regarding the power and truth of the American Dream, while conceding that individual upward mobility is both difficult and rare (Jasper). On the contrary, Heather Wyatt-Nicol argues that the American Dream is simply a manipulative, unrealistic myth. Wyatt-Nicol provides three bases for this claim: mobility, marginalization, and

This crowding out of issues also increases potential for greater inequality, and institutional isomorphism is largely to blame. Business privilege and coercive isomorphism are commonplace; likewise, “the strength of the American Dream has become more tightly coupled with business interests over the past few decades” (Wyatt-Nicol 266). Mimetic isomorphism, the tendency to imitate successful organizations, has a similar effect on American ideals and values, as well as normative isomorphism. The latter form occurs via professional networks across organizations, which both marginalizes issues of economic disparity and limits the possibility of success among organizations in the nation (Wyatt-Nicol 268). This marginalization can manifest, for example, in segregated housing, whether it be cultural, social, or