Research Resource: Weaving the Dream
Title: Weaving the Dream: How Opportunity and Personal Agency Can Shape a Common Vision for America
Source: More in Common (2025)
Link: Read the full report →
Summary:
Weaving the Dream explores how Americans—across race, class, and political identity—hold a shared belief in the power of "morally directed agency": the conviction that individuals should have both the freedom and responsibility to improve their own lives while contributing to the common good. Based on surveys of over 60,000 people and deep qualitative interviews, the report reveals a civic narrative that bridges ideological divides and emphasizes opportunity, dignity, and shared responsibility.
Key Takeaways
– Personal agency and justice are not mutually exclusive.
– Efforts to build a fairer society should be framed in ways that build on, rather than downplay, the power of personal agency.
– Americans overwhelmingly support a vision of “morally directed agency” which people use to improve their own lives and give back to their communities.
Why it matters to The Change Lab:
This research reinforces The Change Lab’s mission to expand civic engagement through belonging, story, and shared purpose. It provides language, data, and insights that affirm our approach to cross-partisan connection, agency-driven action, and the development of engagement pathways rooted in both personal empowerment and systemic change.
Thematic Alignment:
Bridging Across Difference
Community Voice & Power
Civic Literacy
Coalition & Collective Action
Systems Change
