Lazerson,

Marvin. Higher Education and The American Dream. Central European

University Press, 2010. eBook. <https://muse-jhu-

edu.librarylink.uncc.edu/books/9786155211911>

Marvin Lazerson is a professor at Central European University in the
Department of Public Policy. His other books are on the areas of educational
history, higher education, and social policy. These include American
Education in the Twentieth Century, An Education of Value, Higher Education
and The American Dream, and Origins of the Urban School.

This is a book and a secondary source, as the author did not experience
everything he talks about first hand. However, in his first chapter he gives
some of his own experiences within his education journey.

This book talks about how higher education such as universities are seen as
the only way to achieve the American dream and are in fact the base for
success. Lazerson explores the question How many educated people can
society afford? and dives deeper into Americas culture for aspiration.
Lazerson discusses how higher education came to be so big after World War
II and why. He looks at gender and race when it comes to college attendants
and graduates. It seems that his definition of the American dream and
success has a lot to do with the search for money in a good job field.

This relates to my topic because it explores how societys perception of

success has changed since World War II and how obsessed America is with
higher education. It defines what the American Dream has become and what
this means for generations looking for stable jobs in the economy.

REFLECTION:
This book focuses on what role education plays in success. Other authors
ideas mention the idea of education but dont go into as much depth as
Lazerson does. So this book as a specific topic it focuses on while the others
are more broad and general.

I think in my essay I would break down different aspects of the American
Dream or different factors in which to achieve the American Dream and I
would use this source when talking about how important education is in our
society. The author does provide references so maybe if I get stuck or need
more information on this subject I could take a look at those.

Chapter One is based on his personal experience in the education system so
that could be a bit of an opinion. But he does provide academic support for
the rest of his ideas including experimentation.
This article provides a general overview on the topic of education in America,
but is specific when it comes to how it relates to success and the American

Dream. He also takes a specific look on race and gender in American

Universities.

The writing style of this book is formal and very educated. At times it was
hard for me to even understand certain words or ideas. I believe future
educators and politicians are the intended audience but also students who
are looking into whether or not they should go to college.

Starks, Brian. THE NEW ECONOMY AND THE AMERICAN DREAM: Examining the
Effect of Work Conditions on Beliefs about Economic Opportunity. The
Sociological Quarterly. 2003. Article.
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com.librarylink.uncc.edu/doi/10.1111/j.1533-
8525.2003.tb00555.x/epdf

Brian Starks is a Professor of Sociology at Kennesaw State University and has
published in multiple top peer-reviewed journals such as Journal for the
Scientific Study of Religion. He focuses mostly on the subject of religion but
has also looked at other sociological issues including politics.

This is a Secondary Source:
This article explains how Starks will look at two different hypotheses to
understand workers beliefs of the American Dream. The first approach is
towards sociologically advantaged individuals and the second is towards

the underdogs. He first defines what the American Dream is in todays

society towards the economic side of the scale. He finds pessimism within
every group, but more so with the less privileged. He specifically looks at
individuals living in Indiana.

Since Ive discovered that the economy and workforce has a lot to do with the
idea of the American Dream this article helps me look at individuals views
on the idea. Starks has a survey and does a lot of his own research into
different types of workers in his surrounding community.

REFLECTION:
This article is also Starks research and evidence to his claims. This is what
makes it different than the other sources I have. He also focuses on the
difference between privileged and non-privileged. The similarities are that
the idea of the American Dream in this article is based on economic success.

I would use this information as a form of evidence towards the claim that
privileged people have it easier when it comes to succeeding in America and
that someones background does have an influence on their opinion of the
American Dream. Starks provides lots of academic support and his own
research experiment as evidence.

I believe the text starts out with his own opinion and theory on what he will
find after his experiment, but the rest shows supporting evidence of his
conclusion. He also gives history on others experiments and findings on the
American Dream.

This is a very specific article as it focuses on a certain group of people in
Indiana. Although individuals are different, he only focused on people in his
community and not the entirety of the state or even the nation.

I think other sociologists are the targets of this article. If youre constantly
wondering how people think of society around them or how their actions
reflect that you might be interested in this. Corporations and Politicians in
America might be interested to look at his data in order to make statements
about how they can change the peoples view on America. The text didnt
really change my thinking on the topic but it was interesting to see that
everyone regardless of race and area of work is pretty pessimistic on the idea
of the American Dream.

