What impact does the narrative of "the American Dream" have?

It is Sunday morning. I wake up and look at my phone. Like most days I am bombarded with an array of information, including this article about a 23-year-old self-made millionaire...

The article made me think about the narrative of ‘meritocracy’ and how many of our students will access similar information on a daily basis. The article is about Linsey Donavan, who is a self-made millionaire through modelling and real estate. The article casually talks through her self-made wealth, what she buys and where she goes. This article would be a good starter for a debate relating to lots of sociology lessons. We could link it to strain theory, mass culture, high/low culture, consumption / identity, poverty, gender, ideology, meritocracy, the myth of meritocracy and so much more.

Have a look at the original article in The Sun, here.