Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Tables and Figures
- Notes on Contributors
- 1 Introduction: Everyday Life in (Post-)Neoliberal Latin America
- 2 Imaginaries, Sociability and Cultural Patterns in the Post-Neoliberal Era: A Glance at the Argentinean, Paraguayan, and Venezuelan Experiences
- 3 Making Neoliberal Selves: Popular Psychology in Contemporary Mexico
- 4 From Uribe’s “Democratic Security” to Santo’s Peace Accords with the FARC: Hate, Fear, Hope and other Emotions in Contemporary Colombian Politics
- 5 Cine Bajo Tierra: Ecuador’s Booming Underground Cinema in the Aftermath of the Neoliberal Era
- 6 Neoliberalising Humanity: Culture and Popular Participation in the Case of the Street Market of Caruaru, Brazil
- 7 The Contribution of the Catholic Magazine Espacio Laical and the Constitution to the Cuban Public Sphere
- 8 Argentina: The Philosophical Resistance to the Conquest of the Soul1
- 9 Fleeing (Post-)Chávez Memories: The 1990s and the Black Friday Generation
- 10 Re-imagined Community: The Mapuche Nation in Neoliberal Chile
- 11 Neoliberalism and the Negotiation of the American Dream in Contemporary Latina Narratives
- 12 Bare Life in Contemporary Mexico: Everyday Violence and Folk Saints
- Index
11 - Neoliberalism and the Negotiation of the American Dream in Contemporary Latina Narratives
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 April 2022
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Tables and Figures
- Notes on Contributors
- 1 Introduction: Everyday Life in (Post-)Neoliberal Latin America
- 2 Imaginaries, Sociability and Cultural Patterns in the Post-Neoliberal Era: A Glance at the Argentinean, Paraguayan, and Venezuelan Experiences
- 3 Making Neoliberal Selves: Popular Psychology in Contemporary Mexico
- 4 From Uribe’s “Democratic Security” to Santo’s Peace Accords with the FARC: Hate, Fear, Hope and other Emotions in Contemporary Colombian Politics
- 5 Cine Bajo Tierra: Ecuador’s Booming Underground Cinema in the Aftermath of the Neoliberal Era
- 6 Neoliberalising Humanity: Culture and Popular Participation in the Case of the Street Market of Caruaru, Brazil
- 7 The Contribution of the Catholic Magazine Espacio Laical and the Constitution to the Cuban Public Sphere
- 8 Argentina: The Philosophical Resistance to the Conquest of the Soul1
- 9 Fleeing (Post-)Chávez Memories: The 1990s and the Black Friday Generation
- 10 Re-imagined Community: The Mapuche Nation in Neoliberal Chile
- 11 Neoliberalism and the Negotiation of the American Dream in Contemporary Latina Narratives
- 12 Bare Life in Contemporary Mexico: Everyday Violence and Folk Saints
- Index
Summary
Latinos and the persistence of the American Dream
The present chapter seeks to contribute to this volume by examining the ways in which elements of neoliberalism are presented and assessed in the works of contemporary Latino fiction writers in the US. Although it is possible to often find competing definitions of neoliberalism in the media and academic literature, we broadly define neoliberalism here as an economic philosophy that favors free market competition, limited or minimal government intervention in economic and social affairs, and unrestricted international trade and finance as the best way to achieve economic growth and economic prosperity (Palley, 2004; Harvey, 2005). In the US, neoliberalism's earliest, most vocal and prominent supporters included the Business Roundtable, the Heritage Foundation, the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, Milton Friedman, and the Chicago School of Economics (Harvey, 2005). Since the 1980s neoliberalism has been, to varying degrees, the leading economic philosophy in American political life (Monbiot, 2016).
Neoliberalism's influence in the US has not been limited to economic policy. As an economic ideology, neoliberalism has had a profound impact in modern American cultural life due in part to its overlap with some of the basic tenets of the American Dream cultural narrative. As a utopian ideal, the American Dream narrative has historically served as a central ethos of American aspirations about class mobility and economic success. Novelist Thomas Wolfe emphasized this possibility of material gain as a central component of the American Dream in You Can't Go Home Again:
So, then, to every man his chance—to every man, regardless of his birth, his shining, golden opportunity—to every man the right to live, to work, to be himself, and to become whatever thing his manhood and his vision can combine to make him—this, seeker, is the promise of America. (Wolfe, 2011, p.508)
Although there has been much criticism as to whether the promise of class mobility and financial success embedded in the dream could be reached today, or whether it was ever realistically attainable by the majority of the US population, the American Dream remains a potent narrative in contemporary America. This dream continues to inspire many citizens and immigrants alike to work hard and aspire to attain a higher income, a prestigious job, home-ownership, as well as economic security and independence (Hochschild, 1995).
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- Information
- A Post-Neoliberal Era in Latin America?Revisiting Cultural Paradigms, pp. 221 - 242Publisher: Bristol University PressPrint publication year: 2019