“How Bad Does it Have to Get?” How the Ideology of the American Dream Persists in an Era of Economic Insecurity by Jessica P. Wiederspan A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Social Work and Sociology) in the University of Michigan 2017 Doctoral Committee: Professor Emerita Sandra K. Danziger, Co-Chair Professor Alford A. Young, Jr., Co-Chair Professor Elizabeth A. Armstrong Associate Professor Sandra R. Levitsky Associate Professor Karen M. Staller Jessica P. Wiederspan [email protected] ORCID iD: 0000-0003-4771-7423 © 2017 – Jessica P. Wiederspan To Mark, who has been by my side every step of the way. ii Acknowledgments First, thank you to the individauls in Paulson and Williamstown who sat down with me – often for many hours at a time - and willingly and graciously shared the details of their lives. It takes a great deal of courage to sit down with a stranger and open up about your experiences, and I am so grateful to all of you for doing so. This work was made possible with funding from the National Science Foundation, Rackham Graduate School, the University of Michigan Sociology Department, the University of Michigan School of Social Work, and the W.K. Kellogg Family Foundation. I am fortunate to have benefitted from the guidance of an incredible dissertation committee, each of whom contributed to this project in different ways. My co-chairs, Sandy Danziger and Al Young, Jr., have stood by my side since I started graduate school in 2006 – through the ups, the downs, and everything in between. While they could have pushed me to finish more quickly or tried to guide the direction of this project, Al and Sandy gave me the freedom to conduct the dissertation I had envisioned and encouraged me to take the time I needed to finish. The faith they maintained in me throughout this process gave me the confidence to keep going. Karen Staller has also been by my side since the beginning of graduate school, serving as a consistent source of support. Her wisdom and encouragement played a pivotal role in my ability to complete this dissertation, especially toward the end of the process. I started working with Sandy Levitsky after already completing two drafts of my dissertation prospectus, and her feedback on the second draft helped me to write a third – and much improved - version. She has encouraged me to think about the project in new ways, and her insight and support have been iii invaluable. Elizabeth Armstrong taught me a great deal about conducting qualitative research, and I always left our conversations with new ideas about how to approach my work. She has been a consistent source of professional and personal support over the past four years, and her mentorship and guidance greatly enhanced my experience at Michigan. A number of other Michigan faculty members supported me and provided valuable advice and mentorship over the years, including Sarah Burgard, Peggy Somers, Karyn Lacy, Luke Shaefer, Kristin Seefeldt, Berit Ingersol-Dayton, Michael Spencer, Lorraine Gutierrez, and Laura Lein. Todd Huynh provided logistical support over the years, and I am grateful for his humor and grace. I was fortunate to receive incredible mentorship in my undergraduate years from the faculty at Nebraska Wesleyan University. Heather Bullock is perhaps the most pivotal faculty member in my journey to this degree: when I enrolled in her freshman seminar on poverty and inequality in the United States twenty years ago, I had no idea how much it would change my life. Thanks to Heather, I decided to pursue a doctoral degree and study poverty and economic inequality. Although we were at the same institution for a only short time, she truly changed my life. I am also grateful to John Vermeer, Bob Oberst, and Kelly Eaton for their rich mentorship over the years. Sue Hinrichs was my supervisor at Lincoln Action Program prior to coming to graduate school, and I benefitted greatly from her mentorship, humor, and wisdom. A number of individuals helped me initate contacts with my participants. I will not include their names in these acknowledgments in order to maintain the anonymity of my research sites, but I am extremely grateful for their assistance. I also worked with a number of fantastic undergraduate research assistants on this project – Amol Carvalho, Sal DiGioia, Justin Williams, Emily Fisher, and Essence Gray. iv I am fortunate to have made many incredible friends in graduate school who made this experience one of the best of my life: Jane Rochmes, Jumin Kim, and Jessi Streib – also known as the “J Crew” - Sasha Killewald, Amy Cooter, Alice Gates, Anju Paul, Alix-Gould Werth, Spencer Garrison, Tova Neugut, Emily Bosk- Schoolman, Betsy Bringewatt, Charity Hoffman, Katie