Working-Class Barriers to Upward Mobility: American Dream Myth

Introduction: The American Dream and Class Barriers

The American Dream is a popular cultural narrative that drives many Americans to work hard and persistently in pursuit of upward mobility. Unfortunately, structural and cultural barriers reveal that the American Dream is too often a myth for the working class. The works of G. William Domhoff and Barbara Ehrenreich offer two valuable perspectives on the obstacles that many in the working class cannot overcome in their pursuit of the American Dream. Domhoff approaches the myth as a research professor who studies, interprets, and evaluates research on class and power. Ehrenreich examines it as a culture critic and writer who deliberately marginalizes herself in order to experience the lower working class firsthand in Florida, Maine, and Minnesota.

Structural Barriers to Upward Mobility

The structural barriers faced by the working class are established and maintained by the owners and administrators of America's larger income-generating institutions, such as corporations, banks, and agricultural businesses. According to Domhoff, these wealthy and powerful forces lobby government, directly participate in shaping national policy, make large campaign donations to politicians who support their continued dominance, exert influence over appointments to policy-making government positions, and sometimes secure such appointments for themselves. Domhoff's research finds that upper-class individuals own nearly 50% of all privately held corporate stock, powerfully control corporations through family offices, investment organizations, and holding companies, and represent a disproportionately high share of corporate board members — all while being supported by middle managers who share their values (Domhoff, 2006, p. 71). If the current financial and power structures in America could be summarized in one sentence, Domhoff would say that the system is "rigged."

Barbara Ehrenreich's experience differs from Domhoff's because she encounters the rigged system from the ground level. When working in Minneapolis, for example, she discovers that the city's overall housing vacancy rate was below 1%, and that affordable housing for the working class was available at only a fraction of that rate. As a result, many working-class people were forced to live in shelters rather than in their own rented spaces (Ehrenreich, 2011, p. 140). Ehrenreich also confronts structural barriers through her wages. A single full-time job does not pay enough to cover basic necessities such as rent and food. Even holding two full-time jobs fails to provide adequate support, because working sixteen-hour days leaves her so mentally and physically exhausted that she is ultimately forced to walk out on both of her jobs in Florida (Ehrenreich, 2011, p. 32). Ehrenreich does not draw as many sweeping judgments about the wealthy versus the poor as Domhoff does, since her perspective is immediate and experiential rather than derived from broad studies. Nevertheless, she consistently encounters the structural conditions that prevent the working class from achieving upward mobility.

Conclusion

G. William Domhoff and Barbara Ehrenreich both explored the barriers the working class must face when trying to achieve the American Dream. Domhoff, approaching the issue as a research professor, examines the structural barriers erected and maintained by the upper class in business, politics, and government. Ehrenreich literally became a member of the minimum-wage working class and documented firsthand the structural difficulties of paying for necessities on a minimum wage and finding affordable housing. Both authors also address the cultural barriers — social clubs, exclusive education, and the "social register" — that keep the upper class insulated and powerful while locking the working class out.

Ehrenreich's account is especially illuminating because it exposes not only the barriers between the upper and lower classes, but also the caste-like divisions within the working class itself. Because she is a white, well-educated, computer-savvy woman who is fluent in English, she occupied the top of the bottom class in many respects. Taken together, both authors demonstrate why the American Dream remains a distant and often unattainable aspiration for a great many people in America's working class.

Works Cited

Domhoff, G. W. (2006). The corporate community and the upper class. In G. W. Domhoff, Who rules America?: Power, politics, and social change (5th ed., pp. 71–123). Mountainview: Mayfield Publishing.

Ehrenreich, B. (2011). Nickel and dimed: On (not) getting by in America. New York: Picador.