Of Factories and Failures: Exploring the Invisible Factory Gates of Horatio Alger, Jr.

‘If you’re struggling to survive day-to-day’: Class optimism and contradiction in entrepreneurial discourse

“…division of labour) and Horatio Alger's 'Ragged Dick' stories from the early 1900s, American dream discourse spoke directly to young, white, boys or men. Alger's stories featured inquisitive, upstanding and lower-class boys who were fortuitous and also responsible enough to find themselves in the right place at the right time (Hendler, 1996;Nackenoff, 1992). Class mobility became the payoff in these stories, as the boys' decisions and actions (relative to, say, saving a boy who has fallen into a pond) would ultimately garner them respect and a modest reward, such as in the form of an entry-level company position.…”