From ‘having’ to ‘being’: self‐worth and the current crisis of American society

Abstract

With growing inequality, the American dream is becoming less effective as a collective myth. With its focus on material success, competition and self‐reliance, the intensified diffusion of neoliberal scripts of the self is leading the upper‐middle class toward a mental health crisis while the working class and low‐income groups do not have the resources needed to live the dream. African Americans, Latinos and undocumented immigrants, who are presumed to lack self‐reliance, face more rigid boundaries. One possible way forward is broadening cultural membership by promoting new narratives of hope centered on a plurality of criteria of worth, ‘ordinary universalism’ and destigmatizing stigmatized groups.

Who’s ‘having’? Who’s ‘being’? A response to Lamont

“…Lamont is correct to note that changing cultural scripts can have a formidable impact on perceptions of belonging and that these can and should be complementary to ‘the policy focus on the distribution of material resources’ (: 2). Perhaps changing these narratives can build ideological support for the economic policies required to address wage discrimination, wealth inequality and occupational insecurity.…”

The myth of agency and the misattribution of blame in collective imaginaries of the future

“…The first two elements of these alternative narratives centre on changing what success looks like, or how we define a life well lived. First, she envisions that we should work to ‘valoriz[e] social contributions that are not directly tied to production and consumption, such as caring, educating, consecrating, and other types of activities, without subordinating them or justifying them by profit maximization’ () And second, she advocates that we promote ‘ordinary universalism’ or ‘valorize … what people believe all people have in common’ () . Her third proposal, in contrast, focuses on our collective understandings of what causes success or failure: ‘removing blame in order to refute the notion that a specific group deserves their lot because of their behaviour’ ().…”

“…In her essay entitled ‘From “Having” to “Being”: Self‐worth and the Current Crisis of American Society’ (), Michèle Lamont presents a galvanizing discussion of possible ways that cultural sociologists might use our expertise to address the existential angst and widespread despair that seem to permeate American society today. The crux of her argument is that the American dream is ineffective as a collective narrative, primarily because it focuses on a single criterion of success – material prosperity – which ‘dominates all other dimensions of human achievement’.…”

“…The crux of her argument is that the American dream is ineffective as a collective narrative, primarily because it focuses on a single criterion of success – material prosperity – which ‘dominates all other dimensions of human achievement’. We cannot all rise into the middle class, and in fact fewer of today's young adults can do so than in previous generations, and thus Lamont laments that we are ‘dreaming an impossible dream’ (Lamont ). In response, she proposes that we should promote a broader set of cultural models of success, such that people will aspire to achieve not only material wealth ( having ) but also social connections and moral convictions ( being ).…”

“…I illustrate these points by drawing upon my research on young adults' educational and career aspirations in Malawi and Uganda. My starting off point is thus where Lamont ends her essay – what she in her final sentence describes as ‘a whole new set of questions that are better left for another day’ () – how cultural narratives of future success circulate in other international contexts. Looking beyond the local historical and political dynamics that undergird the American dream, I show how collective myths about the future shape subjective experiences of unmet ambition in places where dashed hopes are even more rampant than they are in the contemporary United States.…”