When I started my research several years ago I was interested in finding a topic that would enable me to gain a deep insight into Millennials. This generation is interesting because they are the first generation in America that are digital natives. They grew up taking the Internet for granted because they did not know what life was like before the Internet. They are also the largest, most ethnically diverse, and on tract to be the most college educated generation in American history. One area of interest was the generational voice and generational identity that Millennials were developing. It is unclear whether generational voice and generational identity are phenomena that a demographic group consciously sets out to create, or whether economic, social and political forces dictate the outcomes. My research was being done in the aftermath of the Great Recession, and at a time when the world was experiencing a rapid pace of technological change, and technological change was impacting every aspect of our lives.

I am returning to the topic of the American Dream because I am trying to find an interpretative tool for the behavior and attitude among the wide toolbox cohort. They do not refer to the American Dream by name, but they speak in terms of working hard, being disciplined in how they spend their time, being conscious of what it takes to be successful. A testament to the self-replicating power of culture is when people are engaging in behavior or holding beliefs that are self-evident without consciously doing so. In some respects this is how the American Dream is omnipresent among the wide toolbox cohort.

The wide toolbox cohort possesses a strong sense of positive expectations about the future. Evan, a junior cognitive science major whom I have cited before, said that he is keenly interested in taking classes and engaging in extracurricular activities that are intellectually interesting. His view is that if he stays intellectually curious and pursues interesting opportunities his career plans will in some way become self-evident to him.

Initially, I was interested in whether the Great Recession has awakened Americans to the reality that the American Dream has been under siege by governmental policies regarding taxes and financial deregulation. The metaphor “We Are the 99%,” the mantra of Occupy Wall Street, seemed to signify a change in American attitudes about attainability of their expectations, hopes and aspirations. “We Are the 99%,” symbolizes the generational downward mobility of Millennials; it represents an emerging worldview that encompasses notions about extreme inequalities in income and opportunity in American society. The elephant in the room is that American society is experiencing a profound change in what is required to participate in the American Dream. The old requirement of willingness to work hard and sacrifice in the present for the future has been replaced by a requirement that you possess skills and talents that are in demand in the knowledge economy. 

There is some discussion about erosion of the American Dream. But politicians are being disingenuous when they proclaim that the solution is raising the minimum wage to a so-called “living wage.” They are omitting to say that the American Dream is more elusive than ever. They are failing to state that the bar for participating in the American Dream has been raised and a substantial number of people lack the tools and wherewithal to keep up with the new more stringent requirements.        

“What is emerging, is a sense that that the game is rigged,” stated Isabel Sawhill, an economist at the Brookings Institute (Sawhill 2011). This emerging worldview is significant because belief in the American Dream is a central tenet of American culture and society (Benedict 1934). It is a part of the cultural compass that tells Americans who they are and how they should lead their lives. For more than two centuries, equality of opportunity and upward mobility have formed the foundation of the American Dream (Sawhill 2007); it remains at the core of America’s identity.  From an anthropological perspective, the American Dream functions to shape American society; it is a “myth” in the Malinowskian (Malinowski 1926) sense of a “charter for action,” or a retrospective moral pattern of behavior, or a charter conveying assumptions, values, and meaning about how to live (Wedel et al. 2005). 

What is true of myth is also true of metaphor: it is through language, as symbolic action, that people are able to size up and control-or if not control, at least cajole their natural, social, and supernatural environment (Sapir 1977:x). The American Dream is also a metaphor.  It symbolizes a national ethos in which freedom includes the opportunity for spiritual fulfillment and material prosperity and success, and an upward mobility achieved through hard work and effort. The American Dream also signifies one’s expectations about the future.  

If Sawhill is correct that the game is rigged, the wide toolbox cohort is in an advantageous position because they are preparing themselves by acquiring modern skills and knowledge. Also, they are acquiring the toolsets that will enable them to build the future that they want and deserve.