Title: Why did people believe in the American Dream? - Quora
Headings: Why did people believe in the American Dream?
Why did people believe in the American Dream?
Quora User
Footnotes
Yanna Smith
Lu Leng
Sridhar Sharma

Content: For them, the possibility of America existed more for their posterity than for themselves. That is how it worked for generations of Americans. The cynicism that eventually arose about the American dream implicit in your question has its origins in the "me" generation of baby boomers who took for granted the generations of capital accumulation that made them comfortable. Their modern suburban livestyle was considered a "given," and anyone who lived below that condition, regardless of their starting point, was considered "underprivileged." Some people were, and are, born into difficult circumstances, and may not have the opportunities of those born into better ones. But so many of us came from impoverished ancestors (some quite recently), and saw such a high correlation between hard work and success in our personal lives as well as in family stories that the American dream lives inside us regardless of where we end up. Most of us believe that the 50 year old in the trailer park probably made some bad choices along the way, and didn't have the grit to overcome them. If you ask them, many in that situation would agree. The American dream is not a utopian dream, where the outcome is guaranteed and nobody can end up in a trailer park. It is about opportunity, which requires something more than just a dream.