Reworking the
American Dream:
Equal Opportunity and Upward
Mobility in a Post-Industrial Era
The American Dream
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Decent wages and benefits
Job security
Home ownership
Middle-class lifestyle
Sense of pride and belonging
Upward mobility for one’s children
Post-war social policies
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Funding and loans for higher education
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Home loans and tax benefits for mortgages
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Regulation of employment opportunities,
wages, and benefits
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Public works projects
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Economic support for those without jobs
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Policies that protect workers’ rights to
unionize
Myths of a classless society
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Equal opportunity for upward mobility
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Erasure of class consciousness and conflict
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Everyone’s middle class
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Sense of entitlement
Since the 1970s:
Redefining the American Dream
Economic Globalization
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Easy movement of financial resources
Communication becomes fast and easy
Transportation makes it easier to move
goods
International divisions of labor
Development of global markets increases
demand
Institutional lag
Geographic Shifts
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Movement of industries
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From cities to suburbs
From northeast to south and west
From U.S. to other countries
Leads to weakening of the economic value of
industrial labor
Deindustrialization
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Undermines the urban northeast
African-American workers especially vulnerable to
economic struggle
Changes in Work
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Loss of manufacturing jobs with high pay and good
benefits
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Growth of service and retail jobs with low pay and poor
benefits
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Growth of part-time, contingent, and multiple
employment
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Many people cannot find work consistent with their
training and abilities
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Unemployment
Work Life vs. Home Life
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Longer hours cut into family life
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Combined hours of work for married couples has increased
by almost 20% in the last 3 decades to almost 70 hours a
week
Women’s “second shift”
Workplace sometimes offers more satisfaction than
home life
Work moves into the home
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Telecommuting
Workers always “available” by phone or e-mail
More Work, Less Pay
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US workers work one full month longer per year
than they did 20 years ago by working more jobs
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Workers in the U.S. work more hours and are
paid less per hour than workers in other
industrialized nations
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Real wages are declining
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Average hourly earnings fell 9% in real terms since
1973 despite productivity gains
A larger share of earnings go
to pay for benefits
80
70
60
Wages
Social security
Retirement
Paid leave
Health care
Other
50
40
30
20
10
0
Percent of earnings
Growing Inequalities
600
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In 1976, the top 10% owned
50% of the wealth; today they
own 70%.
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In 1978-80, the ratio of the
family income of the top 20%
to bottom 20% was 7.4%. In
1998-00, it was 10%.
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According to Business Week,
in 1980 CEOs of the Fortune
500 companies were paid 41
times more than the average
for workers. In 1990, they were
paid 85 times more. In 2000,
531 times more.
500
400
Average
CEO Pay
vs.
Average
Hourly
Worker
300
200
100
0
1980
2000
Changing Composition
of the Workforce
More workers
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Baby boom
Women entering the workforce
Birth control
Economic Need
Feminism
Immigration
Changing demographics
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More educated
Older
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baby boomers age but keep working
Minorities & women gaining access to better jobs
Work in the 21st Century:
Who Works
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The median age of the labor force is rising:
almost 41 by 2008
60% of all women are in the labor force;
75% of all men
20% of married women make more their
husbands
75% of mothers work
Who Works:
Racial Composition of the Workforce
70
60
50
Asian
Hispanic
Black
White
40
30
20
10
0
Percent of Workers
Education and Work
35
30
Less than high
school
High School
graduate, no college
Less than a
Bachelors degree
Bachelors degree
25
20
15
10
More than BA
5
0
Percent of Work Force
Education and Work
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College graduates over 25 make twice as much as
those with high school or less
Earnings of college educated women more than
doubled in last 20 years, but they still earn less
than men
The unemployment rate for men who dropped out
of high school is four times the rate of college
educated men
Some jobs with above-average earnings do not
require a college degree but most require
substantial training
Future trends
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As the population ages, fewer workers will
support more retirees
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Men are tending to stay with one employer for
fewer years; women stay longer
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Temporary help industry growing rapidly
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13 million people work as independent
contractors, temps, contract workers, or on-call
workers
New jobs, Growth industries
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High-tech: computer engineers, computer
support specialists, systems analysts,
database operators, desktop publishing
specialists,
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Health care: personal care and home
health care aides, medical assistants, social
and human service assistants, and
physician assistants
Competing Visions of the
American Dream
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Polarization of America
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New ideas about class
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New nationalism
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Struggle over memory
Polarization
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Income and wealth gap increasing
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New entrepreneurs raise expectations about
success
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Getting rich, not just comfortable
Ever-increasing expectations of consumption
Polarization
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Average Americans are working more and
earning less
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Job security is no longer expected
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Wages and benefits decreasing
Social supports have disappeared
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Reduced funding for education
Privatization of social supports
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Education
Health insurance
Pensions
Welfare reform
Government policies geared to supporting
global corporations rather than people
Class becomes more fluid
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New ways of talking about social groups
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Dot com millionaires
Soccer moms
Working families
Working poor
Underclass
New nationalism
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Loss of “entitlements”
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Economic opportunities
Sense of invulnerability
Safety & personal freedom
Innocence of imperialism
Politics of resentment
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Blaming “others” for economic losses
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Workers in other countries
Global corporations
Resistance to globalization
Struggle over memory
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Nostalgia for “better times”
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Ideals about “American exceptionalism”
Ignores the limitations of the American dream
Expectations of a “better” future
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Every generation should “move up”
Standard of living should keep improving
Is there a future for
the American dream?
“Don’t stop thinking about
tomorrow”