Home
>
Success
>
The American Dream Model

The American Dream Model

The present model of business and career motivation, the one most closely associated with the "American Dream" which emphases enterpreuneurship, individual achievement, competition, and domination has been around for at least the last 50 years . Up to the mid 20th century, the predominant prosperity model was the Calvinist work ethic originally derived from the Puritan. The Calvinist work ethic emphasized hard work, saving for the future, and foregoing vacations, paying bills in cash, and foregoing luxuries to save for a rainy day. On the other, the motivation for moneymaking is no longer saving for the future, but, what Thornstein Veblen, the famous 19th century economist characterized as "conspicuous consumption." Luxury homes, luxury cars, fancy electronic gadgets, and exotic vacations create the illusion of wealth. The philosophy of the Amway Corporation, now known as Quixtel in the U. S. is a good illustration of the concepts involved.

Amway Corporation is a direct selling organization that produces and markets products using a Multilevel Marketing system (or MLM for short). Multilevel marketing is a form of direct selling in which manufacturers authorize independent contractors to sell their products directly to consumers, bypassing intermediaries and retail stores. Using the garage or a spare bedroom as a warehouse and a home office as a business hub, a distributor makes a profit by buying wholesale from his or her company and selling to customers at retail prices. MLM is also a recruiting business. A distributor is permitted to sign up other individuals to become part of his company's distribution force--and is paid a commission on the wholesale product purchases made by recruits. Both methods then furnish consumers with new options in acquiring consumer items they desire.

The motivator for work and sole measure of success measured is money and the goods that money can buy:

This is a business, and a main reason people work at any business is to earn money that not only will help them pay their bills, but also meet other goals. Those may be short- or long-term goals, and they could be large (like buying a new house) or small (like saving for a vacation).

A better standard of living is a common motivation and reward for people starting any kind of business. Money - and what it can buy - is the universally recognizable indicator of success that distributors use to motivate and establish credibility for their business.

http://www.amway.com/InfoCenter/questions/question20.asp

Another important aspect of this success model is that one has only one self's to blame for one's own success for failure. And yet given the low success rate in Amway, "...the data from one investigative report reveal that only 1,000 of over 200,000 distributors ever achieved the rank of Direct Distributor or higher," it is also quite clear that the company does not offer success to anyone who enters the business [Bromley, 1995:151]. How can all these well-meaning people not succeed?

The only ideologically accepted explanation is that these well-meaning people had no commitment to "the dream." The product is irrelevant. It is keeping the dream alive and resisting everything that could possibly rob one of The American Dream that counts. For "the dream" is God's blessing, the divine will, the American Way, family, morality, and the free-enterprise system. Hence, The American Dream becomes a cardinal article of faith, a foundation stone of America's civil religion. [Striker 1984: 128]As Streiker describes it, the product lines in Amway come to signify and reveal something central to the growth of the company and the role of ideology.

Amway is a performance-based business that rewards people in direct proportion to their effort. The bigger the financial goal, the more time and effort a distributor will need to put into his or her business. With an Amway business, a distributor can work as much or little as he or she likes. The rewards are based directly on the distributor's accomplishments.

Recently, the American success model has been taken a battering. The competition for business markets and jobs is stiff . The faith in business has been eroded by corporate fraud scandals, massive layoffs, and outsourcing. However, at least for now, it remains the predominant success model in today's America.

About The Author

Janet K. Ilacqua is a freelance writer based in Tracy, California. She specializes in academic writing and ghostwriting of books and manuals for individuals and small businesses. For more information about her services, check her website at http://www.writeupondemand.com.

http://www.writeupondemand.com

best cleaning company Highland Park ..

In The News:

MIT develops needle-free glucose monitor using light technology. Revolutionary device could replace painful finger pricks for diabetes management.

The ClickFix campaign disguises malware as legitimate Windows updates, using steganography to hide shellcode in PNG files and bypass security detection systems.

Researchers from Osaka Metropolitan University designed a 21-foot dome that combines aquaculture and hydroponics to create a self-sustaining urban food system.

The Fox News AI Newsletter gives readers the latest AI technology advancements, covering the challenges and opportunities AI presents.

ChatGPT data breach exposes personal info of users through partner Mixpanel. OpenAI confirms names, emails compromised in security incident.

Android rolls out Emergency Live Video for 911 calls, letting dispatchers see real-time scenes during emergencies. Great for holiday travel safety.

Malicious Chrome and Edge extensions collected browsing history, keystrokes and personal data from millions of users before Google and Microsoft removed them.

Google's new Call Reason feature lets Android users mark calls as urgent before dialing, displaying an urgent label to recipients using Phone by Google app.

Medical history made as surgeons successfully restore sight to legally blind patient using world's first 3D printed corneal implant grown from human cells.

Data brokers aggressively collect your holiday shopping data to fuel scams and targeted ads. Learn how to delete your digital profile before 2025 starts.

Scammers are sending fake MetaMask wallet verification emails using official branding to steal crypto information through phishing links and fraudulent domains.

Learn what background permissions, push notifications, security updates, auto-join networks and app refresh mean to better manage your phone's privacy settings.

Criminals test stolen data by applying for deposit accounts in victims' names to prepare bigger attacks. Learn why banks won't share fraud details.

New study of 10,500+ kids reveals early smartphone ownership linked to depression, obesity, and poor sleep by age 12. Earlier phones mean higher risks.

A phone phishing attack compromised Harvard's alumni and donor database, marking the second security incident at the university in recent months.

AutoFlight's zero-carbon floating vertiport uses solar power to charge eVTOL aircraft while supporting emergency response, tourism, and marine energy maintenance.

A new phone return scam targets recent buyers with fake carrier calls. Learn how criminals steal devices and steps to protect yourself from this fraud.

New Anthropic research reveals how AI reward hacking leads to dangerous behaviors, including models giving harmful advice like drinking bleach to users seeking help.

The Fox News AI Newsletter gives readers the latest AI technology advancements, covering the challenges and opportunities AI presents.

Holiday email scams, including non-delivery fraud and gift card schemes, spike in November and December, costing victims hundreds of millions, the FBI says.

Holiday visits offer the perfect opportunity to help older parents with technology updates, scam protection and basic troubleshooting skills for safer digital experiences.

Swiss scientists create grain-sized robot that surgeons control with magnets to deliver medicine precisely through blood vessels in medical breakthrough.

Researchers exploited WhatsApp's API vulnerability to scrape 3.5 billion phone numbers. Learn how this massive data breach happened and protect yourself.

Travel companies share passenger data with third parties during holidays, but travelers can protect themselves by removing data from broker sites and using aliases.

Xpeng's humanoid robot moves so realistically that crowds believed it was fake, marking a major advancement in robotics technology ahead of 2026 commercial launch.

The American Dream Model

Success