Nickel and Dimed On (Not) Getting By In America, by...

In her book, Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America (2001), Barbara Ehrenreich performs a social experiment in which she transplants herself from her comfortable middle-class life and immersing herself in the plight of the â€Å"millions of American’s (who) work full-time, year-round, for poverty-level wages† (Ehrenreich, 2001). Her goal was to explore the consequences of the welfare reform on the approximately four million women who would be subsequently forced into the labor market, expecting to make only $6 to $7 an hour. (2001 p.1) Her experiment eviscerated the idea that the American underclass was lazy, and the lie that American’s could live healthy, productive lives on minimum wage. On the contrary, she proved underclass†¦show more content†¦She recounts her uneasiness during the vacuuming portion of the video, arising as the video gives instruction for actually wearing a backpack like vacuum cleaner. (2001, p.74) Indeed, the degrad ation of the employee into â€Å"another inanimate factor† (Hodson Sullivan, 2001, p.8) is complete when â€Å"a chubby fellow†¦says proudly to the camera: ‘See, I am the vacuum cleaner’† (Ehrenreich, 2001, p.74). This is perhaps the most mortifying phrase in the book, as it so aptly illustrates the dehumanization that is so pervasive in these minimum wage jobs. Ehrenreich makes these observations with academic precision, interspersed with firm middle-class values, but these judgments were not made from an ivory tower, coldly calculated and formed with the disinterested tone of the scientist that she is. To the contrary, Ehrenreich attempted to immerse herself in the lives of female underclass minimum-wage earners and performed her research by taking work and attempting to live off of wages earned by working at truck stop diners cleaning companies. She lives in seedy motels and eats the waste of customers right along side those whom she is studyi ng (2001). In this way she ideally positions herself to understand and report on the dehumanizing effects thatShow MoreRelatedNickel And Dimed : On Not Getting By America By Barbara Ehrenreich1726 Words   |  7 PagesFeb. 3, 2016 Sociology: The Family Book Report Nickel and Dimed In this Book Nickel and Dimed: On Not Getting By In America by Barbara Ehrenreich is based on Ehrenreich’s ethnographic research on the tricks that people in low-wage jobs are able to survive in America off their income. Ethnographic Research (â€Å"observation involves embedding oneself reply and over the long-term in a field site of study in order to systemically document the everyday lives, behaviors, and interactions of a communityRead MoreNickel and Dimed: the Downtrodden and the Ignored875 Words   |  3 Pagesdifficulties many members of the lower class face daily. Barbara Ehrenreich’s Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America seeks to expose the harsh realities of life for these people. She notes that some of coworkers are homeless and that others must support multiple people with an income of less than ten dollars an hour. Repeatedly, she includes details that highlight the desperately destitute conditions of her coworkers. At its core, Nickel and Dimed is a book whose author wrote to edify people ofRead MoreNickel And Dimed, By Barbara Ehrenreich1636 Words   |  7 Pagesperiod. Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America, by Barbara Ehrenreich, specifically highlights a more modern time period, from the late 1990s to the early 2000s. Within this narrative, author Barbara Ehrenreich depicts her struggles of finding equality within the multitude of jobs she works in order to make a living throughout multiple parts. She strongly asserts, within the breadth of her anecdotes, that the American Dream is not easily attainable. In accordance to Nickel and Dimed: On (Not)Read MoreA Sociological Critique Of Nickel And Dimed1284 Words   |  6 PagesA Sociological Critique of Nickel and Dimed I. Introduction The economic and social class gap in America is evaluated in the book titled, Nickel and Dimed: On Not Getting by in America by Barbara Ehrenreich. The text aims to illustrate her perspective and experiences by going undercover as a journalist. Ehrenreich portrays herself as a recently divorced woman with the skills of a homemaker. The objective of Ehrenreich’s experiment was to evaluate different jobs requiring little to no skills and toRead MoreNickel and Dimed Summary916 Words   |  4 PagesJohn 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 wasRead MoreAppropriate Humor in Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich Essay examples864 Words   |  4 Pages Barbara Ehrenreich employed the use of humor multiple times in Nickel and Dimed; it was perhaps her most frequently used rhetorical device. Ehrenreich was trying to portray the tragedy and heartbreak of the situation by using that sort of hopeless, sardonic humor. She also used her humor as a way to camouflage topics that would otherwise be off-limits. Although some of the humor included in the narrative may have seemed distasteful, it all had a