Porter, Gayle. Work Ethic and Ethical Work: Distortions in the American
Dream. Journal of Business Ethics. 2010. Article.
http://link.springer.com.librarylink.uncc.edu/article/10.1007%2Fs10551-
010-0481-6

Gayle Porter is the professor of management at the Rutgers School of

Business and is a former research consultant for several companies,
including General Motors. Her primary research interests relate to both
human and social capital of the organization. She has 39 total publications.

This is a Secondary Source:
The author of this article discusses economic progress in the United States
and how a specific work ethic in which hard work is considered the path to
both immediate and future rewards. She goes into depth about how the
United States economic success is due to capitalism and democracy, which
contributes to our desire for material goods. This is our culture. The author
gives us six messages that the U.S tells people what they need to do in order
to achieve and then gives contradictions, exaggerations, and distortions of
each of these messages. She explains how the U.S government has promoted
the belief of opportunity for all by public education and how the underlying
premise is that education is the means to betterment in the U.S and how we
as a society need to talk about this more before we reach the point of no
return.

This relates to my topic as it explores the perspective of materialism and how
education plays such a big role in our perceptions of others. She focuses on
the United States itself and the different work ethics that people believe in
order to get ahead or be successful in the eyes of themselves and society.

She explains how the United States basically promotes the American Dream
by promoting its democracy and capitalism.

REFLECTION:
This article focuses on the main idea that capitalism and democracy push
Americans to have distorted views of work ethic and success. She also talks
about how status is a big deal in American society and how that pushes us to
be materialistic. Some things she says that are similar to other authors are
that education plays a big role in our search for success.

I would use this information in my essay by taking her explanations of what
the United States views on success have become and how it tells us to
achieve these things. I would also talk about how work ethic may have
nothing to do with it when it comes to immigrants because a diploma is
needed to move higher up economically. She provides a long list of
references at the end of her article and some that Im going to look into
further.

This is a very generalized overview of the American people; because of
course not everyone thinks this way. But I believe she is speaking for the
majority of people who currently live in America.

Gayle Porter writes in a very formal way but I believe that she explains
everything so well that anyone could be the audience. Clearly she wants to
get the message across to people living in the United States that this is how
you can be successful in the eyes of America and this is why its come to this.

Kamp, David. Rethinking the American Dream. Vanity Fair. 2009. Article.
http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2009/04/american-
dream200904

This is an Internet source. I found this Vanity Fair article through a Google
search.

In the introduction I think it gives a short but sweet synopsis by saying the
author shows how the American Dream came to mean fame and fortune,
instead of the promise that shaped the nation. This article was written after
the recession and quotes Obama when he talks about the reversal of the
American Dream. The article discusses two major literary sources that
started the concept of what makes American different than other countries.
These are The Declaration of Independence and The Epic of America by James
Truslow Adams. The author goes back in time and explains what America
was like when it was just beginning to be its own country. Over time, the
meaning shifted and reflected the hopes and dreams of each generation. The
author goes through what the American Dream was defined as when

different presidents were in office. The author then states their opinion that
we need to challenge some of the middle-class behaviors that have brought
us to this point. The American Dream should require hard work, but it should
not require 80-hour workweeks and parents who never see their kids from across
the dinner table.

This relates to my topic because it delves deeper into how Americans think
success is defined through the American Dream through different decades and
generations. The author uses his personal opinion (which I think is an opinion that
many others have) that we as Americans should be able to achieve whatever we
want and not have standards pushed on us.

REFLECTION:
This article talks about specific time periods in which the author thinks the
American Dream has changed. He quotes former presidents and gives us two
different sources in which he believes started the through process of the American
Dream. Its similar to other things Ive read in telling the audience that our ideals
and views of happiness and success have changed with time.

The author uses quotes from influential people and references The Declaration of
Independence, and a book written in 1936. I would probably go take a look at the
Declaration of Independence and maybe this book to get some ideas of how
America started off promising certain things for its people.

I think this is more of an opinion article as everything the author states is based on
the idea that the way in which we try to reach our goals today is going too far. He
provides evidence on how things have changed over time, but no evidence that
Americas views today arent good. I think its an opinion to say that the way the
general population of American lives today is bad when maybe for some people it
can be a good thing.

This article is definitely generalized but does provide specific information and
quotes from others.

