Social Mobility Confusion: The Battle for the American Dream

In his 1931 book, The Epic of America, James Truslow Adams coined one of the most enduring definitions of the American Dream, asserting that it “is that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for every man and woman, with opportunity for each according to his ability or achievement.”

The promise of America, in other words, is a meritocracy, in which no person is held back by their immutable characteristics or by accident of birth.

Although not without its flaws, this vision and promise created an environment ripe for free enterprise and a culture of entrepreneurship, leading to some of the fastest and most dramatic increases in wealth, living standards, and overall prosperity that the world has ever known.

Now this once venerated understanding of the term’s meaning is in peril.

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