purpose and was rarely used inappropriately. TheRead MoreNickel And Dimed By Barbara Ehrenreich1494 Words   |  6 Pages In the novel Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich, the author goes on an experiment in which she moves to new towns and becomes a low-wage worker. In each town she has to find a place to live for the amount she can afford each month off of minimum wage jobs. She went undercover so she went into these jobs without showing her level of skills, college degrees, or writing skills she has. She spent a month in each town between the years of 1998 and 2000. Before starting her experiment she set rulesRead MoreNickel and Dimed Essays1636 Words   |  7 PagesIn Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America, Barbara Ehrenreich tells a powerful and gritty story of daily survival. Her tale transcends the gap that exists between rich and poor and relays a powerful accounting of the dark corners that lie somewhere beyond the popular portrayal of American prosperity. Throughout this book the reader will be inti mately introduced to the world of the â€Å"working poor†, a place unfamiliar to the vast majority of affluent and middle-class Americans. What makesRead More Nickel and Dimed On (not) Getting By in America by Ehrenreich1351 Words   |  6 PagesNickel and Dimed On (not) Getting By in America by Ehrenreich In the book Nickel and Dimed On (not) Getting By in America the author Ehrenreich, goes under cover as a minimum wage worker. Ehrenreich’s primary reason for seriptiously getting low paying jobs is to see if she can â€Å"match income to expenses as the truly poor attempt to do everyday.†(Ehrenreich 6) Also Ehrenreich makes it extremely clear that her work was not designed to make her â€Å"experience poverty.†(6) After completing the assignmentRead MoreThe Minimum Wage War, By Barbara Ehrenreich And The Article938 Words   |  4 Pagesset up for failure? Do these workers lack the experience in their chosen fields? Do these employees lack in their work ethic? Does the government need to give more support? Questions like these arise in both the story Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By In America by Barbara Ehrenreich and the article â€Å"The Minimum-Wage War† by Rolling Stone. At first glance, these writings may seem unrelated; However, the themes of m inimum wage and work ethic go hand-in-hand with respect to these texts. These writings

Albert Pujols Bio Free Essays

Jose Alberto Pujols Alcantara was born on January 16 1980. He was born in the Dominican Republic and was raised there also. He was raised by his grandmother. We will write a custom essay sample on Albert Pujols Bio or any similar topic only for you Order Now At a young age he wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a great baseball player like his father, he had a dream to play in the majors. In 1996 his family immigrated to New York City. Pujols attended Fort Osage High School as a sophomore. In his first year at Fort Osage his batting average was over . 500 and he hit 11 homeruns. He received All-State Honors. In his junior year of High School with only playing one season of high school baseball he started to attract the attention of pro scouts. In his junior year other teams avoided pitching to him as much as they could. With 55 walks in 88 at bats he still hit 8 homeruns. Now the pro scouts advised him to leave High School and find a collage that could get him better exposure. Pujols played in the All-Star game for high schoolers there he drew the attention of Maple Woods Community Collage coach Marty Kilgore. He recruited the 18-year-old star. His main priority was to increase his stock in the upcoming draft of 2000. In his first collage debut he did amazing things. He stared at short stop and batted . 461. He hit a grand slam in the regular season of future all-star Mark Buehrle. He also turned an unassisted triple play. The unassisted triple play is the rarest thing that can happen in baseball. The player turns a triple play by himself without the help of the other players. For his freshman year of collage he hit 22 homeruns and 80 RBI’s. During the Junior College World Series the scouting report on Albert Pujols said it was better to put him on base than to pitch to him. Even though they did not pitch to him anymore the Major league teams had seen enough. Among the teams watching him was the St. Louis Cardinals. The Cardinals had been watching the hard hitting infielder the closest out of all the teams. The Cardinals selected Pujols in the 13th Round of the draft. They offered him a 10,000 dollar bonus for signing but he turned it down and decided to play in the Jayhawks League. There he joined the Hay Larks. It was 4 hours away from where he was living so he moved in with his manager and his wife. In 55 games he topped the Larks in homeruns and in batting average. At the end of the summer the Cardinals finally started to appreciate Pujols and offered him 60,000. He accepted. During the fall ball season he started to learn a new position, Third base. In the winter he returned to his home and married his wife Diadre. She already had a child named Isabella. After that moment they were never separated. In 2000 he was assigned to the Peoria Chiefs a Class A League, his new wife and Isabella followed him. At the Chief he played as their Third baseman. He was named the circuit’s top defensive man at the hot corner, with the best infield arm. During that season there was seven no hitters thrown. Still even with that Pujols finished second in the league with a . 