“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
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undertaking a social experiment of the greatest magnitude. The journalist is Ehrenreich herself and the experiment was to find out how a woman‚ recently removed from welfare‚ due to policy reform‚ would make it on a six or seven dollar an hour wage. The experiment itself started out as just a question in the middle of lunch with one of Ehrenreich’s editors‚ it soon turned into a job assignment. Before starting the experiment‚ Ehrenreich laid out some ground rules for her to follow during the duration of
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narrative‚ Nickel and Dimed‚ Barbara Ehrenreich explores the world of the low-wage working class. An upper-middle class biology Ph.D. and journalist‚ Ehrenreich temporarily uproots her life in a two year social and economic experiment to join the laborers of America. Her purpose is to get firsthand knowledge and answer the question‚ “How does anyone live on the wages available to the unskilled?” (Ehrenreich 1) Beginning her journey in Key West‚ Florida‚ Ehrenreich finds employment as a waitress at
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Barbara Ehrenreich plunges into the world of minimum wage workers. In her immersion‚ Ehrenreich attempts various types of minimum wage jobs such as those that would be categorized as service work like a waitress or a house cleaner. Ehrenreich expresses not only the difficulty of these jobs‚ but the behavior in which people acted towards her. She explains that once she entered the world other service work she was seen as lower standard of human‚ if she was “seen” at all‚ since many times Ehrenreich would
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NICKEL AND DIMED BOOK REPORT Barbara Ehrenreich is a journalist who wrote the book Nickel and Dimed. She goes undercover to see how it feels to work for $6 to $7 an hour. She leaves her regular life to explore the experiences of a minimum wage worker. Ehrenreich travels to Florida‚ Maine‚ and Minnesota‚ looking for jobs and places to live on a minimum wage salary. At one point in time‚ she had to work two jobs to makes ends meet. As she worked all these jobs‚ she discovered many problems in the
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Ehrenreich wrote the book “Nickel and Dimed” coming out of her experiences while being on assignment for Harper’s magazine‚ while trying to get the story of life as a low-wage income worker after welfare reform pass by president William Clinton. During her assignment she ran into many issues‚ like lack of basic necessities‚ poor working conditions‚ and having to work more then one job. Another set of pressing issues was the fact that in every city she moved to and tried to have a low-wage life in
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of anything can be harmful for an individual. In “The Worst Year of Our Lives” by Barbara Ehrenreich clarifies this allegation. The “television” has been around for many decades‚ just consuming each person who takes notice to it. For the audience who watches television “day in” and “day out” they would become induced with what society portrays as righteous and imitate what they see (Ehrenreich). Ehrenreich states Americans will “begin to notice something eerie and unnatural about the world” meaning
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Dimed -- Section 2 Reading Quiz J. Kinder 1) Explain what confuses Ehrenreich about the “law of supply and demand” in Portland. 2) Explain some of the physical difficulties of being a dietary aide at the nursing home. 3) Explain some of the behavior rules that the management of “The Maids” has for the employees. What do you think they are intended to accomplish? 4) Explain how Ehrenreich felt The Maids’ cleaning methods were lacking. 5) Choose one co-worker who interested
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John Doe Mr. Teacher Nickel and Dimed Summary Barbara Ehrenreich‚ author of Nickel and Dimed‚ is an award winning columnist and author of twenty-one books. Although she has her doctorate in science‚ she is well known as a journalist and muckraker. She has been featured in The New York Times‚ The Washington Post‚ and many other publications. Ehrenreich pondered how unskilled‚ uneducated‚ and untrained workers can survive and thrive in the American workforce with minimum wage incomes. She was
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America today‚ many are struggling to make ends meet and provide basic needs to themselves and their families. Is this a new situation or just a necessary part of the overall American economic structure? In her book‚ “Nickel and Dimed” (2001)‚ Barbara Ehrenreich steps out of her comfortable‚ middle class existence to find out how the people working in the lowest rung of America’s economy are getting by. Using her sarcasm‚ dry wit‚ and no-nonsense storytelling style‚ makes her main claim that in the economy
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