When you think of the term “American Dream,” maybe Manifest Destiny comes to mind, or a family gathered around the dinner table, or a bustling city, a luxury car, and a successful corporate position. However you define it, an increasing amount of people say they no longer believe in the American Dream.

CNN reported on Monday that fewer young people than ever before had responded to CNN’s poll, expressing discouragement and skepticism about their ability to achieve the American Dream.

The poll asked whether “people who want to get ahead can make it if they’re willing to work hard.” In 2016, 67% of respondents affirmed that was the case. This year, only 54% affirm such a statement. In addition, 54% of Americans under the age of 45 believed that “hard work and determination are no guarantee of success for most people,” while only 41% of people above 45 said they believed that statement. These numbers reflect very similarly across party lines with both Republicans and Democrats showing similar disparities between young and old.

CNN and Forbes agree that the problem is the economy. As young people are entering the workforce and struggling to work their way up the corporate ladder amid student debt and a rapidly changing economy, they are growing increasingly discouraged.

But these numbers are indicative of a much deeper problem. The definition of the American Dream has changed, reflecting a corresponding change in worldview.

James Truslow Adams, the man who originally coined the term “American dream” in his book “Epic of America” in 1931, defined it as “… the dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for every man, with opportunity for each according to his ability or achievement.” But Adams went on to say that this was not merely a financial dream. It was “… a dream of a social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest statute of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position. … It has been a dream of being able to grow to the fullest development as man and woman…”

Adams essentially defined the American Dream as “pulling yourself up by your bootstraps,” but not merely in an economic sense. The American Dream meant creating a fulfilling life for yourself and your family.

“The American dream was spelled out in the Declaration of Independence,” commented Family Research Council’s Director of FRC Action Matt Carpenter. “[I]t’s the idea that America would be a nation where all its citizens would be free to enjoy ‘Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness’ — as their Creator would allow them.”

Back in the time of the Puritans, the enjoyment of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness centered mainly around traditional biblical values.

In John Winthrop’s speech to the general court on July 3, 1645, he made a distinction between natural liberty and civil liberty, well known to those who study the political philosophy of the Puritans. Natural liberty, according to Winthrop, “is a liberty to evil as well as to good.” It is simply having the liberty to do whatever one desires, whether that be having a family, becoming a millionaire, or attending a Pride parade. “The exercise and maintaining of this liberty makes men grow more evil, and in time to be worse than brute beasts,” Winthrop warned. “This is that great enemy of truth and peace, that wild beast, which all of the ordinances of God are bent against, to restrain and subdue it.”

The liberty Winthrop exhorted his listeners to practice was civil liberty, which simply meant the liberty to do what was right. “[I]t is a liberty to that only which is good, just, and honest,” in Winthrop’s words. He believed the best tools to encourage citizens to religious liberty were moral and just laws derived from Scripture. Thus, the Puritan societies centered around traditional nuclear families and encouraged following laws and living moral lives in both the private and public spheres.

The Puritans’ political philosophy had an immense impact on our nation’s government and culture. The American dream — the enjoyment of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness — for most citizens included a family and a home for most of U.S. history. Finances were certainly a large aspect of that dream, but only insofar as they supported the family’s overall happiness and security.

That is, until the present.

The Sine Institute of Policy and Politics at American University released a report back in 2023, where they observed how younger generations had changed the definition of the American dream. “More measurable and visible accomplishments — especially financial success — are still important, but the traditional ‘white picket fence’ vision of marriage, children, and home ownership are less central than they once were,” the report stated.

So, in other words, the American dream has shifted from the idea of a happy and content family to the idea of corporate superiority and personal financial stability.

The director of Family Research Council’s Center for Biblical Worldview, David Closson, explained why this shift has happened. “In the last, let’s say, 25 years, the percentage of those who have a consistent biblical worldview has continually declined. George Barna’s most recent research shows that only 4% of Americans have a biblical worldview,” Closson observed.

“That biblical worldview gives you a vision for family. It gives you a vision for life, for community. … Gen Z, especially, who’s kind of grown up on social media, growing up on TikTok, they have a view of life that is increasingly disconnected from the view and vision of life that prior generations maybe had.”

Dr. Carl Trueman recognized the shift toward secularism and individualism in his book, “The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self,” where he pointed out that Americans’ view of self had shifted from thinking in relation to families and communities to simply themselves as individuals. In the average American’s mind, no one is more important than me.

Such a view results not only in a culture of narcissism, which Christopher Lasch observed in the 1970s, but also in discouragement and a spirit of skepticism. That is why many young Americans have started to no longer believe in the American dream. They have so little hope in their economy, their country, and even in their own lives. After all, a worldview centered entirely around the individual produces little to no satisfaction. All people are inherently sinners, and finding meaning in themselves naturally results in disillusionment and discouragement. 

“The result today is a generation of young people who struggle for meaningful relationships, struggle at work, struggle to afford a home, struggle to find a spouse, and more,” Carpenter said. “For sure, politicians can — and should — address these symptoms to give young people more time and resources to pursue meaning in their relationships, better work opportunities, and make housing more affordable, but they are powerless to do the one thing that can truly restore the American dream. That is, restore God to His proper place in the hearts and minds of every American. Only a national revival can actually restore the American dream.”

Evelyn Elliott serves as an intern at Family Research Council.