LinkedIn Group Chatter

Individuals provided comments on the survey and in LinkedIn groups. Here are some of the LinkedIn comments:

Dan G. – Marketing and Advertising executive with BA degree from Michigan State University

Personally, I believe the American Dream means different things to different people and that presents problems. For even if I had chosen one of the listed "definitions" for the "Dream" in the survey, it wouldn't be the definition my children would have.

BTW, in research conducted by MetLife, there was only decrease of 4-points from '08 to '10 in Americans feeling that the American Dream is "alive and well" (74% to 70%). However, and again, I'd venture to say that the definition of the Dream is all over the place and that it's no longer "a chicken in every pot and a car in every garage"!

Follow-up comments:

Interesting survey. Think it would be a better/more effective one if you had a marketing researcher design the questionnaire. Lot of "gaps" and assumptions that, IMO, makes a clear analysis problematic, given that the American Dream means so many different things and that questions about it being achievable need to be tied to its definition. And, given that the question about the Dream being achievable for one's children can't be tied to anything given that we don't know their definition. Kind of like asking someone how they research and/or purchase insurance without separating out auto from home from life.

FWIW and without knowing specifically what you're writing about, I believe it's critical to define the American Dream which means many things to many people, even within families (parents vs. children), and that it's also critical to link expectations about achieving the Dream to what people believe it is. For example, while some in a relatively high socio-economic level might define the Dream as "opportunity" and feel that it's (still) achievable, those in a relatively low socio economic level may 1) not define the Dream as "opportunity" and 2) if they do, don't believe it's achievable and, perhaps, never did.

Couple of things top-of-mind:

Even within the middle class the American Dream is defined differently, depending on Generation/Life Stage.
It isn't just about how the recession has impacted their perception of and belief in the Dream and their children's future. For many, it's how it impacted their own future in terms of retirement -- can they retire? Will they outlive retirement? Where did their retirement funds go? Etc.