The Routledge Handbook on the American Dream: Volume 1

What do we mean by the American Dream? Can we define it? Or does any discussion of the phrase end inconclusively, the solid turned liquid – like ice melting? Do we know whether the American Dream motivates and inspires or, alternately, obscures and deceives? The Routledge Handbook on the American Dream offers distinctive, authoritative, original essays by well-known scholars that address the social, economic, historical, philosophic, legal, and cultural dimensions of the American Dream for the twenty-first century. The American Dream, first discussed and defined in print by James Truslow Adams' The Epic of America (1931), has become nearly synonymous with being American. Adams’ definition, although known to scholars, is often lost in our ubiquitous use of the term. When used today, the iconic phrase seems to encapsulate every fashion, fad, trend, association, or image the user identifies with the United States or American life. The American Dream’s ubiquity, though, argues eloquently for a deeper under-standing of its heritage, its implications, and its impact―to be found in this first research handbook ever published on the topic.

Robert C. Hauhart, Ph.D., J.D., is a professor in the Department of Society and Social Justice at Saint Martin’s University, Lacey, WA (USA). He is the author or co-editor of seven books and numerous published papers in sociology, literature, and education journals. In sociology, Professor Hauhart is a recognized scholar of the American Dream. His most recent books include The Lonely Quest: Constructing the Self in the Twenty-First Century United States (Routledge 2018) and Seeking the American Dream: A Sociological Inquiry (2016), nominated for the Pacific Sociological Association’s Distinguished Scholarship Award in 2017. In 2019 Professor Hauhart was a recipient of a Fulbright Scholar Award to teach and research the American Dream at the Postgraduate School and Research Centre of the Slovenian Institute of Sciences and Arts in Ljubljana. In literature, Professor Hauhart is a student of twentieth century American literature and, in particular, American Dream themes in American literature. He is the co-editor, with Jeff Birkenstein, of four volumes: American Writers in Exile (2015); Social Justice in American Literature (2017); European Writers in Exile (2018); and Dogs and Ladies: Connections and Influence in the Russian and American Short Story (In Press). In education, Professor Hauhart is the co-author, with Jon Grahe, Pacific Lutheran University, of Designing and Teaching the Undergraduate Capstone Course (2015).

Mitja Sardoč (PhD) is senior research associate at the Educational Research Institute in Ljubljana (Slovenia) where he is member of the ‘Educational Research’ program. His research interests and expertise include philosophy of education, political philosophy and education policy. He is author of scholarly articles and editor of a number of journal special issues on citizenship education, multiculturalism, toleration, equality of opportunity, radicalization and violent extremism, patriotism,the American Dream, neoliberalism and education, talents and distributive justice. He is Managing Editor of Theory and Research in Education and member of the editorial board of the CEPS Journal and Postdigital Science and Education. Between September and December 2019, he was a visiting fellow at the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies at the European University Institute in Florence (Italy). He is Editor-in-Chief of The Handbook of Patriotism and editor of The Impacts of Neoliberal Discourse and Language in Education to be published by Routledge (in 2021).