Poverty can be defined by the necessities and amenities that one does not have in their life. Due to the expectations created by our society, we have a tendency to judge others based on the clothes they wear or the cars they drive, and we automatically assume that those who cannot afford these luxuries are either uneducated, unskilled or a combination of both. We completely disregard the fact that not all people have control of their financial stability and that anything can damage their current state of wealth. Even the wealthiest of families can find themselves making their way to the bottom due to an unfortunate tragedy such as a death in the family or being laid off from a job, both of which are aspects that cannot be predicted or prevented, and the only thing families can do is accept it. The American Myth claims that someone from the humblest of beginnings can achieve success, but this statement could not be more false. Although a major cause of poverty is financial trouble, a key component that factors in is how the past affects the future. Those who come from troubled beginnings often lead a life of poor behavior and bad decision making skills. Some even work their lives away and still continue to struggle financially, mainly because they had no foundation to build upon due to the fact that they had to start from the absolute bottom.…
I’m not going to lie, while reading The Dispossessed I found myself very confused. This is partially due to the fact that I do not know anything about politics. William Deresiewicz studied the working class and the stigmas it holds. In The Dispossessed he illustrates his observations and talks about how the working class is viewed by society today. Deresiewicz highlights on some observations that I would have never noticed. The first is that T.V. shows today are not revolved around working class families. Personally, I think that since 80% of the U.S. workforce is considered working class, people do not want to watch a show about what they are experiencing in their everyday lives. They want to see the extravagant lifestyle that they could have had if they were given the resources and opportunities. The working class hasn’t been taught to believe that they’re entitled to do the best of everything, and they will take what life brings to them. Deresiewicz mentions that, “working class people care more about their families and their friends and the places they’re from than they do about their careers.” I agree with Deresiewicz and believe that most working class people worry more about the things that are going on around them such as friends and the place they’re from rather than worrying about making the right steps in order to get to the middle class and have a good career.…
My reaction to reading each book was very different for each reading. The Working Poor by Shipler seemed to me to be not as personal to the writer as Nickel and Dimed by Ehrenich was. I understand that The Working Poor was personal as will but the writer was writing about personal stories from other individuals, looking from outside the box and then talking about someone else’s stories with his own words. I would have to say that reading Nickel and Dimed was a lot more interesting and was a bit more personal from the writer’s views. Ms. Ehrenich was willing to get down to the behind the scenes action in her reactions from other people that think she is like everyone else in the workforce.…
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…
For you to understand how big of an impact poverty has on people, we will quickly summarize Crane’s novel, Maggie: A Girl of the Streets. This is the story of a very poor family growing up in New York City. Mary, is the mother of Jimmie, Maggie, and Tommie. Mary has a husband, but he’s never home and spends most of the time being drunk. However, Mary isn’t any better. She’s also a belligerent drunk and physically, and verbally abuses her children when she is intoxicated. She even gets into brawls with her own husband in front of her children. Soon after she’s…
They believe they are inadequate and are afraid of disappointment. One of the best ways Shipler constructed his arguments is that he gives detailed examples of separate circumstances of penuriousness. This works to give his book a more personal perspective. Shipler particularized not only on the story of these poverty-stricken people, but also their physical attributes. This gives the reader a depiction of how physical appearance plays a role in employability. Caroline worked rigorously to provide for her mentally challenged daughter, Amber, while struggling with health quandaries going from job to job. Caroline eventually lost her teeth from being unable to afford a dentist. Amber was nearly taken away from Caroline because of unreliable jobs. It is arduous for single mothers maintain a job while raising children. Many single mothers either stay home from work or go to work late, to care for her children. In this case, employers conveniently fire the employee because the position is expendable. Shipler states, "Employers rarely see those corrosive suspicions of worthlessness that course beneath the surface. They see the surface behavior: the employee who shows up late or not at all, who lacks a 'work ethic' and the 'soft skills' of punctuality, diligence, and a can-do attitude... The soft skills should have been taught in the family, but in many cases, the family has…
The author’s argument states that people cannot survive in today’s society on low or minimum wage pay. Only career people make it in this sort of society. In her book, she writes, “And that is how we should see the state of poverty of so many millions of low-wage Americans – as a state of emergency.” (Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich. Pg. 214. Published 01/01/01.) This “emergency” is a nation-wide epidemic, and has been known to be accompanied by many other social issues. Her argument’s focal point preaches on the injustice of low-wage workers in terrible situations being treated unfairly with no option to do better for themselves. This is a point I am 100% in agreement with. Commonly, those who work jobs of low income, have little to no accommodations, and have their life situations out in the open are not treated with respect. A man or woman can have all of the traits of an excellent worker with impeccable character and still be disrespected as a person due to their circumstances. This circulating issue makes poverty so much more of a problematic struggle,…