324 batting average, and added 32 doubles, 17 home runs and 84 RBI’s. He only struck out 37 times it under just 400 at bats. The Peoria Chiefs finished under . 500 but Pujols was named League MVP. After that he made his way through the Cardinals farm league teams. He earned a promotion to the Potomac Cannons, then an affiliate of the Cardinals in the Carolina League. After a strong month by Pujols at the Double-A level the St. Louis brass wanted to see him against Triple-A talent. He was promoted again to the Memphis Redbirds, who were preparing for the Pacific Coast League playoffs. In seven games, Albert hit . 367 with two homeruns, as Memphis nipped the Albuquerque Dukes to advance to the PCL championship series. The Redbirds faced the Salt Lake Buzz, a Minnesota Twins farm team and defeated them for the PCL crown. Albert was named the league’s postseason MVP. With injuries on the Cardinals they were able to keep Pujols. To his surprise he found himself on the line-up against the Colorado Rockies playing left field. At three at bats he managed to get one hit. The next game they were on the road. The Cards traveled to Arizona, where Pujols destroyed the Diamondbacks with a homerun, three doubles and eight RBI’s in three games. Included in his offensive barrage was a ringing two-run double off Randy Johnson. In 2003 he injured his elbow, which enabled him to make long throws. He ended the season batting . 359 with 51 doubles, 43 homeruns and 124 RBI’s. He struck out just 65 times in close to 700 plate appearances. In 2005 he was put on the disabled list and missed 15 games. He started playing first base in the all-star game and has been playing first base for the Cards since then. His batting average is . 269 for this year and has hit 7 homeruns. How to cite Albert Pujols Bio, Papers

Management Engineering and Information Technology

Question: Discuss about the Management Engineering and Information Technology. Answer: Introduction Consumers have a difference in taste and preference. Hence marketers require the right skills to understand their consumption behavior. Marketers choose right approach to use to pursued the consumers to have the willingness to consume goods and services. Most scholars have defined consumer behavior as they study of how and why consumers exhibit different traits when buying goods and services to meet their needs and wants as they strive to seek human satisfaction. Consumption is mandatory therefore at some point we need to make decisions on what exactly suits as we meet our delay needs and wants. The choice of consumption or purchase of a product varies from one person to the other. (Consumer Culture Theory, 2015). For instance, what might seem good to me might seem ordinary or outdated to my friend. Therefore, marketers adjust and interrogate what the clients require so that they remain relevant in the market and even welcome new customers to purchase their products. The theory of consumer behavior is the principle underpinned to the assumption upon which demand and behavior of consumers. This brings the urge for a consumer to strive to allocate the few resources to meet their satisfaction. Understanding the theories of consumer behavior is crucial for successful marketing not only to Apple company but also to other companies in the international markets. Research has proven that behind every marketing strategy there are theories grounded in our psychological thoughts, economics, and studies on human behavior. Consumer theories tend to demystify how consumers purchase as individuals or groups (Xiao, 2015). Therefore, marketers use this knowledge to judge or determine the outcome after observing the way the clients respond. Most importantly, before consumers decide on what to consume they have to make a choice. The choice entails the process of making a decision until they decide to settle of purchasing a particular product. The decision-making process begins by the consumer identifying the need or want, then seek information about the product, weigh the options, then decide to purchase a product and the final process is post purchase evaluation (Belk, 2006). In the post purchase process the consumer analyses if the product purchased was worth the value of money spent or if the product meets the utility of the consumer. There are three broad factors that influence the buying behavior of customer namely; individual, group, and situational factors. Individual factors are those that are intrinsic in that they are either personal or psychological. The personal factors include age, occupation, and income among other factors whereas the psychological factors include motivation, beliefs, and attitudes, and the