Unlocking the American Dream

Mary Scherer, PhD
SHSU Assistant Professor of Sociology

Class hierarchy is inevitable in a capitalist society, but also at odds with the American founding ideal of democratic equality. Social mobility—the ability to move up (or down) in the hierarchy on one’s own merits—reconciles this contradiction. Social mobility is why our unequal society remains widely heralded as the land of opportunity.

Social mobility is the linchpin of the American Dream, often imagined as a rags-to-riches story. We’ve become disillusioned with this Horatio Alger-style American Dream and rightly so. Grit and a strong work ethic are no match for the increasingly steep and wobbly ladder from the bottom to the top. Modest increments of upward mobility, however, are far likelier and often what motivate students to attend college.

For those born at the lower end of the class hierarchy, a four-year college degree can be the difference between a paycheck-to-paycheck existence and economic stability. Social mobility is measured by income but entails a host of qualitative factors—job satisfaction and personal well-being among them. For instance, upward mobility can mean greater creativity and autonomy at work, which is correlated with more robust physical and mental health.

In today’s climate of unprecedented wealth accumulation by the top 0.1 percent, depressed wages and market instability, upward mobility is far from guaranteed, even for hard-working college graduates. Neither personal characteristics nor economic conditions can reliably predict a person’s chances of climbing the socioeconomic ladder.

In this climate, the role of individual institutions, including universities, has grown. As U.S. News and World Report’s addition of a social mobility ranking makes clear, colleges differ in their ability to deliver on the promise of social mobility through higher education.

As a sociologist of higher education and inequality, SHSU’s social mobility rank of No. 1 in Texas and No. 24 in the nation fills me with pride, deepens my commitment to our institutional mission and restores my faith that higher education can improve lives, even in these troubled times.

Mary Scherer serves as assistant professor of sociology in the SHSU College of Humanities and Social Sciences. Her research is focused on social inequality in higher education, specifically the effects of class-cultural background on students’ college academic experiences.