Down and Out or On Their Way: Street People, the Homeless, and College Students Envision the American Dream

Abstract

In this penultimate chapter the author and two colleagues present the results of interviews with street people and the homeless from a small city in western Washington, and online survey results from inquiries carried out by liberal arts students in a psychology research course. The interviews with the homeless document serious disenchantment with the American Dream and a disengagement from the dominant institutions of American society. The online survey results confirm the upward striving of liberal arts students and their social media contacts consistent with the strong achievement ethic within the American Dream.