Everyone finds justification for his or her views in logic and analysis, but a personal philosophy often emerges from some archaic part of the mind, an early idea of how the world should be.
George PackerRead
As America has grown less economically equal, a citizen's ability to move upward has fallen behind that of citizens in other Western democracies. We are no longer the country where anyone can become anything.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote highlights the decline of economic mobility in America compared to other Western democracies.
George Packer's quote reflects on the troubling reality that, as economic inequality has increased in the United States, the opportunities for individuals to improve their socio-economic status have diminished. This shift signifies a loss of the American Dream, where the ideal that 'anyone can become anything' is increasingly becoming a challenging aspiration, overshadowed by systemic barriers and disparities.
Themes
Economic EqualityUpward MobilityAmerican DreamInequalityOpportunity
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in discussions about socioeconomic policies during a community meeting.
More from George Packer
All quotes →Ideology knows the answer before the question has been asked. Principles are something different: a set of values that have to be adapted to circumstances but not compromised away.
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At the heart of the matter is a battle between wish and fear. Fear generally proves stronger than a wish, but it leaves a taste of disappointment on the tongue.
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The invisibility of work and workers in the digital age is as consequential as the rise of the assembly line and, later, the service economy.
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Abstract sympathy with the working class as an economic entity is easy, but the feeling can vanish on contact with actual members of the group, who often arrive with disturbing beliefs and powerful resentments - who might not sound or look like people urban progressives want to know.
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Even while writing about foreign places, I have been in a way writing about America, because that's the subject that interests me the most. I'm attached to it, critical, but it's definitely my country, and maybe even more so when I'm overseas.
George PackerRead
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