Jeremy Rifkin's European Dream vs. the American Dream

Introduction: Two Dreams, Two Visions

We are all familiar with the proverbial American Dream. Whether it exists or whether it is truly attainable are questions best left aside for the moment, because another proverbial dream has emerged that demands our attention. According to Jeremy Rifkin, the idea of the American Dream is not only outdated — it is also being quickly replaced by the European Dream. "While the American Spirit is tiring and languishing in the past," Rifkin writes, "a new European Dream is being born."

In his book The European Dream, Rifkin lays down the thesis that America has lost its charm, its appeal, and almost everything it once symbolized. The new American generation is, in his view, overweight, under-educated, and unnecessarily aggressive, with little or no regard for broader social welfare. The American Dream, which once revolved around tapping into opportunities, buying a home, and amassing consumer goods, now sounds "far too centered on personal material advancement and too little concerned with the broader human welfare to be relevant in a world of increasing risk, diversity and interdependence."

For this reason, the American Dream needs a better replacement, and according to Rifkin, it has arrived in the form of the European Dream, which "emphasizes community relationships over individual autonomy, cultural diversity over assimilation, quality of life over the accumulation of wealth, sustainable development over unlimited material growth, deep play over unrelenting toil, universal human rights and the rights of nature over property rights, and global co-operation over the unilateral exercise of power."

Rifkin's Core Argument for the European Dream

The idea might appear far-fetched to some, but Rifkin offers sound arguments to defend his position. He maintains that everything commonly cited as a negative about Europe actually works in its favor on closer examination. The charge of lower productivity and lower wages, for example, is one that frequently emerges when Europe is compared to its colossal counterpart, America. But lower productivity does not depict poor performance; it only symbolizes a desire to balance work and leisure. Europeans, Rifkin argues, are not prepared to sacrifice their personal lives for unrelenting work. They want to enjoy the smaller pleasures of life and earn enough to do so. Their guiding principle is not to "live to earn," but to "earn to live."

Another common charge is the unemployment rate. How could Europe be considered more successful when it carries a higher unemployment rate? Rifkin counters this with substantial statistical data, arguing that America's unemployment rate is just as high — only there is far more hidden unemployment than the official figures reveal. When one includes prison inmates, the unskilled, and those who have simply given up looking for work after prolonged joblessness, America's true unemployment picture looks considerably less flattering. Rifkin's broader point is that America struggles with its inability to confront the truths embedded in its own statistical data.

While Rifkin also argues that Gross Domestic Product is not the most accurate measure of a country's progress and success, he nonetheless addresses the common claim that America holds a higher GDP than Europe, calling that characterization completely misleading.

Economic and Quality-of-Life Comparisons

Americans are accustomed to thinking of their country as the most successful on earth. Rifkin argues that this is no longer the case. The European Union has grown to become the third largest governing institution in the world. Though its land mass is roughly half the size of the continental United States, its $10.5 trillion GDP eclipses that of the U.S., making it the world's largest economy. The EU is already the world's leading exporter and the largest internal trading market.

If these figures are not arresting enough, Rifkin provides readers with a multitude of similar data points covering everything from quality of life to wealth distribution to life expectancy. As he notes, "The comparisons are even more revealing when it comes to the quality of life. For example, in the EU, there are approximately 322 physicians per 100,000 people; in the U.S. there are only 279 physicians per 100,000 people. The average life-span in the 15 most developed EU countries is now 78.2 years compared to 76.9 years in the U.S." Such figures, Rifkin contends, paint a portrait of a European Union that has quietly surpassed the United States on many of the measures that matter most to ordinary citizens.