Dream Hoarders: How the American Upper Middle Class Is Leaving Everyone Else in the Dust, Why That Is a Problem, and What to Do About It

Richard Reeves argues that the American upper middle class—the top twenty percent of earners—secures its status through structural mechanisms that stifle social mobility. He moves beyond the usual focus on the top one percent to highlight how "dream hoarding" practices, such as exclusionary zoning, legacy admissions in higher education, and unpaid internships, create an unfair advantage for the children of the affluent. The book details how this demographic uses political influence and market power to protect their neighborhoods and schools, effectively pulling up the ladder behind them and widening the gap between themselves and the bottom eighty percent of the population.

This book serves readers interested in socioeconomic policy, urban planning, and the mechanics of inequality. It targets professionals who may unknowingly participate in the systems Reeves describes, challenging them to recognize their own role in maintaining class barriers. Readers gain a clear understanding of how local regulations and educational preferences distort the meritocracy. They finish the text with a set of specific policy proposals, including tax reform and the abolition of legacy preferences, intended to restore competitive fairness to the American economy.