perception of a person about a given product. Group factors can be either social or cultural. Culture contains sub cultural and social class while the social class may include reference, groups, family, and status. Lastly, situational factors entail the mood, time, physical, and social environment prevailing (Tugrul,n.d.). In this paper, a research is conducted on Apple company more specifically on the manufacture of iPhone mobile phones. The study will uncover how the company utilizes the social class, reference groups, culture of the customers to gains more customers and maintaining high profits from the manufacture of iPhones. It is the culture that influence the behavior of a given set of groups in society therefore our beliefs and norms are translated to dictate the consumption behavior. Culture is profoundly known to influence the behavior of a major group in society or the whole society in general (De Mooij, 2010). As for the case of Apple, the company has regularly maintained its reputation of making powerful smartphones hence majority of the clients develop buy in based on their first experience with the company smart phones. Notably, Culture is the most basic factor that influence people to develop the urge of purchasing its products. For example, as we grow up, we learn basic perceptions, values, and wants form reference or inspiring groups like the family. Therefore, Apple marketers been keen on culture shift or on how to handle different people from various ethnic groups who have varied value and norms. Notably, each culture contains a sub-culture; that is, a group of people sharing common value or originating from the same locality, nationality, racial groups, and religion among other social factors like social status. Multiculturalism is distinct in that there might be some cultures existing within the society (Belk, Ger, Askegaard, 2003). For instance, Australia is a nationality and within it there are some cultures thus this can be referred to multiculturalism. In most cases, a sub-culture can create its own market segment such that they require a special treatment or have the same perception about a product. For example, the youth culture exhibit different buying characteristics from that of the old generation. In this context, the manufacture of iPhones targets young people who are technocrats. That is why the iPhones have appealing features which seem more attractive to the youths but might seem irrelevant to aged individuals. In other words, each product attracts its own market segment hence Apple company has identified a gap in producing advanced machines which suit their young customers. Apple company always strives to maintain their brand influence on consumer purchasing decisions by using persuasive social media tactics. Actually, Apple uses social media platforms the way consumers want them but rather not the way the company wants to use them. Many at times business assume that social media has a great influence on consumer purchasing behavior but this is not true. According to Patricia Redsicker (2014) article, a report published in state of the American consumer researchers found out despite the higher number of people using social media only 5% of them take advertisements serious on social media. Besides, 62% of individual interviewed on the same revealed that social media had no influence on their purchasing behavior. Basically, apple has learnt to twist conversations while making its adverts or introducing their products in the market. It is a fact most people use the social media to connect to family and friends and follow trending stories rather than checking on adverts, therefore, it is less unlikely businesses can use social media to influence customers to buy their products. For the case of apple, the company is fully engaging with their existing customers hence making them ambassadors of their product. The company inspire their customers hence most of its customers brand their product while speaking to their families and friends and this is how apple is able to secure the large market share in various countries. Apple company customer service is awesome. Their media platforms are always online hence the response rate is supersonic ("7 Key Strategies That You Must Learn from Apple's Marketing," n.d.). Maybe this is the reason why they always retain more customers and attract even more because of the quality of services they offer. The difference in social class create a social group of its own (Zou,2014). Social class is a group is society who feel they have realized self-esteem and want to be recognized by others and tend to separate themselves from the rest people of their status like earning high income hence purchasing expensive machines, vehicles, living in posy houses and many more factors. Social status is defined by wealth, occupation, income, education among other variables. Social class is a social factor that to a great extent dictate the buying behavior of some individual not only in Apple company but also in society. Social class is an influential group in society that is defined by the wealth, education