Presenter(s): Frankie Leonard
Faculty Mentor(s): Avinnash Tiwari
Oral Session 3 SW
Success, particularly in our society in the US, is a complex social construct that often determines the life an individual will lead. I have analyzed the ideas of power and wealth, and the effect that these elements have in determining the success of a person. These elements are key to understanding success in the US because they determine a person’s advantage and privilege. Often in neoliberal capitalist societies, many systems that give access to success, such as education, and inheritance, are predisposed toward people of a certain class, gender, and race. Essentially, success is a societal norm set in place by those who define people by the power and wealth they possess, a self replicating system that enforces keeping the privileged in power. Fallacies, such as the exercise fallacy and the vehicle fallacy prove how people can use their privilege to express power over others. I chose to analyze businessmen who supposedly portray the hallmark of the American success story because they fit the model of the neoliberal, capitalistic “American Dream.” In addition, I will discuss what lead to their wealth, and how their wealth morphed into power. Success can be defined as construct based on a measure of worth in a social context, imposed by a system dominated by whiteness, patriarchy, and class.