Title Facing up to the American dream : race, class, and the soul of the nation / Jennifer L. Hochschild

Published Princeton, New Jersey : Princeton University Press, [1995]

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Description 1 online resource (xx, 412 pages) : illustrations Series Princeton studies in American politics: Historical, international, and comparative perspectives Princeton studies in American politics. Contents What is the American dream? -- Rich and poor African Americans -- "What's all the fuss about?": Blacks' and Whites' beliefs about the American dream -- "Succeeding more" and "under the spell": affluent and poor Blacks' beleifs about the American dream -- Beliefs about one's own life -- Beliefs about others -- Competitive success and collective well-being -- Remaining under the spell -- With one part of themselves they actually believe -- Distorting the dream -- Breaking the spell -- The perversity of race and fluidity of values -- Comparing Blacks and White immigrants -- The future of the American dream Summary The ideology of the American dream--the faith that an individual can attain success and virtue through strenuous effort--is the very soul of the American nation. According to Jennifer Hochschild, we have failed to face up to what that dream requires of our society, and yet we possess no other central belief that can save the United States from chaos. In this compassionate but frightening book, Hochschild attributes our national distress to the ways in which whites and African Americans have come to view their own and each other's opportunities. By examining the hopes and fears of whites and especially of blacks of various social classes, Hochschild demonstrates that America's only unifying vision may soon vanish in the face of racial conflict and discontent. Hochschild combines survey data and vivid anecdote to clarify several paradoxes. Since the 1960s white Americans have seen African Americans as having better and better chances to achieve the dream. At the same time middle-class blacks, by now one-third of the African American population, have become increasingly frustrated personally and anxious about the progress of their race. Most poor blacks, however, cling with astonishing strength to the notion that they and their families can succeed--despite their terrible, perhaps worsening, living conditions. Meanwhile, a tiny number of the estranged poor, who have completely given up on the American dream or any other faith, threaten the social fabric of the black community and the very lives of their fellow blacks. Hochschild probes these patterns and gives them historical depth by comparing the experience of today's African Americans to that of white ethnic immigrants at the turn of the century. She concludes by claiming that America's only alternative to the social disaster of intensified racial conflict lies in the inclusiveness, optimism, discipline, and high-mindedness of the American dream at its best Analysis Ethnic groups Culture United States Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 341-397) and index Notes English Subject African Americans -- Social conditions -- 1975- African Americans -- Economic conditions. Social classes -- United States Social mobility. Alienation (Social psychology) African Americans -- economics Social Mobility Race Relations Social Class Social Alienation social mobility. SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Anthropology -- Cultural. SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Discrimination & Race Relations. SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Minority Studies. SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Sociology -- General. Social mobility Alienation (Social psychology) African Americans -- Economic conditions African Americans -- Social conditions Race relations Social classes Ethnische Beziehungen Soziale Situation Sociale situatie. Sociale integratie. Rassenverhoudingen. Noirs américains -- Conditions sociales -- 1975- ... Noirs américains -- Conditions économiques. Classes sociales -- États-Unis. RACE RELATIONS. ETHNIC AND RACIAL GROUPS. PEOPLE OF AFRICAN DESCENT. ECONOMIC CONDITIONS. SOCIAL CONDITIONS. SOCIAL CLASSES. UNITED STATES. SUBJECT United States -- Race relations. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85140494 United States https://id.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/D014481 Subject United States USA Schwärze États-Unis -- Relations interethniques. Form Electronic book ISBN 9781400821730 1400821738 9786612752261 6612752262 9781282752269 128275226X 9781400812097 1400812097 0691029202 9780691029207

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