Regardless if we are aware of it or not, not many Americans live the supposed American Dream of having a nice car, big house, well paying job, and have a secure family. In the renowned novel The Working Poor: Invisible in America by David K. Shipler he captures those Americans who live invisible in America that work so hard to suffer from the psychological effects of poverty. Not only does Shipler do that but he also indirectly talks about the “American Myth” and the “American Anti Myth through the lives on these individuals.”…
My perception of the blue collar Americans was transformed as a result of the book. Previously I had always felt that is someone wanted to find a job, they could. If a hard working American went out into the work force looking for a job that could support them, then they would certainly find one. However after reading the book, I now understand that it is not always this easy. Sometimes the jobs that are offered to the blue collar Americans are not good enough to support themselves or their families. I am also a lot more understanding of what it is to be poor. I see how difficult it is for the poor, and how much easier it is for the people who prosper in society. Poor people have practically no opportunities to succeed in life. They have no social mobility and it is nearly impossible for them to find a job that will allow them to move up on the social ladder. For example, working in a fast food restaurant puts a limit on how much money you can make. Even if you become a manager or assistant manager of a fast food restaurant it is still not going to be a significant salary raise. My own treatment of waiters, maids, and salespeople has been reinforced. Even though I always knew that it is hard for these people to work in the jobs that they have, I have even more respect for them then I ever have had before. I see how waiters have so much responsibility that is not always in their control. The difference between the haves and have-nots has only grown as time passes. The rich and the poor have become more and more disconnected with each other. Drawing some references from the book, one of many results of this disconnection is that the rich, and also the middle class, are often oblivious as to what amount of sweat and…
For social mobility its is keeping it the way it has been the lower class aren’t able to move up when these prices are so high.…
Nickel and Dimed, written by Barbara Ehrenreich has been published in 2001 for the first time. This book explains and describes the condition of the working poor in United States in the 21st century. To write this book the author who is a well-known journalist at the New York Times decides to experience being a low-wage worker for a few months. She gives up her middle class life to become and live as a working poor. The author establishes a few rules at the beginning of her challenge such as not to go hungry or always having a car. But, except for those few exceptions she decides to go through the same life as her new coworkers. She starts her experience in Florida then she goes to Maine and finally to Minnesota. Therefore, Nickel and Dimed describes the experiment and the troubles Ehrenreich had to go through while she was a working poor. She particularly accentuates on how humiliated and how ashamed people are of being poor. Shame and humiliation are essential themes of this book are explained and described through different ways such as the fact that poor people are invisible or not respected in their jobs or not able to talk freely, or mistreated by their manager even if they are sick.…
This article entitled The Honest Workingman and Workers’ Control: The Experience of Toronto Skilled Workers, 1860-1892 written by Gregory S. Kealey looks to better describe the practice of three Toronto unions from the 1860’s to the early 1890’s and their struggles for their rights and deserved wages in order to illustrate the strength these types of unions possess. This article recognizes that there are industries where unions win, and still must rely on skilled labour. Many times people hear the term ‘industrialization’ and think that all craft workers get blown away, however this is not exactly the case as this article demonstrates.…
I have never lived in poverty but I have also never lived a considerably wealthy life. From reading this book, my perceptions of poverty and prosperity have pretty much stayed the same. Many times I associate fast food workers with poverty, or when I see an elderly woman working at WalMart I also associate that with poverty. I cannot recall a time that I ever thought that the sixty year old checker at WalMart could possibly be rich. As horrible as it may sound, I usually, unconsciously think that anyone that works in any low wage job must be in some state of poverty. I do appreciate what these people do for society, but at the same time, I am not going to feel sorry for these people either. I do not think that low wage workers should in any way be disrespected but at the same time, as much as people will argue this point, everyone has a choice in what they do with their life. Low wage jobs are a pain in the butt and they are not always fair and they are hard, but someone has got to do it. I believe that if someone does not want to live that lifestyle, they do not have to. I would not say this if I did not have proof from personal experience. My mom never went to college and because of that if she…
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…
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).…