Waking from the American Dream—Transformations in American Society, Politics and Culture

The American dream has been a central pillar in the building of American society from the Founding Fathers to the present day. In his acceptance speech as president-elect Barack Obama talked of the need to 'reclaim the American dream'. This book takes the Obama presidency as a launch pad in order to track the changes that have occurred in American society, politics and culture since the founding of the republic. The authors argue that in a country fighting two wars and with historic levels of national, budget and consumer debt Americans actually need to wake up from the American dream and to reinvent the nation as a progressive force in future global politics. This is an interdisciplinary study drawing on current research in politics, sociology and history . The book isthematically organized, covering, inter alia, the idea of of American exceptionalism from de Tocqueville to Lipset, the origins and structure of the American polity, multiculturalism and identity , social stratification, religion and culture, political economy and America's global role.

Andreas Hess is Senior Lecturer in Sociology at University College Dublin. He is the author or editor of eight books including American Social and Political Thought: A Reader (2003) and American Social and Political Thought: A Concise Introduction (2001).

Gerard Boucher is Lecturer in Sociology at the University of the West of Scotland.