and scandalous journey and to find out the American myth of success in his political career journey.
B. Research Question
In this thesis, the writer presents one research question as follows:
How does Bill Clinton’s political career reflect the American myth of success?
C. Goal
The goal of this thesis is: To find out how Bill Clinton’s political career reflects the American myth of
success.
D. Scope of the Study
Bill Clinton’s political career, from being the Governor of Arkansas until becoming the United States president in 1992, will be the focus of the analysis.
E. Research Method
This research is a library research in the form of descriptive qualitative one. A library research is a study, the data of which is taken from bibliographical
resources. While the descriptive qualitative is a way used in a research where the description about something is given, in this case about the research object
Kartono, 1976: 43.
The source of data is Bill Clinton’s Biography: Bill Clinton: An American
Journey Great Expectation written by Nigel Hamilton, published by
Random House, Inc., New York, 2003
. The main data are words and phrases, sentence or even paragraph relevant to the subject matter taken from the source of
data. The secondary data is collected from books and other articles related to the study.
1. Data Collection
This study is a library research or referential research. it means that this research used all possibilities to take the data from source of data. The source of
data is read to get a good understanding. The data were collected by making notes on it. The supporting data were also read. After that, the data which are relevant
were collected. Those selected data were joined together to answer the research question that lead to conclusion.
2. Data Analysis
Analyzing data is a process of answering the research question. The first way is exploring Bill Clinton’s political career since the first time he enter politics
until he became the president of the United States. The second way is connecting it with the American myth of success to reveal that Bill Clinton’s political career
reflects the American myth of success. In the end, the researcher draws a conclusion.
F. Theoretical Approach
This thesis is conducted under the boundaries of American Studies and especially on the subject of human and society. It was interdisciplinary
approaches. The researcher uses the combination of sociological, historical and biographical approach.
American studies as an approach to the study of culture and history of United States has been preoccupied with two key themes. First, it has been
concerned with the meaning of American national identity and the ways in which America might be distinguished from other nations. Second, American Studies
has been concerned to explore the possibilities of cooperation between practitioners from different disciplines, and even to develop interdisciplinary
methodology Campbell and Kean, 1997:1-2. To study Clinton’s career in politics based on historical context, the
researcher needs historical approach. The historical approach is used to analyze events in the past, certain facts from history and the evolution phenomenon.
This research, basically, explores a Clinton’s mind and role. Therefore, it is needed to comprehend the character’s background of life by applying
biographical approach. Understanding Bill Clinton’s detail especially on how the figure’s character and identity was shaped is important in order to analyze his
conception of politics. The tradition of using biography is important in a historical study, since it emphasizes the description of how important the role of a political
figure in a history is. To understand myth in certain society, we have to know the society
condition where the myth develops. Because myth is formed by social beliefs which develop from social activities, habits, and interactions Setyawan, 2004: 5,
sociological approach will be applied in observing social interaction. Sociology is the way to learn about all of social interactions and the impacts of the society.
Polak states: “sosiologi adalah suatu ilmu pengetahuan yang mempelajari masyarakat secara keseluruhan, yakni hubungan antara manusia dengan
manusia, manusia dengan kelompok, kelompok dengan kelompok, baik formil maupun materiil, baik statis maupun dinamis” Polak, 1966:7.
The combination of approaches mentioned above, hopefully will give more complete description. Analysis from various aspects will provide better
understanding about the material.
G. Thesis Organization
