In 1931, during the Great Depression in the United States, the term “American Dream was coined. James Truslow Adams was the man who wrote about it in a book called “The Epic of America”.

As you can tell, that was almost 100 years ago! Life is very different in 2025. The meaning of the American Dream has changed dramatically, so how can we even understand it?

Let’s explain it in a simple way.

Welcome to Further Records. I’m your host, Forest.

Defining the American Dream has always been very difficult and unique for every person. We don’t have the same mentality as people in 1930, so what does The Dream mean for people in the present?

When developing the definition of the American Dream, Adams explained: “that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for every man, with opportunity for each according to his ability or achievement.”

Part of the message is that not all opportunities are the same for everyone. The Dream doesn’t mean you’ll be super mega rich and live in a mansion, but you can improve your circumstances if you work hard enough.

In the past, people had some specific factors of success such as getting married, having children, and owning a home.

Today, young people think other things are important. Happiness and freedom of decision are the most important points.

Like always, the importance of hard work remains strong, but other factors like discrimination and inequality make the American Dream more difficult for young people.

They also believe family and friends have helped them achieve their dreams, but the decisions of the government have hindered them.

Nowadays, only 53% of people believe that the American Dream is possible. Still, that's a majority!

So what does all this mean? It seems that the more things change, the more they stay the same.

The American Dream has always been a tale of effort and of individual work. It’s also always been a little bit critical of current social conditions. And that’s good, because it makes you really think about what you want in your country and what you can do to get it.

What has really changed is what people consider to be “rich” and “successful”. Depending on what you think, the Dream can be possible or not, but most people consider it to be real.

What is really interesting is that more people consider their community to be important today. And yeah, how can anybody reach their dreams without a little help! And of course, helping others is important as well.

So, what is YOUR American Dream? What is your definition of success? What do you think you need to make it possible?

You’ve been listening to Further Records, a podcast by Further Corporate. In this episode, we used expressions you may not know. Have you heard of these before?

• Coined: To coin a phrase means to use a phrase for the first time.
• “There’s a lot of talk about”: This phrase means that a certain topic is very popular.
• Inequality: This means a situation is not the same for different people.
• Hindered: The opposite of helping. To hinder is to make something more difficult.
• “The more things change, the more they stay the same”: A popular phrase which means that even though a lot of time may pass, situations continue to be similar.

Keep boosting your English journey with us! Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Comments? Questions? Concerns? Get in touch with us on instagram, @furthercorporate.

MUSIC:

"1930s Big Band Swing Jazz" by Nicholas Panek from Pixabay

Wagner Bridal Chorus Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Happy Birthday Crowd by theuned -- https://freesound.org/s/391869/ -- License: Creative Commons 0

Savour the Moment by Shane Ivers – https://www.silvermansound.com