This one-page sheet provides a list of societies that have agreed to serve as forwarding centers for correspondence related to families in need in places without any charity organizations.

This one-page sheet provides a list of societies that have agreed to serve as forwarding centers for correspondence related to families in need in places without any charity organizations.

This one-page sheet provides a list of publications published by the foundation’s Charity Department.

This booklet, printed but not published by RSF, provides a list of charity organizations in the United States and Canada along with a selected list of foreign societies and US consuls.

This booklet, printed but not published by RSF, provides a list of charity organizations in the United States and Canada along with a selected list of foreign societies and US consuls.

This is the 1917 edition of the transportation agreement regulating the granting of free transportation and charity rates.

This booklet, issued in several editions for the Committee on Transportation of the National Conference of Charities and Correction, provides rules for the granting of free transportation and charity rates.

This article from Scribner’s Magazine was reprinted with permission by the Russell Sage Foundation. It discusses the growth of charity organizations in the United States. A note from the foundation indicates that the original article was illustrated and contained a sketch of New York City social agencies and tributes to the founders of those organizations.

JACOB A. RISS (1849–1914) was a journalist and social reformer.

This article from Scribner’s Magazine was reprinted with permission by the Russell Sage Foundation.  It discusses the growth of charity organizations in the United States. A note from the foundation indicates that the original article was illustrated and contained a sketch of New York City social agencies and tributes to the founders of those organizations.

JACOB A. RISS (1849–1914) was a journalist and social reformer.

“Debating the American Dream offers our most broadly satisfying account of Americans’ differing beliefs about economic inequality and the competing policy preferences that follow from them. Most importantly, it brings the country’s cultural ideals down from the clouds to engage with the realities of partisan politics. The book also offers valuable new takes on race, sex, and ideology in American politics. I expect it to be quickly recognized as a landmark contribution.”
—JOHN ZALLER, University of California, Los Angeles

“This is an all-around fabulous assessment of the place of the American Dream in American politics. It is truly a political analysis, because we get the history of the way parties and politicians have used the American Dream, as well as a thorough and nuanced investigation of when and how this rhetoric shows up in the thoughts of members of the public. Debating the American Dream is an indispensable tool for understanding the role of perceptions about inequality and mobility in contemporary U.S. politics.”
—KATHERINE CRAMER, University of Wisconsin–Madison

“In this powerful book, Elizabeth Suhay shows us how a key element of our shared national mindset—belief in the American Dream of inclusive economic opportunity—got swept up in the partisan polarization of the twenty-first century. Democrats and Republicans now disagree vehemently, not only about preferred economic policies, but also about the nature of economic reality. Debating the American Dream is a story with big implications for both political psychology and public policy.”
—LARRY M. BARTELS, Vanderbilt University

Faith in the American Dream—the idea that anyone who works hard can achieve success—has waned in the 21st century. Decreases in economic mobility, increases in the wealth gap, and other economic shifts have undoubtedly influenced this decline. Politics, however, are an overlooked contributor to confidence, or lack of confidence, in the American Dream. In Debating the American Dream, political scientist Elizabeth Suhay investigates how politics and political identity are intertwined with beliefs about the American Dream and the causes of inequality.

Drawing on public opinion surveys spanning more than four decades, Suhay finds that Americans’ belief in the American Dream is strongly related to their political party affiliation. Democratic Party leaders have increasingly questioned the fairness of the American economy, and, in effect, have called into question whether the American Dream is “real.” Republican Party leaders, by contrast, have consistently defended the fairness of the economy and the American
Dream. While it is true that Americans have become more skeptical of the American Dream overall, Suhay finds this skepticism is concentrated among Democratic members of the public. Despite the increasingly working-class make-up of the Republican coalition, most Republican members of the public continue to believe the American Dream is reality.

Suhay finds that both Democrats and Republicans tend to adhere to their party’s economic narratives when identifying the causes of inequality between rich and poor, White and Black and Latino Americans, and men and women. Democrats and liberals often attribute inequality between these groups to societal causes, such as lack of access to education and jobs or discrimination. Republicans and conservatives, on the other hand, are more likely to blame individuals and
lower-income groups for their difficulties. However, Americans’ beliefs are less polarized when they consider socioeconomic inequalities rarely debated by politicians. For example, when surveys ask Republicans and Democrats about the roots of rural-urban and White-Asian inequality, there is no clear unequal opportunity–individual responsibility partisan divide. Suhay argues that the availability of partisan “scripts” helps to explain differences in the public’s views on inequality between groups that have been politicized. These beliefs appear to bolster support for the two parties’ policy agendas among party supporters, driving a wedge between Democrats and Republicans in support for redistributive economic policy as well as the political candidates who support or oppose redistribution.

Debating the American Dream provides fascinating insights into politics’ role in Americans’ beliefs and attitudes concerning inequality.