Американская мечта и возможность её осуществления в России (The American Dream like a social phenomenon and the possibility of it's realization in Russia)

Самарский Медико-технический лицей Научно-практическая конференция учащихся Секция: Английский язык The American Dream like a social phenomenon and the possibility of it's realization in Russia. Ниц Маргарита Андреевна 10 медицинский Самарский Медико-технический лицей Научный руководитель Несмелова Елена Борисовна Самара 2007 Contents Introduction……………………………………………………………………….3 The American Dream like a social phenomenon……………………………...….4 Criticism if the American

dream…………………………………………….........7 The Russian mentality and the "Russian dream"…………………………………8 The comparative analysis of values of the American and Russian young men………………………………………………………………………………..10 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………..15 References………………………………………………………………………..16 Introduction The United States of America nowadays holds leading positions in the most important parts of business, economics and scientific explorations in the western world. A country that inspired many appellations – “Land of Opportunity”, “Melting Pot”,

“God’s country” is still referred to people as a land of superlatives - “the richest”, “the greatest”, “the most”. The American’s style of life, which is based on the idea of realization of the American dream, becomes more and spread all over the world. America’s culture, formed not long times ago, has already extended along many countries. The Russian Federation is not the exception as during the period of the last 16 years Russian traditional culture has changed much because of Western one. After perestroika, when the borders became opened and the Western civilization burst into our country, many Russian people began taking the style of life and habits of citizens of foreign countries and adopting them to ours. The greatest influence had the USA. Many

young people were impressed by the original and sometimes inadmissible for a soviet citizen way of life in America, by the wealth of American citizens, by their rights and freedoms. They wanted to reach the same prosperity and that’s why they began spontaneously copying different aspects of American culture. This brought lots of pluses: the people became more determined and ambitious, they got acquainted with modern techniques, and people got the opportunity of communicating with foreigners that broadened their outlook. That was the useful influence, bur there was also the bad one. Very often young people couldn’t take right from wrong that lead to very unpleasant consequences. In the 90’s there was a rapidly increasing number of addicts, AIDS sick persons, teenager’s

pregnancies and crimes. Nowadays the situation in Russia is not the same, but the problem of Western, especially American influence is still actual. In my work I will find out the core of the term “American Dream” and will find out the possibility of its realization in nowadays Russian reality. I will also compare the perspectives on life and interests of young Americans and Russians in order to find out if they are common or not. I .The American dream like a social phenomenon The American Dream is a subjective term usually implying a meaningful, successful and satisfying life. This term usually implies financial security and material comfort, but can also imply a dream of fame, exceeding social, ethnic, or class boundaries, or simply living a fulfilling life. Perceptions of