During the Post World War II-time era America had the assumption that their society was the best, that assumption in more recent years of 1995 has changed into that America can do better. In the passage “Entitlement” from Robert Samuelson’s 1995 book The Good Life and Its Discontents Samuelson talks about a “paradox of our time” (Samuelson 1995). That paradox is entitlement, in 1995 America had adopted a different assumption on society creating the paradox of the American society which is feeling bad when doing good. In the passage Samuelson accurately explains the shifts in views, from the early century to the more recent years of 1995, of the American society and how they have evolved from the past to the present.
After WWII, Americans had …show more content…
However, unlike postwar society this era believed in hard work. Society in the past knew that to have the life that they wanted or believed that they deserved there were going to be lots of setbacks and risks. There was not a guarantee of success, people were lucky at times others were not, yet society still worked hard to get past the hardships. If there was a problem, then society would fix it themselves instead of expecting someone else to fix the problem for them. In the passage the author writes a quote by William Whyte, Jr. “pursuit of individual salvation through hard work, thrift and competitive struggle” (Samuelson 1995). Explaining that a person’s own life depends on their own hard work and struggles that they are faced with and getting past it. In the passage a banker told a group of Yale students “You may start in business, or the professions, with your feet on the bottom rung of the ladder; it rests with you to acquire the strength to climb to the top” (Samuelson 1995). No matter how much hard work or studying Yale students have done, it did not matter in this time of era. Earlier in the century American society had believed that no matter the struggle or work put into achieving greater things at times not everyone will rise to the top as they expect themselves too. Which was the strong belief American Society had, which is why they had thought they were so
After WWII, Americans had …show more content…
However, unlike postwar society this era believed in hard work. Society in the past knew that to have the life that they wanted or believed that they deserved there were going to be lots of setbacks and risks. There was not a guarantee of success, people were lucky at times others were not, yet society still worked hard to get past the hardships. If there was a problem, then society would fix it themselves instead of expecting someone else to fix the problem for them. In the passage the author writes a quote by William Whyte, Jr. “pursuit of individual salvation through hard work, thrift and competitive struggle” (Samuelson 1995). Explaining that a person’s own life depends on their own hard work and struggles that they are faced with and getting past it. In the passage a banker told a group of Yale students “You may start in business, or the professions, with your feet on the bottom rung of the ladder; it rests with you to acquire the strength to climb to the top” (Samuelson 1995). No matter how much hard work or studying Yale students have done, it did not matter in this time of era. Earlier in the century American society had believed that no matter the struggle or work put into achieving greater things at times not everyone will rise to the top as they expect themselves too. Which was the strong belief American Society had, which is why they had thought they were so