About book The European Dream: How Europe's Vision Of The Future Is Quietly Eclipsing The American Dream (2005)
I had very mixed feelings about this book when I read it. First, the truly positive ideas had to do with the nature of a society that is advancing out of a Capitalist regime. In particular, he seems to appreciate as few authors do, that the massive increase in production has led to a situation in which a lot of the behavioral effects of the “American Dream” may not make sense. In this regard, he does have a point with respect to the monetary side of the “American Dream” and the manner in which this differs from a European connotation of success which embodies a more quality of life perspective. He provides lots of great examples for how these differences play out, distribution of wealth, work hours, etc. He also provides an interesting set of inferences on how such came to be (i.e. the role of the gentry, a very different approach to the development of civic duty, etc…)However, I have to give this an average marking of 3 because of the manner in which he approached the argument, namely, by attempting to frame the argument as a US v. Europe issue. In doing so, a lot of the comparisons in the first ½ of the book are poorly substantiated to anecdotal at best. There is clearly a poor statistical treatment as his primary idea for the differences between the two nations is cultural. In doing so, he appears to ignore – or at the very least does not make mention that he accounted for, a number of fairly significant factors. For example, in his argument about the greater emphasis in Europe on “networks” he uses the example of greater cell phone build out vs. the US. However, the density of population per square mile in Europe far exceeds that of US which is primarily rural between the coasts. The US population at 200mm would need to be nearly 3x greater, which plays a huge implication on the profitability of build out. Hence, it could equally be the case that the Europe built out its network first, not because it is more network oriented, but because the ROC was higher.Another example used is higher levels of education, in which he uses % of GDP as the metric for the entire nation. Clearly the fairly homogenous countries of Europe are going to differ in needs relative to a more diverse US. Moreover, the density issues plays a role in the distribution of the GDP over the total population. He even notes that Europe is not homogenous, with very little immigration. Yet he fails to see how that might massively distort the ability to provide certain types of public services. It is unfortunate that the book was chosen to be framed in this manner as the conclusions he draws are quite elegant. He could have made the book less a comparison of the US v. Europe (which in his made requires that Europe be a leader to US). Instead, I would have preferred a book about an interesting phenomenon that he has noticed in Europe that would be interesting to implement in the US.
While Europe is generally underreported in today's media, the notion that it will become a superpower and eclipse the United States is one that ignores the economic and demographic realities of the continent. On the demographic front, most European populations have a birthrate worse than the PRC under its One Child Policy. This year, there are more people aged 55-64 than 15-24. In 1900 Europe contained 25% of the world's people, by 2050 it will comprise less than 7%. Worse, to make up for the loss, European states are importing culturally incompatible Muslims to make up for the lack of willingness to reproduce. All of this bodes ill for the future of Europe.On the economic front, the business climate of Europe is much less favorable as a whole than the United States. Growth rates and unemployment have been mostly worse in Europe for the past few decades, partially as a result of their more socialistic policies. History has shown that factors such as these do not produce superpowers. Rather than rising to challenge the United States, Europe is rapidly racing towards it grave. In the past it held the greatest of empires; these have been crumbling ever since they peaked.
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We read this book for class while I was in Germany. It's loaded with information, so it's a dense read, but it's mind-blowing. If you love European culture, read this book. If you want further information into the impact the European Union has and will make, read this book. Rifkin takes a comparative look at the geographic and historical differences between the rise of America into a superpower as opposed to and similar to Europe. These differences are now benefitting Europe and it's course into the future and hindering the USA. Europe is rapidly grasping the advantages of thinking like a global sphere and networking through technology and business and we need to hop on the band wagon. If you are truly open-minded, read this book.
—Alicia Suschena
