ABSTRACT
To understand the modern world, we must recognize the inherent connections between coloniality (including the emergence of world capitalism, nation-states, and white supremacy/Euro-dominance) and the founding and rise of the U.S. as a hegemonic power. Working in synchrony, these developments have constituted the modern world system. This process had global significance, material manifestation, and relevancy to the 20th-century concept known as the American Dream. By the mid-20th century, the U.S. was the number-one world power, forced to consider how contradictions within its own borders reflected on its position as the world leader. Enter the rhetoric of the existence of an “American” dream, presumed to be the goal and accessible to all. This chapter explores the foundations of this idea as it is increasingly challenged by the contemporary crises of great magnitude. For whom was and wasn't this dream a reality? What purpose did this rhetoric serve – does it still? What is the current status of this yearning?
