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In the three essays that we were assigned to read have connections. In “Serving in Florida” by Barbara Ehrenreich, she decided to work in low paying jobs that pay minimum wage. An example of this is when it states “the multinational mélange of cooks; the dishwashers, who are all Czechs here” (364). This example relates to Diana Kendall when it states, “The working class and the working poor do not fare much better than the poor and homeless in media representations” (428). These quotes express how the working class can be. An example from Gregory Mantsios that corresponds with these when it states “From cradle to grave, class position has a significant [...] economic success” (391).…
“No one ever said that you could work hard—harder even than you ever thought possible—and still find yourself sinking even deeper into poverty and debt.” This is a quote by Barbara Ehrenreich who wrote “Nickel and Dimed,” she is a journalist with a PHD in biology and writes about her own story as she chooses to change her entire lifestyle, face the hardships of being a part of the working poor class just to see if she can survive. Throughout the book she illustrated the different jobs she endured and the struggles that came along with the jobs. Her story highlights the social inequality she experienced based on her status, working poor class, routine lifestyle, her experience living on the edge and the stagnant pay she received. There was a lot of social inequality in her journey that many Americans seem to overlook on the poor working class.…
Too often than not, when an individual hears the word “poor” unsettling images of destitute poverty and homelessness are the disturbing, and at times inaccurate, depictions that come into one’s mind. Another common image that tends to come to mind when speaking of people in the poor community is the pitiful imagery of a lazy group of people looking for handouts from the government. It seems as if the admirable image of a group of low-wage working citizens attempting to move into better living conditions to support their families, is unrealistic. Stereotypes tend to make that depiction nonexistent as an option. Stereotypes favor the images of drug dealers or public assistance riders, rather than an honest working person in an unfortunate economic…
In the article “Seeing and Making Culture: Representing the Poor” by bell hooks, she is evaluating the misrepresentation of the poor and their values by society and explaining how humanity should change the way they label the underclass. Much of the nation believes that the poor do not have any values, morals, work ethic, integrity, and cannot be trusted. This is supported by hooks, concerning her college teachers and classmates remarks regarding the poor, when she quotes, “I was shocked…by the comments of professors and peers…They almost always portrayed the poor as shiftless, mindless, lazy, dishonest, and unworthy” (484). A personal experience that hooks discusses to support her argument is when she describes her dorm life. Hooks quotes,…
When I watch TV over my dinner at night, I see a world in which almost everyone makes $15 an hour or more, and I'm not just thinking of the anchor folks. The sitcoms and dramas are about fashion designers or schoolteachers or lawyers, so it's easy for a fast-food worker or nurse's aide to conclude that she is an anomaly — the only one, or almost the only one, who hasn't been invited to the party. And in a sense she would be right: the poor have disappeared from the culture at large, from its political rhetoric and intellectual endeavors as well as from its daily entertainment. Even religion seems to have little to say about the plight of the poor, if that tent revival was a fair sample. The moneylenders have finally gotten Jesus out of the…
In order to make arguments more evident, Hooks uses her own experiences as examples, to connect with her readers. As she claims that, “Culture critics rarely talk about the poor.”(para. 1) So to point out this issue, and take her stance on how poverty is displayed, she mentions how her family taught her to not judge others if they are poor or not. But to understand of what are the fortunate things she has and others can’t have. Hooks wants to convey to her readers that it is wrong to judge the book by its cover. Meaning that, no matter how poor people may be shown in media, it is not right for the audience to discriminate the poor. Hooks mentions the society, “always portrayed the poor as shiftless, mindless, lazy, dishonest, and unworthy,” (para. 5) Since she learnt that there was no connection between poverty and an individual’s integrity. Considering that a poor…
In reading the excerpt from Barbara Ehrenriech’s book, Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) getting by in America, I can certainly agree with the observations that she made regarding the treatment of people with lower paying jobs by society. Through personal experiences that I have seen first hand, the poor truly have a difficult time with trying to make a better life for themselves because of how society stacks the deck against them.…
To complete this task I have chosen “Class Matters” written by Bell Hooks, “My Family” by Vartan Gregorian and “Disadvantage of Elite Education” by William Deresiewicz All the readings that I have chosen are about the influence of class on our formative years. In this three readings class is associated with money and opportunities to use them. Gregorian and Bell Hooks are bright examples where everything is built on class. Especially the education and the class of university which is brightly discussed in the reading named “Disadvantage of Elite Education”.…
