When I was in China as a high school student, every time when we referred to American dream, we always said that it means freedom. Yet the concept of freedom is ambiguous. From the chart above, it provides different categories of freedom, like personal, religious and political freedom, etc. When I first saw the chart, I was surprised that personal freedom ranks No.1,while individualism is one of the concepts that ranks at very low. I still not yet clear what is the difference between personal freedom and individualism. Or what is it mean by personal freedom? Does it equal or include other categories of freedom, like religious freedom and freedom of free speech?
For me the most important part of the American Dream is the pursuit of happiness. I think that it incorporates many of the other concepts listed, such as personal freedom, security and economic freedom. Also, I find it interesting that equality ranks so highly... perhaps it should say "the pursuit of equality".
I agree with Zoe that I would rank the pursuit of happiness higher, I feel like this could also include personal freedom. I have a concern with the definition of the American Dream however. I feel like the American Dream is changing and different generations have varying ideas of what their dream may look like. I think this would be interesting to see if it was examined based on each generation.
Personally, I would rank the pursuit of happiness the highest on what the American dream is. I think being happy in the workplace is more important than all of the other factors. I think our generation, the millennials, are shifting away from the thought that we need to make money to be happy to being happy within our workplace. I agree with Chris in that the American dream is changing non-stop and how it depends from generation to generation.
Similarly to most people above, I would personally rank the pursuit of happiness higher on the list. I do believe that personal freedom and religious freedom are also important with people trying to leave certain persecutions they could encounter in their native countries (was more prevalent in the 19th and 20th century).
Freedom. Having the freedom to pursue your passions, speak your mind, live and worship however and wherever you want is what comes to mind when I think about the American dream.
When I was in China as a high school student, every time when we referred to American dream, we always said that it means freedom. Yet the concept of freedom is ambiguous. From the chart above, it provides different categories of freedom, like personal, religious and political freedom, etc. When I first saw the chart, I was surprised that personal freedom ranks No.1,while individualism is one of the concepts that ranks at very low. I still not yet clear what is the difference between personal freedom and individualism. Or what is it mean by personal freedom? Does it equal or include other categories of freedom, like religious freedom and freedom of free speech?
ReplyDeleteFor me the most important part of the American Dream is the pursuit of happiness. I think that it incorporates many of the other concepts listed, such as personal freedom, security and economic freedom. Also, I find it interesting that equality ranks so highly... perhaps it should say "the pursuit of equality".
ReplyDeleteI agree with Zoe that I would rank the pursuit of happiness higher, I feel like this could also include personal freedom. I have a concern with the definition of the American Dream however. I feel like the American Dream is changing and different generations have varying ideas of what their dream may look like. I think this would be interesting to see if it was examined based on each generation.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I would rank the pursuit of happiness the highest on what the American dream is. I think being happy in the workplace is more important than all of the other factors. I think our generation, the millennials, are shifting away from the thought that we need to make money to be happy to being happy within our workplace. I agree with Chris in that the American dream is changing non-stop and how it depends from generation to generation.
ReplyDeleteSimilarly to most people above, I would personally rank the pursuit of happiness higher on the list. I do believe that personal freedom and religious freedom are also important with people trying to leave certain persecutions they could encounter in their native countries (was more prevalent in the 19th and 20th century).
ReplyDeleteFreedom. Having the freedom to pursue your passions, speak your mind, live and worship however and wherever you want is what comes to mind when I think about the American dream.
ReplyDeletePersonally I was surprised to see Patriotism so low on this list. I would think that its a concept that has decreased over the last decade.
ReplyDelete