The American Dream is real, although the idea of what that dream exactly is varies from person to person. Extreme changes have taken place in this aspect of sociology over the last 50 years. The American Dream has been portrayed by the media in the past to be a stereotypical American family, with a heterosexual couple, 2.5 kids and a dog, and a house with a white picket fence. The mother would stay at home with the children, mopping her floors and baking apple pie while her husband went off to the office for a hard day’s work. Today, the American Dream has changed, and the media and the political environment has played a role in that as well. Women have been more accepted in the workforce. They are able to dream of a career and can even
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Heterosexual couples are having their unions recognized in many states, and can even adopt children in some. The media exhibits these changes in the American dream through their publications as well. Televisions shows, like Modern Family, show homosexual couples marrying and adopting children. Movies, like The Intern, portray a woman starting her own business while her husband stays at home to care for their daughter. Although she struggles in her attempt to “have it all” and complains of discrimination in the workforce, these examples do exhibit the acceptance of the changes of the “American Dream.” Strain theory, “a sociological approach that posits a disjuncture between socially and sub-culturally sanctioned means and goals as the cause of criminal behavior,” offered by Robert K. Merton in 1938, does explain why a person might opt to drop out of school to and sell drugs (Schmallenger p. 160). The existence of the American Dream is related to this concept. Males especially feel the need to provide for themselves and their family. When they see that their subculture, (e.g. local community, gang) struggles to make ends meet by following the path of higher education, it is not unexpected that they might seek to do so through the routes they see to be
Heterosexual couples are having their unions recognized in many states, and can even adopt children in some. The media exhibits these changes in the American dream through their publications as well. Televisions shows, like Modern Family, show homosexual couples marrying and adopting children. Movies, like The Intern, portray a woman starting her own business while her husband stays at home to care for their daughter. Although she struggles in her attempt to “have it all” and complains of discrimination in the workforce, these examples do exhibit the acceptance of the changes of the “American Dream.” Strain theory, “a sociological approach that posits a disjuncture between socially and sub-culturally sanctioned means and goals as the cause of criminal behavior,” offered by Robert K. Merton in 1938, does explain why a person might opt to drop out of school to and sell drugs (Schmallenger p. 160). The existence of the American Dream is related to this concept. Males especially feel the need to provide for themselves and their family. When they see that their subculture, (e.g. local community, gang) struggles to make ends meet by following the path of higher education, it is not unexpected that they might seek to do so through the routes they see to be