61 Annotated Bibliography 1 – The American Dream
Emma Englefield
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Annotated Bibliography
Del Cid, Jessica. The American Dream: An Illusion or Reality for Latino Immigrants. 2011, Liberty University Senior Thesis. Liberty University Research Digital Commons, digitalcommons.liberty.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1238&context=honors.
This report over the American Dream for Latino Immigrants contains first-hand accounts of what the transition from Mexico to The United States is truly like. Jessica Del Cid interviewed several Latino immigrants as well as several American citizens in order to research whether the American Dream is an illusion or a reality for newcomers. Her research purpose was to comprehend the immigrant view of beliefs and experiences of the American Dream, and then compare it to some American citizens’ perspectives. Research included asking the individuals about their job, their feelings, and different aspects of their idea of the American Dream. When she obtained the information she was searching for, she used it to reach a conclusion on the attainability of the American Dream for Latino immigrants. Although this report was written in 2011, the issue of reaching the American Dream still exists for Latino immigrants. The content of the article directly supports my argument because it illustrates the skewed image of the American Dream in the eyes of immigrants. As an Honors Program graduate of Liberty University, Jessica Del Cid wrote this senior thesis keeping her research professional and credible; even though the author was a student at the time, her research is still valid and well-supported. Information shared by Del Cid is accurate as it matches up with her reference page that she included. I plan on utilizing some of the author’s main points to support my argument, especially the first-hand details of immigrants’ feelings about the American Dream. Accounts that she obtained from these immigrants are still accurate and they give a developed background as to where their opinions may have come from. From the interviews, Del Cid concluded that “migration is not always easy or legal due to the exclusive immigration laws of the U.S. and the lack of opportunity for certain countries to obtain legal access” (5). In conclusion, this article will help me in building my assertion on how Latino immigrants feel about pursuing the American Dream.
Levitz, Eric. “These 3 Policy Failures Are Killing the American Dream.” Intelligencer, Vox Media, LLC., 7 Oct. 2019, nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/10/these-3-policy-failures-are-killing-the-american-dream.html.
In this account of the factors that are “killing the American Dream”, Eric Levitz emphasizes three major reasons as to why the American Dream is faltering (1). The three main policy failures that he highlights are falling wages, rising costs of housing, health care, and education, and outdated social-welfare institutions. Levitz’s purpose is to explain to readers how the American Dream is being affected by governmental and economic factors. Levitz is an Associate Editor for the Intelligencer, a vertical of New York Magazine, which itself is a well-respected source. He has written several articles about tumultuous topics relating to this one, which demonstrates his expertise on the subject. Written in 2019, this article presents accurate and up-to-date information about the current policies in America. This editorial supports my argument because it points out aspects that prevent an individual from attaining the American Dream. The source’s purpose is evident: to list failures at the fault of the government and other political powers that are “killing the American Dream.” In my argument, I will use the three main failures outlined in this article in order to provide more support for elements that I include about the government laws and regulations. While reading through Levitz’s account, it was clear that the American Dream’s lack of attainability is “due to our central government’s exceptional refusal to combat rent-seeking in the medical sector through price controls” (6). This article will be beneficial to supporting my assertion about the inaccessibility of the American Dream.
Just, Aida, and Christopher J Anderson. “Dual Allegiances? Immigrants’ Attitudes Toward Immigration.” London School of Economics Research Online, London School of Economics and Political Science, 2015, eprints.lse.ac.uk/101876/1/Dual_Allegiances_JoP_for_LSERO.pdf.
