Chasing the American Dream: Understanding What Shapes Our Fortunes

Inequality and lopsided wealth distribution are quickly becoming the explanations for what ails today's United States. For many the antidote is to "'restore the American dream," i.e., create pathways to affluence and wealth. Here Rank (Herbert S. Hadley Professor of Social Welfare, Washington Univ. in St. Louis), Thomas A. Hirschl (sociology, Cornell Univ.), and Kirk A. Foster (social work, Univ. of South Carolina) offer a timely and intriguing perspective on the contours of these paths. Using survey data, economic indicators, and case studies, they look at what people mean when they talk about opportunity. The authors employ academic research to uncover the substance behind the Horatio Algeresque idea that one can rise from rags to riches. But the book does not rest only on these questions: it focuses closely enough to further examine how the concept is actually lived by people. The authors highlight the importance of not just material markers but also psychological traits such as hope and optimism as components of favorable circumstances. The disconnect between rhetoric and reality is what the authors call "the American Paradox:" the idea that collectively we call for a chance for all but often provide it in unequal measure.