Now in days, television shows and movies depict the poor as people with no ambition, no dignity, people who cannot be happy with themselves while living in poverty. These negative stereotypes often fill people with a stigma of being or becoming poor. Many of us in this generation, who grew up in poverty or with blue-collar workers as parents, have dealt…
We live in a world where there are numerous discriminations: race, religion, sex, age, or sexual orientation. bell hooks has eloquently explained multiple reasons why the black population is discriminated against in an educational setting, “...most white folks are rarely, if ever, in a situation where they must listen to black women lecture to them.” (hooks, 31) Daily we hear about the killings of transsexual men and women, as well as multiple examinations talking about men who receive more money then women in the workplace for the same job. Carl Grant intelligently said, “Another factor stimulating the change is the acceptance of the importance of social cultural factors in learning and the movement toward challenging traditional assumptions and envisioning multiple possibilities for change.” (Grant, 1) The discrimination I’m talking about most people don’t understand or even see,…
In the book ‘America’s Poor and the Great Recession’ by Kristin S. Seefeldt and John D. Graham, the reasoning that in a post-recession world, having two sections of an extreme poor and an extreme rich are becoming commonplace. The book talked about how the recession was just a reaction to how much power the 1% are getting, and how their recklessness caused an economic crisis America hadn’t seen since the 1930’s. In conclusion, the authors came to the answer that not only is becoming easier to fall into the hole of poverty, it’s becoming harder to climb out, and all because of the higher-ups. It may be because the middle class are afraid to fall into the hole of poverty themselves, and the myth makes them more comfortable, knowing that they are not “lazy”, or “undereducated”. The upper class, on the other hand, might be trying to deflect the blame. “It’s not OUR fault!”, they…
A reflective essay to price's assertion "The hatred and condescension of the poor seems to be the last available prejudice in our society" in "Working Class Whites". Relating this essay about popular entertainment. You may ask with is popular entertainment? Popular entertainment is entertainment that is popular and is enjoyed or watch be many people. In "Working class whites" how does popular entertainment respond to the Price's assertion" The hatred and condescension of the major seems to be the last available prejudice in our society Americans have an effort to educate, understand and alter the treatment of marginalized groups, and group demean in entertainment.…
What defines an underclass? It has been defined as the bottom of society, those who have become victims of a poverty trap. The underclass is largely made up of unemployed, young, single-parent families that are living in destitute stricken areas, areas in which the children lack educational qualifications, good role models, and social skills. This provides them little opportunity to escape the unfortunate situation in which they’ve been placed (www.BusinessDictionary.com/definition/underclass, 2012). The term “underclass” has been classified in two different ways, according to the article “The White Underclass” (“The White Underclass”, 1994). The first, simply put, is classified as areas that contain the extremely poor. The second classification gives a more detailed look as to why they are extremely poor. The second classification is areas that contain a high number of single family households, usually with women at the head of the household, and often dependent on government support. Charles Murray, an American libertarian political scientist, wrote “illegitimacy is the single most important social problem of our time – more important than crime, drugs, poverty, illiteracy, welfare or homelessness,…
People are described as “bad poor” because of their financial position and their failure to overcome it as shown in figure 1. However, that is easier said than done. Children who are born into poverty are already poor and they have no control over that. They have to work very hard with little assistance just to get to the point where a change can be made or an upgrade in class is possible. People of low class are generally regarded as less valuable or even disposable. They are the subject of much ridicule and prosecution due to their financial status. This sort of classification is attempt to be stabilize by welfare and other government money programs, but the taxpayers fund that, so the money is taken back away from them. Income inequality is one of the main causes of social segregation of…
Visualize this, living in the poor side of town where most drug addicts hang around smoking and drinking.Picking up recyclable bottles along the way to sell and get a couple bucks to buy a beer and perhaps a bit of drugs to get their high of the day. Poor families see this on the daily which motivates them to continue with their education. Going far and becoming someone known due to the achievements they have accomplished. Stereotypes start with people inferring or assuming certain things of that person. A misconception is usually based on faulty thinking or facts that aren't exactly correct. Poor families have been stereotyped about not caring about education as a middle class family or wealthy family would. Poor families value education as much as any other social class would, they are more eager to continue and get far in life than anything.…