The American Dream is often and can be described as the opportunity to lay the foundation for your future, while making something of yourself. With America now being a melting pot, regardless of your ethnicity, you have the opportunity to achieve anything you want in life just like anyone else. Those who have sacrificed financial and family factors come to this country with little or no money, but are nevertheless driven to demonstrate perseverance to achieve success and wealth. In order to realize their vision of the American Dream, they must have the motivation and resilience for the struggle that goes with it. If it is lacking or lacking, it is simply a dream. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an Original Essay This American dream that we all dream of is achievable, and everyone has the opportunity to do something with the cards they have been dealt; some may require more work and mental strength. Some of the barriers one may face are social class (working poor, middle class, etc.), with the most common now being ethnic origin/association. Equality comes in many forms, but it's not always the case and so you need to have extra motivation and thick skin to achieve it. The struggle to achieve success can often take a toll on a person's mental state, such as feeling like a failure for not achieving it or seeing no progress toward achieving it. In most cases, it's not always the person who works endlessly hard, there are still obstacles working against them, often inequalities due to ethnic stereotypes and ignorance. Social stratification refers to the ranking of a society's socioeconomic levels based on factors such as wealth, income, race, education, and power (Lumen Learning, "Introduction to Sociology"). In the United States, everyone feels like everyone is equal, whereas before, equality was only to a certain extent. While the belief of hard work ethic and one's abilities, it is not biased treatment or societal qualities that decide one's social status. Personal effort promotes the belief that individuals control their own social class with which they associate. Despite sociologists who believe that stratification is not only based on individual disadvantages, but also on effective inequalities that depend on the collection of group enrollments, classes, etc. The structure of how society influences an individual's social status. Although people may support or combat inequality, social stratification is created and supported by society at large. Although social class does not define a person's identity, as a social system, stratification divides people at the unit level. Stratification is an institutionalized and intersectional form of inequality. Elites maintain inequality for their own benefit, prohibiting many of the most talented and intelligent people from making favorable contributions to society and sometimes giving enormous powers to less talented and less intelligent people. Even when some people manage to move up the rankings, this situation is so rare that the elites still manage to maintain control, and the possibility of mobility ensures that the excluded remain docile: they assume that if they do not succeed, it is is their own fault. My personal beliefs are similar to Christopher McAll's thoughts