The premise explored by Ehrenreich in the essay about the “downward mobility” of the middle class into the ranks of poverty
The premise explored by Ehrenreich in the essay about the “downward mobility” of the middle class into the ranks of poverty
When Ehrenreich discusses the situation the “Nouveau Poor” is going through, she expresses a very unconcerned tone, as if the class is not currently undergoing an real stress. This attitude is first proposed in the first paragraph when she states, as before, “in which we (Nouveau Poor) will all drive tiny fuel-efficient cars and grow tomatoes on our porches”, which provides the reader a context that the “Nouveau Poor” are doing fine. However, when Ehrenreich describes the unfortunate situation the working poor is in, she express a very sympathetic attitude. This is due to the way she defines and provides examples for the working poor. Many examples include the various people she describes that suffer from the recession even though they were…
For each, she had to master new skills, learn the social environment of each job, and work laboriously for hours on end. She further analyzes and evaluates the rising problem of poverty. A single, educated woman – with the ability to rely on conveniences such as emergency cash, a car, and a credit card; a woman who was without children or a family to support – struggled to make ends meet working one or more jobs demonstrates the inadequacy of the minimum wage and its fail to sufficiently supply an individual or family with the means necessary to support the “working poor.” Companies are reluctant to raise the pay of their employees and can punish and/or fire employees who step out of line. “When you enter the low-wage workplace, you check your civil liberties at the door…We can hardly pride ourselves on being the world’s preeminent democracy if large numbers of citizens spend half of their waking hours in what amounts to a dictatorship.” (Ehrenreich 210) The calculated $30,000 “living wage” for a family of three comes to $14 an hour, and 60 percent of Americans earns less than that. The lifestyles of the poor are tainted with low self-esteem and the need to “work through” fatigue, injury, illness, etc. “They are [the lifestyles] emergency situations. And that is how we should see the poverty of so many millions of low-wage Americans – as a state of emergency.” (Ehrenreich…
From the book the most striking important things were Carolina kindness, the welfare and, Ehrenreich braveness to complete her project on the poor. Carolina, in my opinion, is a strong character in Ehrenreich’s book. Her kindness and determination captivate my attention. Carolina together with her husband make about $40.000 dollars a year and still she was kind to Ehrenreich. Carolina made homemade stew and gave to Ehrenreich. Her attitude shows kindness and solidarity.…
this way of living. True, hopeless poverty does not have those “reassuring limits” that Ehrenreich…
In Barbara Ehrenreich's New York Times article, “Too Poor to make the News”, she investigates a phenomenon that has been swept away by the waves of media headlines about “middle class cutbacks” and “the super-rich giving up private jets”. (pg 322) She talks to people she met while writing her book “Nickel and Dimed” and uncovers stories of people whose ends could not be met before the recession, and are even less likely to be met now with increasing layoffs, foreclosed homes, and unavailable loans. She describes the problem well, and provides several sad tales, including one about her own nephew and his family's problems. She raises a crucial issue. Accepting the ways in which poverty is…
In the essay “Richer and Poorer,” written by Jill Lepore published in The New Yorker, March 16, 2015, she discusses the issue of income inequality. The author effectively uses the rhetorical strategies logos, ethos, and pathos to convince her educated readers that income inequality is an issue in the United States.…
Although authors Barbara Ehrenreich and Matthew B. Crawford both obtain a higher degree from a university, both continue to work low-income jobs for different reasons. Ehrenreich believes minimum wage work is challenging in all aspects of the employment. She has the option to remove herself from this lifestyle but continues to stay in order to gain experience for her book "Nickel and Dimed". Crawford on the other hand finds a deeper appreciation for the working class, and even though he has an option to pursue a higher education career with his college degree he chooses to work as a mechanic for the love he has for the work. With both authors coming from similar backgrounds it's interesting to analyze how their ideas continue to differ dramatically.…
A riveting tale about the world of low class workers, Ehrenreich puts into words what most are don’t acknowledge or are afraid to acknowledge. Through first-hand experience, Ehrenreich successfully navigates her way through the low wage work by working such common low wage jobs as waitressing, housecleaning, and sales. While along the way discovering that each job encompasses their own organizational structure, culture, and identity that she is focused to discover and conform with while being paid no more than $7.00 an hour and even at some points as little as $2.43 (plus tips). Ehrenreich persuasively forces us to realize that the American dream is slowly slipping away. No longer is America the land of opportunity where hard work pays off, instead millions are suffering in route to servicing to their rich counterparts.…
Ehrenreich realizes that “whatever her accomplishments in the rest of her life, in the low-wage work world she was a person of average ability – capable of learning the job and also…
Her experience into the world of the living poor introduces an entirely unseen world in the American economy. As a consumer, we witness many of the workers who earn minimum wage, and while their private lives are talked about, Ehrenreich's first-person view introduces an entirely different view in comparison with the many statistics about the poor's lack of income. Furthermore, her success proves that with hard work and dedication, everyone has the potential to succeed. Her overall argument in support for the living poor is increased as a result of experience. Most individuals will never experience the life of the living poor; therefore, Ehrenreich's account presents the issue of poverty into a whole new social class. As for myself, I truly believe that the majority of the citizens living…
The author also makes his point by observing the differences between social classes that can widen the rift between said classes as well as families. Lubrano states that “middle-class…
No one can argue that America is the country of the human rights and freedom and many people around the world dream to live in this great place. However, big problem is going to reshape the American society if nobody tried to solve it. The dilemma is simply that the rich got richer and the poor got poorer as a result of inequality of money distribution among rich and poor people.America had created a marvelous economic machine, but evidently it worked only for that at the top. Both Joseph E. Stieglitz and Timothy Noahintroduce a very critical issue which affects the American society in these days, is the widening gap between the rich and poor people. Stieglitz claims that the American economic system is failing for most of Americans and the inequality is increasing to the extent that one day will be unaffordable. The rising gap is created by the one top percent who are taking advantage of making a huge wealth. They are driven by their greed to accumulate big fortune upon poor’s shoulders. Stieglitz came up with some evidence to support his claim. One of these is the new statistics fromCensus Bureau’s statistics that shows that the one top percent gain 20 % of the total American income. Therefore, Noah says that this inequality income creates and retains the capitalism system which forms a serious threat upon middle and lower class (Noah The Great par 3).…
We all had expectations of this book, and it ended up becoming more than we had thought, as I can say the same for Barbara Ehrenreich with beginning her project and in part of the outcome with more that she thought, but as for the way she lived she was still at the bottom. By documenting this emotional experience she is connecting with the readers, as the author, Ehrenreich, exposes how being in the lower class forces you to work ten times harder while still getting low…
The aspects of a person’s life are not entirely determined by the circumstances he is born into – his decisions, the actions of others, and luck plays a large role as well. Since people are autonomous, they control how their lives turn out, but everyone’s life prospects are more “deeply shaped by a social structure that he or she did not choose” (page 130). This means that the poor are not entirely at fault for their living conditions; society’s structure may also affect their life outcomes. Not every citizen is granted equal opportunities, so not everyone should have the same social…
In the article of “The future of history” by Francis Fukuyama, it is about the political ad economic issue of the decline of the middle class in the world after the global financial crisis in 2008. Fukuyama states the important of the middle class in a social. He thinks that if liberal democracy do not have the support of this middle class, they will lose their anchor. Although we all know that a government should protect the benefit of this middle class, they do not know what is the main point of why a government always ignore the root problem of the difficulties in middle class every year.…