Has the American Dream changed Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Has the American Dream changed - Essay Example under the American Dream dogma is that the aforementioned benefits of being an American are available to anyone, regardless of where they hail from, and are distributed according to a person’s motivations and unique talents and abilities (Library of Congress 1). The conception of the American Dream has changed significantly from the 1960s to today, as what constitutes success and happiness, as well as freedom, is now underpinned by new social, professional and economic ambitions which were not dominant needs or ambitions in 1960s society. In the 1960s, the American Dream, as iterated by the venerated Martin Luther King, Jr., were the achievement of social equality and freedom from various types of oppression that were guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution that all men are created equal (Armitage 16). During the 1960s, it was not just African-Americans being oppressed, but many diverse ethnic groups and population subsets (for example homosexuals) that continued to be socially ostracized by other members of majority society. The American Dream, therefore, for those living in the 1960s, was ensuring achievement of true liberty and putting an end to social subjugation for failing to comply with the norms of society which asserted that being different from the majority was an opportunity to dominate and oppress. In today’s America, my personal American Dream is the achievement of wealth through self-governance of lifestyle and profession which underlines the ability to maintain a better quality of life. More wealth, from my perspective, brings opportunities for travelling, living in a top quality home, and procuring products and services that enhance one’s image, both physically and socially. In the 1960s, King saw the American Dream as ending the plight of â€Å"disinherited children of God† who were rising up to bolster the American Dream as related to â€Å"the most sacred values in our Judeo-Christian heritage† (Kloppenberg 147). Further reasserting the 1960s