The superhighway to serfdom: how false social norms marketing is hijacking the American Dream

Abstract

This dissertation is a qualitative meta-analysis of contemporary and historical literature and other media. The findings suggest that Americans in the late 20th and early 21st centuries tend to both overwork and to suffer from their working conditions. This propensity for overwork appears to be driven by a need to overconsume, which is driven in circular fashion by the fear of losing one's job or of positioning one's children to be either underemployed or unemployed - in essence, the fear of failing. The result seems to be that rather than achieving the American Dream, many Americans are caught on an endless treadmill of serfdom while an elite few reap the benefits. Religious, political, and economic trends are examined as underlying and mutually supporting structures used by the elite to keep people on the treadmill. Chief among the tactics used to achieve this appears to be a process referred to as false social norms marketing. The mechanisms of and the technique for using this process are revealed, followed by an analysis of what a good, decent, free, and just society would be, including suggestions derived from the meta-analysis for positioning America to better fulfill the American Dream.