This thorough report over immigrant attitudes includes three hypotheses and a great deal of research on the temperament of immigrants throughout their entire journey of migration. These two scholars monitored and evaluated immigrants’ attitudes from the initial decision to migrate, to packing up and making the move, to settling down and making a living in their newfound home. Additionally, they asked individuals about their personal experiences in their migration process. Published in 2015, the attitudes of immigrants about migrating have generally stayed the same, so I can consider this source recent and accurate. I view this source as a great support to my argument because it discusses immigrants’ perspectives on migration, which is a close match to my research question that I developed. Both authors are credible because they are both professors of subjects related to immigration matters. Moreover, Chris Anderson has taught in another country, so he has a substantial amount of experience with moving between different cultures. All the information that Aida Just and Chris Anderson obtained from their research is accurate, and it is supported by an abundance of references. The fundamental goal of their report is “to contribute to research on political incorporation and public opinion on immigration in several ways” (4). A research article like this will provide me with adequate information and points that can be made about the picture that America paints for immigrants. By utilizing the results from this research about immigrants’ attitudes, my argument will be made stronger because it will be directly answering the question of whether or not the governmental legislations skew the image of the American Dream in the eyes of immigrants.
Lopez, Mark Hugo, et al. “Most Latinos Believe in the American Dream but Say It’s Hard to Reach.” Pew Research Center, 27 July 2020, www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/09/11/latinos-are-more-likely-to-believe-in-the-american-dream-but-most-say-it-is-hard-to-achieve/.
Written by Mark Lopez, Ana Gonzales-Barrera, and Jens Krogstad, this report gives insight to the difficulties that Latino immigrants face when hoping to achieve the American Dream. There is a decent amount of numerical evidence and examples of what the standard of living is for these immigrants. Graphics are included throughout the article that provide visuals about the belief in the American Dream and reaching the American Dream. A primary point that the report aims to cover is that Latino immigrants travel to America in order to achieve a desired standard of living, but often find it challenging to accomplish that goal. Some of the achievements that Latinos migrate to America for are “being a good parent,…provid[ing] for their family,…owning a home,…having a successful marriage,…and being successful in a high-paying career or profession” (4). The writers of this article have strong credibility when it comes to this topic because Mark Hugo Lopez is the Director of Hispanic Research and has written several other accounts over Hispanic attitudes and opinions. Ana Gonzales-Barrera and Jens Krogstad are two of his colleagues who are senior writers and editors at the same research institution as Lopez, which is generally a well-respected source. All three scholars wrote the column in 2018 and included the statistics from 2016. Circumstances have most likely fluctuated over the years between then and now but are probably more or less the same, so I can consider this information recent and accurate. Statistical evidence of the achievement and non-achievement of the American Dream directly supports my argument that I am trying to convey. Incorporating this piece into my argument will help in proving that the American Dream is more difficult to achieve for individuals that are not citizens of America, and that individuals find it hard enough getting to America in the first place. Evaluating how easily or difficult goals are reached will assist my assertion of how the American Dream is perceived in the eyes of migrants.
Stoll, David. “Which American Dream Do You Mean?” Society, vol. 46, 7 July 2009, pp. 398-402. link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12115-009-9245-2.
This article written by Professor David Stoll of Middlebury College conveys that the idea of the American Dream to immigrants can easily be skewed due to political aspects that they are unaware of. He explains that there is a “long conversation” that needs to be held with different immigratory countries about the Dream itself (2). Stoll fills the article with viewpoints of foreigners that have the desire to migrate because they “want to come to the U.S.” to “[earn] higher wages here than they can at home” (2). Additionally, he includes four alternatives of “moral community” that may solve the issue of immigrants not realizing their illegal status that they are bound to have in America. Above all, Stoll emphasizes what the American Dream will mean for immigrants. This article points out that an idea in most immigrants’ minds is that “no matter how poor you start out; you can build a better life for yourself and your children” (5). David Stoll is well versed in this topic as he teaches Anthropology at Middlebury College in Vermont. He is also the author of a couple books that relate to the same matter as the article, so he clearly has expertise in the subject. The article was published in 2009, but the ideas presented are still relevant to the circumstances that hold today. Support is evident as opinions of immigrants are discussed throughout the passage. References provided prove to be accurate and verifiable to the content. The article provides numerous examples of perspectives of the American Dream from immigrants that have potential to be skewed by the U.S government, which will provide accurate support to what I am arguing. By comparing expectation to reality and evaluating what immigrants expected versus what immigrants experienced, I can prove my main point about the ways the “American Dream” can be misleading.
