Sociological Analysis on the American Dream

Since WWII, Americans were interested and active on the idea of living out of town, in a nice neighborhood, away from the crime and the hustle of the city. People wanted to move out of town, slightly in the country, in the suburbs. The suburbs allowed the rich people of America to get away of the city. From 1946, homes and apartments sprung up all over the outskirts of many American cities. It was a housing boom. Soon to follow was the automobile age, with a boom in automobiles, furnishings, and accessories. The suburbs were not very convenient for commuters who walked or biked, therefore cars became a big hit. With out cars Suburban people could not go anywhere. And to increase car sales, GM actually paid to get rid of the railroads. Functions soon followed as well, such as shopping areas and restaurants. Huge developments were springing up all around the cities, because rich people wanted some nice country living, close enough to still get in the city if they needed to. Oil was cheap and plentiful back then, and we used it up quickly and carelessly. Now, our oil is depleting, and America will have to make drastic changes if they want to survive. The suburban life does not fit into the new urbanism that will be sustainable. Today’s American is engrossed with buying in large quantities, quite often, and this lifestyle will not be available later in life. How has this way of life become? Through sociological studies, it is interesting to understand what drives development and people.

The basic concern of sociology, according to Arthur Berger, is how groups and institutions function. Many sociologist observe public arts and mass media with a concern for human interactions and personal relationships. They study the process of being an individual and becoming a member of society. Emile Durkheim is a sociological theorist who believes that an individual is also a member of society. Everyone has a physical body and personality, therefore we are individual, but we also are social and communicate with people in society regularly. Our thoughts are influenced by everything that is around us within our society. What we are taught in school, what we see on TV, who we spend most of our time with, our socioeconomic class, and how our caretakers brought us up all affect our thoughts and the way in which we live as a member of society. Emile Durkheim wrote “An individual’s intellectual activity is not as rich or as complex as a society’s intellectual activity, because a society’s thought is enriched by historical tradition.” A society is made up of many individuals, which would only result in a more rich and complex intellectual than one individual.

The American dream has become manufactured by land use and spirit of individuality, which can be analyzed using the sociological method. To analyze the American dream and how it was created, I will apply some basic fundamental sociological concepts.

Socioeconomic Class

Of the Americans who wanted to live the American Dream out in the Suburbs were upper-middle to upper-upper socioeconomic class. A class is a group of people who share something in common. They were usually well educated, they had a high income, and a good job that provided them with that income. They held certain values and partook in a specific lifestyle. Most suburban families had more money, so they bought more material stuff. They probably raised their children in similar ways as well, making sure they get a good education, they were clean and well mannered. Socioeconomic class also relates to our next concept, elites.

Elites

The elites are the people in the upper class, or lower-upper class. These people usually have some sort of power. They have professional or executive occupations. People who were living in the suburbs were rich, and did not want to live in the city with the poor people or the violence.

Ethnicity/Race

Ethnicity is certain cultural traits and traditions that separate different groups in society. Race is a category of people who have common genetic traits. The people who were moving out in the Suburbs and using massive amounts of energy were white Americans.

Functionalism

According to Berger, something is functional when it contributes to the maintenance and stability of whatever entity it is part of; likewise, something can be dysfunctional if it is a destabilizing or destructive factor. And something can also be nonfunctional, which means it does not affect the entity it is part of. The suburbs could be viewed as functional because it allows people to live more comfortably, but it is also very dysfunctional. It stimulates segregation or separation of societies, and it can easily encourage people to consume more than necessary, faster, such as oil, energy, automobiles, and housing furniture and accessories.

Lifestyle

Lifestyle is how a person fashions their life. Clothes, cars, food, and entertainment, just to name a few, describe how a person fashions his or her life. Lifestyle gives people an image, and is many times connected to the socioeconomic class a person belongs to. People of a higher class, has more money, therefore they will buy more. With more material things, a person has a larger opportunity to be exposed to mass communication and mass media.

Mass Communications and Mass Media

Mass communications involves the use of the mass media to send messages into a large number of consumer’s minds. When Americans were building their suburban dreams, they were buying more than ever. Mass communications and mass media encouraged people to buy more, and eventually more shopping centers, restaurants, and corporations started to develop to meet the needs and wants of those well-to-do, buying folk.

Postmodernism

During the postmodernism era, there was an evolution in society, economy, and culture. People were becoming more modern, and more individualistic. More developments were springing up in the Suburban and surrounding areas. People were challenging much of the tradition, and encouraging development, buying, and selling. Many of this production was used to create a “Suburban American Dream” lifestyle. People were choosing to be more “free”, believing in whatever they wanted, and doing anything they wanted to do.

Social Roles/Gender

In the Suburbs, many social and gender roles on television and in the mass media, were viewed by many people and greatly influenced the way people socialize and view women and men, in the media and everyday. Women were very happy, pretty homemakers. The men had a good job, they were always dressed neatly and nicely. Peoples social roles are determined by the place they stand in their society. The media can have a large effect on the way woman are viewed and the many roles people take on.

Socialization

The media can also have large effects on values actually teach a person how to life in a particular society. Socialization is the process that people are taught the rules, roles, and values of their society. It can be taught in families, schools, churches, and even the media. The media in the postmodern era had a huge influence on people then, and still do today. The suburbs were a nice lifestyle that by socialization, in many forms (family, school, church, and media) has giving the suburban lifestyle the values, roles, and rules of their society.

Status

Status is very similar to socioeconomic class, upper class, but with a prestige attached to that position. People in suburbia were upper class who had money and had individual attitudes. And roles can be a factor in this as well. Men usually had higher status than woman, and upper class had higher status than working class.

All of these concepts allow you to understand what determines and creates a society. The American dream, Suburbia, was created mainly because people had money and wanted to move away from the city, for a “better” (more comfortable) lifestyle.