From History Of America Success

The interpretation of the good life in the United States, commonly referred to as the American dream, is an evolving concept that has frequently been redefined through the course of American history. The main features of the American dream were often exclusionary to minority groups, but by the end of the twentieth century the notion had become significantly more comprehensive and accessible. Despite its changing nature, two constants have formed the core of the American dream: property and economic security.

The main features of the American dream were vividly presented to the American people through the medium of television. Programs such as The Donna Reed Show and Father Knows Best presented images of American life that emphasized home ownership and the importance of material possessions. Advertising reinforced these impressions and promoted new products as well as the conspicuous consumption fueled by the notion of "keeping up with the Joneses." This notion spurred consumers to be the first to own new products or new versions of goods.

Yet television also documented the civil rights movement and the overall struggle by minority groups to gain access to the good life. Televised, for example, was the violence encountered by people such as the Freedom Riders in their effort to overturn segregation and prompt social acceptance of the Supreme Court decisions of the 1950s and the civil rights legislation of the 1960s. This would be followed by the emergence of the counterculture in the 1960s. Movements within the counterculture rejected the materialism and conformity of the American dream and instead adopted alternative lifestyles. The traditional notion of family composed of a husband, wife and two to three children also began to break down with the rise in divorce rates. Communal property and a refusal to participate in the mainstream workforce marked the hippie culture that originated in San Francisco. The economic downturn of the 1970s, led by the loss of industrial jobs, put the American dream further out of the reach of many Americans.