Declining Fortunes: The Withering of the American Dream, 1989-1990

This was a study about the Baby Boom generation in pursuit of \"the American dream.\" The study was focused on the experiences of sixty men and women who graduated from high school in 1970 and 1980 from one typical, suburban, northern New Jersey town. Over the course of two years, the graduates, their parents, high school teachers and guidance counselors were interviewed, for a total of 150 respondents. Participants came from a variety of economic and religious backgrounds, and were predominantly white with college educations. They spoke about downward mobility, job loss, divorce, single parenthood and family structure, also giving outlines of their life stories. Audio Data Availability Note: This study contains audio data that have been digitized. There are 178 audio files available.

本研究围绕追寻“美国梦”的婴儿潮一代（Baby Boom generation）展开。研究聚焦于新泽西州北部一座典型城郊小镇中，于1970年和1980年高中毕业的60名男女毕业生。研究周期为两年，共对上述毕业生及其父母、高中教师与升学顾问进行访谈，最终受访总人数达150名。参与者来自多元的经济与宗教背景，主体为拥有大学学历的白人群体。受访者不仅分享了各自的人生经历梗概，还谈及了阶层下滑（downward mobility）、失业、离婚、单亲养育与家庭结构等议题。音频数据可用性说明：本研究包含已数字化的音频数据，共计178个音频文件。