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