Book contents
- Self-Made
- Self-Made
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- Contents
- Figures
- Preface
- A Word about Words
- Introduction
- 1 A New World of Ambition and Judgment
- 2 Self-Improvement for the Common Good in the Eighteenth Century
- 3 Work and Merit in a New Republic
- 4 The Politics of Self-Making in a Self-Made Nation
- 5 Forging Origins in Antebellum Stories
- 6 Character and Money in Mid-Century
- 7 Gilded Age Heroes
- 8 Competing Stories of Self-Help Before 1936
- 9 Stories Against the New Deal
- 10 Targeting the Common Good, 1950–2000
- 11 The Myth’s Twenty-First-Century Victories
- Acknowledgments
- Notes
- Index
10 - Targeting the Common Good, 1950–2000
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 30 October 2025
Book contents
- Self-Made
- Self-Made
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- Contents
- Figures
- Preface
- A Word about Words
- Introduction
- 1 A New World of Ambition and Judgment
- 2 Self-Improvement for the Common Good in the Eighteenth Century
- 3 Work and Merit in a New Republic
- 4 The Politics of Self-Making in a Self-Made Nation
- 5 Forging Origins in Antebellum Stories
- 6 Character and Money in Mid-Century
- 7 Gilded Age Heroes
- 8 Competing Stories of Self-Help Before 1936
- 9 Stories Against the New Deal
- 10 Targeting the Common Good, 1950–2000
- 11 The Myth’s Twenty-First-Century Victories
- Acknowledgments
- Notes
- Index
Summary
After 1960, well-funded campaigns advanced individualism and reduced support for community-based progressive programs, including Great Society programs. The term “meritocracy” spread quickly, adopted by progressives and conservatives alike. Conservatives asserted that unions, poverty, and public institutions manifested unwillingness to “work hard.” They argued that democracy depended on “free enterprise,” which they imagined could solve all problems. Economic and cultural turbulence energized organizations such as the US Chamber of Commerce and the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans. Ronald Reagan, George Gilder, Milton Friedman, and others flourished selling individualism. Their accusations of self-made failure shamed anyone who struggled against social or cultural circumstances, racial or gender inequalities, the results of globalization, or inadequate access to education and other opportunities. Presidents Reagan and Clinton both rejected the welfare state and demanded “personal responsibility,” an updated term for self-making. A constant refrain that taxes punish success also drew on the myth and painted the recipients of progressive programs as freeloaders.
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- Self-MadeThe Stories That Forged an American Myth, pp. 228 - 250Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2025
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