American Dreaming

Uh-oh.  Some scientists have determined that the American Dream is actually impossible to achieve. The neuro-science is solid: people cannot achieve happiness through material abundance. Unfortunately, that science is being badly misinterpreted and then further misapplied as policy advice for reforming our economy. The problem is that many otherwise intelligent people don't have a firm grasp of either economics or history, specifically that the "American Dream" is not a culture of greed, but a culture of personal independence that stood in stark contrast to class distinctions in Europe.

This zeitgeist is being generated by Peter Whybrow, head of the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Behavior at UCLA and author of American Mania: When More Is Not Enough. Whybrow's argument, to the extent not evident in the book's title, is that the American culture is founded on self-satisfaction, and worse, a strain of competitive consumption, fueled by irresponsible credit. WIRED summarizes the Whybrow critique thus:

Our built-in dopamine-reward system makes instant gratification highly desirable, and the future difficult to balance with the present. This worked fine on the savanna, said Whybrow, but not the suburbs: We gorge on fatty foods and use credit cards to buy luxuries we can't actually afford. And then, overworked, underslept and overdrawn, we find ourselves anxious and depressed.

You might agree with Whybrow. I certainly agree, and strongly, with some of his points. But not his conclusions. Whybrow is making a mistake of confusing the effects with causes. The American Dream is not material prosperity, but the system that gives people the opportunity to prosper. Miss that nuance, and you do not understand America. So when Whybrow confuses these two, he is contributing to 21st century cultural amnesia: Americans are forgetting who they are.

Historically, one could point to the Declaration of Independence as the origin of the Dream, which laid out the principles of equality and unalienable Rights, notably the Pursuit of Happiness. But as a phrase, "American Dream" was coined in the 1931 book Epic of America by James Truslow Adams. Adams wrote:

The American Dream is that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement. It is a difficult dream for the European upper classes to interpret adequately, and too many of us ourselves have grown weary and mistrustful of it. It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position." (emphasis added)

So even at its first muttering, the idea of The American Dream was literally and pointedly not about materialism, but about the means of individual liberty, free of class, caste, and race. People who say otherwise are committing cultural libel. Seriously, if the American Dream is a fiction, somebody better tell my grandfather, because he must have been mistaken when he died happy (and poor) because he lived as a free man in a humble home.

Unfortunately, the wayward thinking doesn't stop there.  It just starts there.

Again, as summarized by WIRED:

The answers aren't easy, Whybrow cautioned — but they do exist. People can think creatively about jumping from the treadmills of bad jobs and unmeetable needs; and even if this isn't always possible, they can teach their children to live modestly and within their means. Urban engineers can design cities that allow people to live and work and shop in the same place. Governments can, at the insistence of their citizens, provide the social safety nets on which social mobility, stagnant for the last 50 years, is based. And we can — however much it hurts — look to Europe for advice.

Look to Europe for advice? Do they mean us to emulate Italy, where women don't want babies anymore or do you mean France where entrepreneurs face extinction because the labor laws are so extreme (and the lower classes riot in the streets because they cannot find jobs)? Europe is a diverse place, and the countries with the most economic freedom are the most prosperous. End of story.

Social mobility is stagnant? This is drivel. If it mean that the same percentage of people are going from rags to riches each decade, that is not stagnation.  It means social mobility is stable. Different adjectives.

Urban engineers? Right now, if people want walkable cities, they can move to them. Supply and Demand. And happily, this is happening -- the free market is already radically reshaping cities.

Bad jobs? Show me the evidence that people do not like their jobs in the U.S.! Sure, I like to mock cubicle culture as much as any Dilbert fan, but I bet mocking salt mine culture, serf/peasant culture, and hunter-gatherer culture were even more hilarious.

Living within their means. I am all for this, and it's where I find myself agreeing with Whybrow. The instinct for short-term gratification is too often indulged. And yet, the solution is not to erode America's long-term growth miracle embedded in property rights, free markets and trade, and democratizing finance. Whybrow seems to think that credit is the evil here, as if taking out loans causes overconsumption. Why not a cash economy?  Because giving poorer people access to credit is one of the great equalizers in U.S. (and world) history. We can all agree that predatory lending is bad, but to conclude that any lending is inherently bad is frankly pretty foolish. Has Whybrow not heard of microfinance?

Whybrow has an interesting interview on his homepage, and I think the most intriguing meme he is pushing is that the American people are not just culturally, but genetically distinct. The immigrants who moved here voluntarily, and those who thrived, were humans on the less risk averse side of the gene pool. He then draws numerous fantastical conclusions from this idea, suggesting that Americans are more prone to stock market bubbles (!), mental sickness, etcetera. I am inclined to agree that our culture is different, but two questions. Isn't cultural diversity a good thing inherently? Is it clear in any empirical research that Americans (or entrepreneurs) are more materialistic/greedy than others?

It just seems like Whybrow is telling Eagles they could be much happier without their feathers. 

Comments

[odograph]

I agree Tim, that you are looking at the American Dream the right way, but I wonder too if your way isn't far enough forgotten among some that Mr. Whybrow make sense.

People caught up in a "buy your way to happiness because all the neighbors do" subculture might need a 1-2 punch, first Whybrow, and then your reminder.