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[Audio] The term " American dream" was coined in a best-selling book in 1931 titled Epic of America. James Truslow Adams described it as "that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement." According to this statement the American dream is the belief that anyone, regardless of where they were born or what class they were born into, can attain their own version of success in a society in which upward mobility is possible for everyone. The American dream is believed to be achieved through sacrifice, risk-taking, and hard work, rather than by chance. The American dream was aided by several factors that gave the United States a competitive advantage over other countries. For instance, homeownership and education are often seen as paths to achieving the American dream. Though the definition of the American Dream has changed to mean different things to different generations, it's undoubtedly part of the American ethos, and likely always will be. We have chosen this topic because California is a very popular emigration destination and as we are doing our semester abroad at San Diego State University, we consider analyzing the meaning of the American dream being an appropriate topic. Many emigrants have managed to live the American Dream but there are a lot that have failed. Due to the dispute between extremely rich and extremely poor and the almost missing middle class, a very large gap between these two classes has been created. Our focus is to analyze how individuals perceive the American dream and what this term means for them..