This article is written in informal language and is written for people who have a
sense of the economy. I especially think it is for folks who are middle-aged as it
references how things have changed throughout his lifetime and others like him
can relate to this. Im not sure it changed my thinking on the topic, but it helped
me understand the viewpoint that this is negative. I think I want to find a piece
that says the modern American Dream is a positive thing. I think this will be
difficult to find, but its how our society does things, but thinks differently about
it. I think people do one thing and say another.

Samuel, Lawrence. The American Dream: A Cultural History. Syracuse University
Press. 2012. Book. https://muse-jhu-
edu.librarylink.uncc.edu/books/9780815651871


Lawrence Samuel is an American cultural historian and the founder of
Culture Planning LLC which s a resource offering cultural insight to Fortune
500 companies. He writes for the blog Psychology Today and has appeared
on multiple media outlets such as NPR. Hes written a multitude of other
books on the broad subject on culture in America.

This is a Secondary Source:
Wow, this book completely delves into what the American Dream is. The
author asks if it has been just a dream the entire time or has had points in
time where it has become reality. This is a narrative of the American Dream
since 1931. He explains how it is an active role in who we are and what we do
in our daily lives. He takes a look at the framework of the idea throughout
history and asks others what they think it means to them. Although I
skimmed through some chapters, each one discusses different eras of the
American Dream to which he eventually comes to a conclusion with more
questions to be answered. Although he does state that we cant deny the
impact it has on Americans and the nation as a whole. In his conclusion he
also talks about how people take it too seriously and not just as a dream or
ideal anymore.

This relates to my topic because its basically just an overview of the
American Dream and how much of an impact its had on our nation for the

past 80 years. It really helped me understand the background and impact of

this Dream.

REFLECTION:
The book focuses on specific moments in history when the idea of the
American Dream changed, how it began, and how much of an impact it had
on the nation at different time periods. He looks at it as an ideology instead of
something that comes straight from the Declaration of Independence. Its
different from all of my other sources in that it looks at American culture and
isnt just focused on materialism. He shows how different movements
throughout time have come to be because of this idea.

Im not sure if there are any references that there are worth following as this
book provides a majority of the information that I need. I would use this
information to provide a base idea in my essay and use it to help form my
own opinion on this topic.

The article appears to be largely based on academic research; specifically on
the culture and history of America. I can tell that the author knows what hes
talking about and doesnt once give his opinion on the subject.

This article is generalized and specific at the same time. Overall it provides
general information on the American Dream but then each chapter focuses
on a specific part of it. He offers very specific evidence to support his claims.

The intended audience seems to be people who are interested in the history
of this idea. I think students who study history should read this. Im not a
history major but it helped me understand specifics that they didnt teach me
in high school on how the idea of the American Dream has formed over time.
It really did help me understand the topic better. Its weird how you can
learn so much about something while you arent in a class that focuses on it.

Obama Barack. You Didnt Build That. 2012. Speech.
http://radio.foxnews.com/2012/07/26/president-obamas-you-didnt-build-
that-transcript/
Barack Obama is currently the President of the United States. Need I say
more?

This is a Primary Source:
Obama gives a short speech summarizing that successful Americans didnt
get to where they are on their own. He gives credit to teachers or someone
that helped create this unbelievable American system that we have that
allowed you to thrive. He claims that we succeed because we do things
together.

This relates to my topic because Obama is saying that you by yourself cant
achieve the American Dream and I think thats important to look at because
the other articles talk about how the government has set up and promoted
systems for people to achieve their goals.

REFLECTION:
Obama states that success is not an individual thing but all of the other
articles or books have stated that Americans way of thinking is selfish and
people try to succeed alone by working hard. I think Obama thinks that
working hard is a part of it, but that we all need a support system as well.

That support system could be government supplements or resources.
This is my last source for this annotated bibliography but I want to add more
on and look at how to become successful type books. I think that this
speech puts a government view on the context of success and not just from
the people or researchers.

I believe this is the individuals opinion. There isnt really any supporting
evidence except for what I can only imagine to be his personal experiences. I
do think opinions are important though because it shows that not everyone
thinks about something in the same exact way. Even if its the majority way
to think.

This is very generalized. This speech was given to America as a whole. Hes
speaking to the American people about the American people. But hes only
speaking about a general population of the American people. A lot of people
dont consider themselves wealthy and successful. I think it helped me
understand a more political point of view but also an individual point of view
from someone who is seen in the public eye as largely successful. I wonder if
he thinks of himself as achieving the American Dream.