Is the American Dream an Illusion?
Gregory Clark, a UC Davis Economics Prof., recently put together an article on the Foreign Affairs site where he posits that your parents and grandparents social status in society determines your eventual social status level and also that of your kids.
Video is courtesy of The RSA YouTube Channel
Numbers do not lie, but their interpretation can vary. There can often be outliers to any data set. For example, Steve Jobs of Apple fame rise to Billionaire status, readily comes to mind.
I also believe that access to higher levels of education can dramatically change the level to which one can rise on the Social Status ladder. Higher levels of education also allow one to network with other students who come from far wealthier families.
But I believe that Gregory Clark may have an important point and that his data set could very well be proof that the so called American Dream is in fact just an illusion for the vast majority of citizenry. I also think that this applies to most other western countries, including Canada…
Posted by: Vincent Banial
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