Linguistic Reflection of the “American Dream” in the Concept “Success”

This article examines the representation of the concept of «success» using contextual and component analysis methods. The relevance of the article's topic is determined by the popularity of studying success across various disciplines such as cultural studies, philosophy, psychology, and sociology. The aim of the article is to study and describe the active layer of the concept. «Success» is considered one of the most significant concepts in American linguistic culture, exhibiting high verbalization in speech. The authors emphasize the importance of studying the active layer of the concept and comparing it with the etymological layer to trace changes in societal attitudes towards the concept over time and their reflection in language. Contextual analysis identified two groups of lexemes representing the concept based on semantic criteria: «personal success» and «professional success», as well as the important component of «money». Considering the popularity of the phenomenon of success in modern society, the author believes it is necessary to differentiate success into groups and categories, as there are no limitations in linguistic consciousness to defining success; each individual sees success through the prism of their own experience and worldview. By distinguishing between «professional success» and «personal success», the importance of success in two main areas of human life is emphasized. While professional success has relatively common criteria in society, personal success is variable and represented by a wide range of criteria and thematic groups.