Working Poor
The Struggle of the Working Poor
Revised Essay
Sociology 113
Yvonne Barney
October 19, 2012
The Struggle of the Working Poor
Society often describes the impoverished with one word, lazy. Society has taught us that if a person wants to be financially successful, it is a simple process of education and hard work that will equate to a successful income. This is the American dream. If the impoverished simply would get a job instead of being lazy, they would not need to rely on programs like welfare. The impoverished would succeed if they only would apply themselves. However, in an attempt to present another point of view, The Working Poor Invisible in America by David K. Shipler (2004) explored multiple variables this group struggles with daily.
Chapter 1, “Money and Its Opposite,” explains the workings and effects of tax payments and refunds, the abuse of the poor by public and private institutions, the spending habits of the working poor, the consumerist culture of the United States, and the omnipresence of money as a guiding factor in the lives of the working poor. Chapter 2, “Work Doesn’t Work,” chronicles the struggles of three working women as they attempt to climb out of poverty through employment. They hold jobs that pay between $6 and $7 per hour and attempt to eke out a living with the additional assistance of welfare checks, food stamps, Medicaid, and other services. However, a slight raise in their pay creates an offsetting loss in benefits. Chapter 3, “Importing the Third World,” addresses the poor immigrant workers, both legal as well as illegal, laboring in sweatshop conditions in the United States. Shipler recounts the working conditions of numerous sewing shops in Los Angeles, where legal and illegal immigrants from Mexico, Honduras, Korea, Vietnam, Ethiopia, Thailand, Cambodia, and other nations work for wages below the federal minimum wage and without overtime pay.
Chapter 4, “Harvest of Shame,” tells of the harsh living conditions of
Revised Essay
Sociology 113
Yvonne Barney
October 19, 2012
The Struggle of the Working Poor
Society often describes the impoverished with one word, lazy. Society has taught us that if a person wants to be financially successful, it is a simple process of education and hard work that will equate to a successful income. This is the American dream. If the impoverished simply would get a job instead of being lazy, they would not need to rely on programs like welfare. The impoverished would succeed if they only would apply themselves. However, in an attempt to present another point of view, The Working Poor Invisible in America by David K. Shipler (2004) explored multiple variables this group struggles with daily.
Chapter 1, “Money and Its Opposite,” explains the workings and effects of tax payments and refunds, the abuse of the poor by public and private institutions, the spending habits of the working poor, the consumerist culture of the United States, and the omnipresence of money as a guiding factor in the lives of the working poor. Chapter 2, “Work Doesn’t Work,” chronicles the struggles of three working women as they attempt to climb out of poverty through employment. They hold jobs that pay between $6 and $7 per hour and attempt to eke out a living with the additional assistance of welfare checks, food stamps, Medicaid, and other services. However, a slight raise in their pay creates an offsetting loss in benefits. Chapter 3, “Importing the Third World,” addresses the poor immigrant workers, both legal as well as illegal, laboring in sweatshop conditions in the United States. Shipler recounts the working conditions of numerous sewing shops in Los Angeles, where legal and illegal immigrants from Mexico, Honduras, Korea, Vietnam, Ethiopia, Thailand, Cambodia, and other nations work for wages below the federal minimum wage and without overtime pay.
Chapter 4, “Harvest of Shame,” tells of the harsh living conditions of
References: Center for American Progress (2012. Retrieved October 10, 2012 from http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/women/report/2008/10/08/5103/the-straight-facts-on-women-in-poverty/ Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. (2010). Retrieved October 10, 2012 from http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=1269 FamiliesUSA.org. (2012). Retrieved October 10, 2012 from http://www.familiesusa.org/resources/tools-for-advocates/guides/federal-poverty-guidelines.html Henly, J. (1999). Challenges to finding and keeping jobs in the low-skilled labor market. Poverty Research News, 3(1), 1-5. Levitan, S., Mangum, G., & Mangum, S. (1998). Programs in aid of the poor. Baltimore, MD: John Hopkins University Press. Melville, J. (2012). Effects of low family income on children. Retrieved 0ctober 10, 2012 from http://www.ehow.com/list_6195251_effects-low-family-income-children.html Problems Facing the Working Poor.(2012). Retrieved September 30, 2012 from http://www.dol.gov/oasam/programs/history/herman/reports/futurework/conference/workingpoor/workingpoor_toc.htm Shipler, D.K. (2004). The working poor: Invisible in America. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. Tavernise, S. (2012, October 10). Education gap grows between rich and poor, Studies say New York Times, February 9, 2012, A1.