1800s: Martineau · Tocqueville · Marx · Spencer · Le Bon · Ward · Pareto · Tönnies · Veblen · Simmel · Durkheim · Addams · Mead · Weber · Du Bois · Mannheim · Elias Achievement ideology is the belief that one reaches a socially perceived definition of success through hard work and education.
In this view, factors such as gender, race/ethnicity, economic background, social networks, or neighborhoods/geography are secondary to hard work and education or are altogether irrelevant in the pursuit of success.
In 2002, Sandra L. Barnes,[1] offered that people who believe in the American achievement ideology most likely blame underachievement on attitudinal or moral differences among individuals.
Donna Y. Ford[2] sought to discover the differences in ideologies between male and female and gifted and nongifted African American students.
[4] Students who are raised in an atmosphere of underachievement, who often see previous generations and family members not succeed, will most likely internalize these values and perceive their own success as unlikely.
Jay MacLeod studied two groups of boys and young men who lived in a low-income neighborhood for his book, Ain't No Makin' It.
First, although the Hallway Hangers' parents wanted their children to do well, they knew from their own experience that encouraging high aspirations would only set them up for failure and disappointment.
Moreover, if the Hallway Hangers were to accept the achievement ideology, this would logically entail the belief that their parents had not succeeded financially because they were lazy or unintelligent.
Their racism sustained and in turn was bolstered by their sense that their own success was impeded because racial minorities received special treatment from programs such as Affirmative Action that gave Blacks an unfair advantage.
In addition to attributing inferiority to African Americans, the Hallway Hangers also scapegoated them, blaming them for taking all of the jobs that they, as white, believed they deserved.
Their belief in meritocracy, and their hard work in school, for a time allowed them to overcome the racism and class structures that defeated their aspirations in the outside world.
Though all the Brothers initially believe in the concept of the achievement ideology, as they enter the workforce, they find themselves subject to the racism and classism that they had previously underestimated.
According to MacLeod, several of the Brothers still retained faith in the achievement ideology, but were "hard pressed to parlay their academic credentials into economic prosperity"[14] given the enduring structural and cultural inequality.