Bernstein, Carrie Clarady, and Dan Hirschman. Thank you for brightening my days in immeasurable ways over the past 11 years, and providing advice, encouragement, collaboration, and companionship. I am especially grateful to Dana Levin, Jonah Siegel, Sara Crider, Jamie Budnick, Kellie Magnuson, Abi Beatty, Tania DeSostoa McCue, and Erin Hunter. Your friendship, love, and steadfast support over the past few years played an essential role in my ability to complete this project. A special thank you to Sarah Mackey, Nicole-Derusha Mackey, and Devin Addington, who provided me with invaluable support during the most difficult stages of this dissertation process. You helped me to keep going when the mountain seemed impossibly high to climb, and I am forever grateful for your friendship, wisdom, humor, and comfortable brown couch. Kristin Somers has been my best friend for 30 years, and although we never lived in the same place while I was in graduate school, she was always very interested in how the dissertation was progressing and served as a sounding board at every stage of the process. Most importantly, she has been there for me through thick and thin, and her love and support over the past three decades have left an indelible mark on my life. Sara Lee (and her daughter Maddie and husband Matt) have been such a bright spot in our lives these past two years in Arizona. Sara spent countless hours brainstorming with me about the project and was always interested in hearing updates, reading drafts, and discussing the differences between German and American society. More than that, her constant encouragement, support, humor, and love played an intergral part in my ability to finish this project. Beth Rhodes was one of the first people I met during orientation v at Michigan, and she has enhanced my life in so many ways over the past decade. She became a de facto member of our family in Ann Arbor, and I am so grateful we have been able to stay in daily contact despite living in different states. Beth edited many of the chapters in this dissertation, even when she was overwhelmed with her own work - often waking up early or staying up late in order to send me her comments. There really aren’t words to express how grateful I am to her. I have been blessed with an incredible family who has supported me in myriad ways throughout this process. My maternal grandparents, Paula and Woody Varner, instilled in me a desire to make the world a better place through their words and actions. Although they are not alive to read this dissertation, their influence is on every page. I am also grateful to my paternal grandparents, Muriel and the late Bill Wilkins. My grandmother Muriel supported Mark, Anna, and me throughout graduate school, and was always interested in knowing how things were going. I have three very supportive aunts – Jo Wilkins-Burnham, Marita Burmeister, and Nancy Wiederspan – and their love, encouragement, and supportive text messages over the past few months – even when I only managed a one word response – meant the world to me. My in-laws Ann, Jim, and John Wiederspan provided ongoing encouragement, and my sister in law Lisa Wiederspan has been a constant support system, helping me remember that “we can do hard things.” My brother John Wilkins sent me daily emails for the past nine months reminding me to keep writing (and outlining) - and his love, encouragement, and humorous GIFs brightened my days. He is the strongest person I know. This project would not have been possible without my incredible parents, Mike and Sue Wilkins. The ways in which they have supported Mark, Anna, and I during this long dissertation journey are too many to count. Completing this project was like climbing a very tall mountain, and they were my calm and steadfast sherpas the vi entire time. There aren’t words to express my gratitude for you both – I am so fortunate to be your daughter. I have been working on this dissertation for my 6-year-old daughter Anna’s entire life: I started drafting my prospectus shortly after she was born, and turned in the final draft the week after she started first grade. Over those six years she has transformed from a tiny baby into an incredible little girl - kind, brave, and wise beyond her years. I feel so fortunate to be your mom, Anna, and your patience and love during this long process means more to me than you will ever know. Finally, this dissertation is dedicated to my husband, Mark, who has been by my side for the past 17 years. He completed his own dissertation – and held down the fort with Anna - while I was in Paulson and Williamstown doing interviews, and over the past two years he spent most weekends hanging out with her so I could work.