In my opinion‚ I feel that the author of “Nickel and Dimed”‚ Barbara Ehrenreich‚ had ethical intentions when making the decision to investigate “poverty” by emerging herself in the “low-wage lifestyle”. The ethical concern‚ however‚ is with her approach. I feel that the way in which it was conducted could be viewed as degrading to those who do not have an alternative to this way of living. True‚ hopeless poverty does not have those “reassuring limits” that Ehrenreich had the ability
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work as a journalist and author‚ moved‚ and lived as a member of the working poor. She job searched‚ house or hotel searched‚ food searched‚ and friend searched. She worked multiple jobs in 3 different states‚ and in 2001‚ she published her book Nickel and Dimed‚ documenting her experiment and its results. Barbara hoped to show people what it is like to work in the low-wage workforce‚ honestly revealing the injustices‚ trials‚ and hardships. While Barbara did reveal these issues‚ she also started her
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America’s Working Poor Tens of millions of men and women in America struggle because they are stressed out about not making enough money even though they are working as hard as possible. In her book Nickel and Dimed‚ journalist‚ Barbara Ehrenreich writes about her research working as a minimum wage employee attempting to get by in Americas tough economy‚ she describes in depth the struggles that the minimum wage workers suffer through and she witnesses them first hand as she goes under cover and
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The Low-Wage Worker wanting the American Dream By Jennifer Hodge October 8‚ 2013 In Nickel and Dimed‚ Barbara Ehrenreich takes some time out of her normal life and tries to experience life working as a low-wage worker. Ehrenreich begins with the goal‚ “to see whether she could match income to expenses‚ as the truly poor attempt to do every day.” (Ehrenreich 6) Ehrenreich salary is always low‚ and a few times along the way she has to ask for help. At the end of her journey‚ she has discovered
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Why Should We Care In her expose‚ Nickel and Dime‚ Barbara Ehrenreich shares her experience of what it is like for unskilled women to be forced to be put into the labor market after the welfare reform that was going on in 1998. Ehrenreich wanted to capture her experience by retelling her method of “uncover journalism” in a chronological order type of presentation of events that took place during her endeavor. Her methodologies and actions were some what not orthodox in practice. This was not to
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While my American dream and Julia Alvarez’s dream in I Want to Be Miss America was to achieve the American dream by fitting in with our fellow peers. Barbara Ehrenreich in Nickel and Dimed shows that the American dream is for many others is to stay up financial with their fellow peers. These pieces all support that the the American dream is to keep up with your peers whether it’s appearance or financially. Many kids American dream my age was to be the president‚ an astronaut‚ or just an
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In Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich‚ the author doesn’t discuss the experiences of immigrants or people from different racial backgrounds in detail. Since I come from an Asian background‚ I want to focus on how these experiences‚ particularly for Asian immigrants‚ may differ from Ehrenreich’s. The standard of living‚ racial dynamics‚ and the way people are treated often vary based on skin color and appearance. For immigrants‚ especially those starting life and work in the U.S.‚ these factors
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In Barbara Ehrenreich’s book Nickel and Dimed‚ Ehrenreich explores the dynamics of social stratification by gender in working class America. Similarly to race‚ Ehrenreich shows how gender and gender roles are a part of a closed system in the American workforce. One can first see this early on in the book when Ehrenreich works as a waitress. Ehrenreich describes a dynamic in this work setting in which female workers are subservient to a dominant male manager who is very critical. She mainly shows
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In Barbara Ehrenreich’s book‚ Nickel-and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America‚ she investigates whether welfare reform programs are appropriate in aiding women in poverty and that these institutions will affect their economic and social mobility in the future. Ehrenreich initiated her research in June 1998‚ in the form of participant observation. Her experiment was design allowed her to personally experience the hardships of a worker with minimal skills living on minimum wage. Barbara’s poses as
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Whereas‚ In Nickel and Dimed on (not) getting by in America‚ which was our third book review an experiment of living the life of an average person on minimum wage conducted by Barbara Enrenreich. The reason as stated in the initial review was to see if Enrenreich‚”could match income to expenses‚ as the truly poor attempt to do every day “(Nickel and Dimed‚ 6). In chapter eight of the Doob text labeled under “Poor People Work” one of the factors listed that affected employment opportunities were
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