by Dean Allsopp
The American Dream has been a concrete idea that millennials have learned about since grade school. Like so many before, our generation has had the concept ingrained in our DNA: hard work equivocates success.
However, as millennials reach their thirties, this idea might need some redefining. According to MassMutual’s third biennial study The State of the American Family, the youngest adult population is not as interested in traditional values. The survey found 38 percent of millennials to value travel as part of the American Dream, exceeding the 28 percent of millennials who believe a secure retirement is an integral part. Millennials it seems, prize job mobility, flexible schedules and the ability to travel rather than security and stability, such as home-ownership and comfortable living wages after retiring.
Tom Juravich, a professor of sociology at the University of Massachusetts, says these changes are mostly due to economics. “The good jobs that propelled men and women in the post-war era to the American Dream of homeownership is economically no longer possible,” says Juravich, “children no longer have more opportunity than the parents.”
We have all seen the results of the global recession of 2009. Our parents’ retirements are in jeopardy; maybe they’ve been laid-off. We’ve had to take out loans to pay for our college education. We are simply living in a much different world than years past. A college education used to be an automatic ticket to a six-figure salary but nowadays, many consider the baccalaureate to be the new high school diploma. This lack of economic stability has forced the millennial generation to adapt, says Juravich.
The millennial generation has different values. But how will this affect our lives as we age? For one, we’re going to be much more mobile. Juravich says our generation will change our living situation six times more often than our grandparents, a fact he says, raises some issues about the nature of home, work, and the stability of our future families. One change we have seen already is the definition of family. No longer is the answer strictly biological. According to the MassMutual study, 11 percent of millennials are more likely to identify close friends as a family member, greater than any other generation- a fact that can be directly attributed to lack of stability and constant communication through social media. “A lot of people are looking at their friends as a surrogate family.” People are moving so much, their friends begin to play those [familiar] roles,” articulates Juravich.
Retirement might not be as traditional as we think either. Juravich predicts that we will be working much longer and there might not be any infrastructure for retirement such as 401k plans or social security by the time we reach our golden years.
This doesn’t mean the American Dream is a thing of the past. Rather, the idea has been re-envisioned to reflect our values. What made the dream so irresistible was universal attainability. Now, it looks as if the dream has been refocused towards things in our lives that are still within reach. As Dan Kadlec, a TIMES finance journalist writes, “A true American Dream has to feel attainable, and many millennials aren’t feeling they can attain much more than a day-to-day lifestyle,”
Do you think the American Dream is outdated or is it still an ideal that many college students strive for? What’s your idea of the American Dream? Let us know what you think in the comments below.
Dean Allsopp can be reached at allsopp.dean