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Citation |
Lamont M. Br. J. Sociol. 2019; 70(3): 660-707. |
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Copyright |
(Copyright © 2019, London School of Economics and Political Science, Publisher John Wiley and Sons) |
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DOI |
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PMID |
unavailable |
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Abstract |
With growing inequality, the American dream is becoming less effective as a collective myth. With its focus on material success, competition and self-reliance, the intensified diffusion of neoliberal scripts of the self is leading the upper-middle class toward a mental health crisis while the working class and low-income groups do not have the resources needed to live the dream. African Americans, Latinos and undocumented immigrants, who are presumed to lack self-reliance, face more rigid boundaries. One possible way forward is broadening cultural membership by promoting new narratives of hope centered on a plurality of criteria of worth, ?ordinary universalism? and destigmatizing stigmatized groups. |
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Keywords |
American dream; cultural membership; inclusion; Inequality; narratives; recognition |