level, income, and the occupation and individual is doing among other Variables (Consumer Culture Theory, 2014). The variables make this group to feel secure and different from others because they tend to exhibit different behaviors from the rest of the groups. Apple understands its audience by producing iPhones with feature that suite the Social class individuals. Studies have shown that social class people are extravagant such that they go for products that are expensive and can only be afforded by few people. Thus, the marketers of Apple company target such an audience. For example, people use Apple iPhones because they have high security features and they have large memory and RAM. Apple company has done a one-to-one relationship with their target audience and they use their customers to brand the name by offering incredible and high value iPhones. In addition, individuals with Apple iPhones always feel proud hence they would like to be noticed from a distance. By this I mean, their taste is unique and generally their lifestyle is at the top status. Therefore, Apple marketers identify this group and ensure they produce high quality products to machines them. (Solomon, 2014) says, the group believes quality products are associated with high prices. Therefore, when Apple company is setting up prices for the iPhones, the prices are adjusted in a manner that favor various groups of social status hence their customers are convinced to purchase because they believe the higher the price the better the quality of a product. Reference groups Reference groups can influence how customers perceive a product through informational influence (Tugrul, n.d.). The groups interfere with what the customer values and inspire to be especially by changing the buying behavior of the customer. Reference groups are influential avenue that serve and contribute to decision making and consumption behavior. The groups are used for reference purposes; that is, customers look for guidance from the group to make consumption behavior. Usually groups come to play when a person lacks previous experience and where the behavior carry a social risk. In the context, if a customer is anticipating to purchase an iPhone, the customer would first do a pilot study by consulting and seeking advice from colleagues or people who have used the iPhone previously. Cheng, White and Chaplin (2011, p. 284) for instance says when users of iPhones were criticized for their choice, they could report the matter to the administration of the company through various avenues. Therefore, we can interpret this finding that loyal customers develop a psychological and physical bond to a product such that the user of iPhone could not sustain listening a colleague to bad mouth the iPhone smart phone. Apple has tactfully used social influence to impact the purchase decision of apple products (Aaker, 2001). Apple has succeeded in maintaining the competitive edge because they apply segmentation targeting and brand positioning. First, they use lifestyle segmentation by manufacturing smart-phones that have incredible features. Apple brand have the topmost mind positioning hence whenever think of a Smart-phones their first priority is iPhone. When Apple is executing a marketing mix, they utilize the 4 Ps; that is, price, product, place, and promotion. Whether Apple is introducing a new product or expecting to promote already existing product, the four elements always give guidelines to determine the behavior of clients to the iPhones to produce (Lindstrom, 2009). In general Apple marketers have a good understanding of their market and at all times maintain their services unique and produce technology superior quality products. In conclusion, successful marketing campaign by Apple brings awareness hence the consumers are given chance to decide what to consume and what not to consume after getting a variety of the gadgets produced by the company. A company is required to design specific products for those people belonging in the social class. The taste and content should be unique and probably the company should keep on improving the value of the product to introduce an element of change to convince the client the company is innovative and is offering improvised products. References Cheng, S.Y., White, T.B. and Chaplin, L.N. (2011) The Effect of Self Brand Connections on Responses to Brand failure: A New Look at the Consumer-brand Relationship. Journaof Consumer Psychology, 37, pp. 284-293 7 Key Strategies That You Must Learn from Apple's Marketing. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://neilpatel.com/blog/7-key-strategies-that-you-must-learn-from-apples- marketing/ Belk,R.W. (2006). Collecting in a consumer society. London: Routledge. Belk,R.W., Ger,G., Askegaard,S. (2003). The fire of desire: A multi-sited inquiry into consumer passion. Journal of Consumer Research, 30, nr. 3. Consumer Culture Theory. (2013). Research in Consumer Behavior, iii. doi:10.1108/s0885-2111(2013)0000015029 Consumer Culture Theory. (2014). Research in Consumer Behavior. doi:10.1108/s0885- 2111201416 Consumer Culture Theory. (2015). Research in Consumer Behavior. doi:10.1108/s0885- 2111201517 Li,Y. (2015). Impact of consumer impulsive buying behavior on post-impulsive buying satisfaction: The mediating effects of mixed mood response. Advances in Management Engineering and Information Technology. doi:10.2495/ameit140191 Lindstrom, M. (2009) Buyoloy: How Everything We Believe About Why We Buy is Wrong. Random House Buiness. Patricia Redsicker. (2014, August 27). 