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What the American Dream looked like the decade you were born

How the American Dream has changed
1940s: Rebuilding the nation
1940s: Rebuilding the nation
1940s: Rebuilding the nation
1940s: Rebuilding the nation
1940s: Rebuilding the nation
1950s: Postwar prosperity
1950s: Postwar prosperity
1950s: Postwar prosperity
1950s: Postwar prosperity
1950s: Postwar prosperity
1960s: Making the dream available to all
1960s: Making the dream available to all
1960s: Making the dream available to all
1960s: Making the dream available to all
1960s: Making the dream available to all
1970s: Personal wealth and progress
1970s: Personal wealth and progress
1970s: Personal wealth and progress
1970s: Personal wealth and progress
1980s: An age of excess
1980s: An age of excess
1980s: An age of excess
1980s: An age of excess
1990s: Transformed by technology
1990s: Transformed by technology
1990s: Transformed by technology
1990s: Transformed by technology
1990s: Transformed by technology
2000s: Changing hopes and aspirations
2000s: Changing hopes and aspirations
2000s: Changing hopes and aspirations
2000s: Changing hopes and aspirations
Today: No single American Dream?
Today: No single American Dream?
Today: No single American Dream?
Today: No single American Dream?
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How the American Dream has changed

The phrase 'American Dream' was officially coined 90 years ago in a book called The Epic of America by James Truslow Adams. He argued it was "that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement." With that in mind, click or scroll through to see what the American Dream has looked like in every decade since the 1940s.

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Frances Carruthers

22 July 2024

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