What is the “American Dream”? While it is most often used to
denote the American aspiration of economic success, the phrase means
many things, including conflicting visions. The phrase eludes simple
definition but has an enormous impact on our ideals of freedom,
equality, prosperity and opportunity.  Going to college is seen by
many as instrumental in achieving the American Dream. Yet, just as
not everyone goes to college, not everyone partakes of the American
Dream. The class will begin by analyzing various political concepts,
including the concepts of freedom, happiness and opportunity. The aim
will be to teach students how to conceptually analyze terms. After
getting an understanding of what the concept of the American Dream
means, the class will look at how the concept is communicated in
various ways. The way the concept is communicated in various formats
tells us a lot about the medium of communication, as well who is
giving the message, their motivations and the intended audience. The
class will look at the way the phrase is communicated in a number of
different medium, including advertising, on the WWW, in films and
documentaries, in TV shows, in music, through photography, in
speeches, by the press, as a form of nostalgia in popular culture, in
sports and as a destination.