5 Ways You Can Influence Consumer Purchasing Decisions: New Research : Social Media Examiner. Retrieved from https://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/5-ways-brands-can-influence-consumer- purchasing-decisions/ De Mooij, M. (2010).Consumer behavior and culture: Consequences for global marketing and advertising. Sage. Xiao,J.J. (2015). Consumer Income. Consumer Economic Wellbeing, 129-149. doi:10.1007/978-1-4939-2821-7_8 Solomon, M. R. (2014).Consumer behavior: Buying, having, and being(Vol. 10). Engelwood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. Tugrul,T.O. (n.d.). The Effects of Consumer Social Media Marketing Experiences on Brand Affect and Brand Equity. Handbook of Research on Integrating Social Media into Strategic Marketing, 73-87. doi:10.4018/978-1-4666-8353-2.ch005 Zou,Y. (2014). Social Media Review: The Impact of Social on Brand-Consumer Relationships. Ideas in Marketing: Finding the New and Polishing the Old, 624- 624. doi:10.1007 /978-3- 319-10951-0_230

Malcolm Hendrix Essays (620 words) - African-American Muslims

Malcolm Hendrix All men are created equal. This statement was the basis of the civil right movements of the 1960's. Malcolm X is a man that promoted a society in which all human beings were equally respected. He believes that blacks should achieve that goal by any means necessary. In a time when blacks were not allowed to sit in the front of the bus, using the same bathroom, or were not admitted to Universities. Malcolm X's cry of justice was believed to be the voice of all blacks behind closed doors. Little grew up as poor and did not have much parental support. His father was run over by a street car when he was six. Soon after his father's death, his mother was put in a mental hospital. He grew up in East Lansing and Boston. He was a pimp, a hustler, drug user, and a drug dealer. He worked in the Harlem underworld and was almost killed by his boss after he betrayed him. Malcolm turned to robbery and was caught by the police and sentenced to 10 years of hard labor. While in jail, he was introduced to the Nation of Islam, a Black Muslim group, and changed his name to Malcolm X. The X replaced the slave name that was given by the white masters and stands for the his real name that he never knew. After his release from prison he started preaching for the Nation of Islam (NOI). His preaching was known for its hatred overtone. He describes America as a house with a "bomb" inside and it is about to explode. Unless the white people want the house to explode and kill everyone inside, they should take the bomb out and give it a house of their own. His speeches were very popular among angry blacks and he was frequently on the front page of the newspaper. It was rumored that other Nation of Islam members were jealous about his popularity and worried about the power he was gaining. After the JFK assassination, Malcolm stated: "President Kennedy never foresaw that the chickens would come home to roost so soon... Being an old farm boy myself, chickens coming home to roost never did make me sad; they always made me glad. "After many death calls from irritated Whites, The Nation of Islam started to distance themselves from Malcolm. There was already friction between The Nation of Islam and they did not want the Nation of Islam to get a bad name because of Malcolm. Feeling pressure to leave and felt betrayed by his church, he started the Organization of Afro-American Unity. They had the commitment to "doing whatever is necessary to bring the Negro struggle from the level of civil rights to the level of human rights." While making a speech in the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem on Feb 21, 1965 he was assassinated by 3 persons all belonging to the NOI. Whether you like him or not, Malcolm X was charismatic leader that said the many things that had to be said in the midst of the civil rights movement. "By any means necessary! I'm for freedom. I'm for a society in which our people are recognized and respected as human beings, and I believe that we have the right to resort to any means necessary to bring that about."-Malcolm X, interview with Claude Lewis (December 1964) This statement and others helped propel the recognition of prejudice in the heart of America. Whenever I research into a past leader I always feel a great sadness that a great mind has perished with the person. But in this one case, there is a small sense of relief. Violence bleeds violence. A man that has preached violence to advance his cause was gunned down by 3 men whom he has preached. They stood over his body and emptied their guns. I hope all people can learn from this and move forward together as a nation in peace.