The Minimum Wage War, By Barbara Ehrenreich And The Article

Why does it seem that the working class is set 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 minimum wage and work ethic go hand-in-hand with respect to these texts. These writings express the correlation that working a minimum wage job and having a strong work ethic does not always result in enough money to pay for the cost of living. Consequently, unskilled workers become forced to work two or more positions (or become a part of America’s underclass). To begin, Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By In America was a recollection of a social experiment about minimum wage work. From the title â€Å"T he Minimum-Wage War†, it may seem that Ehrenreich’s recollection of minimum wage work may not be as accurate as someone who faces the true pressures of working two minimum wage jobs a week; However, because she put herself in the same conditions, she created a credible study. Ehrenreich’s experiment was derived from the question â€Å"Could I income to expenses, as the truly poor attempt to do every day?† She worked in various minimum wage environments, such as restaurants, a hotel, a cleaning service, and a nursing home.Show MoreRelatedAnalysis Of Upton Sinclair s The Grapes Of Wrath 3839 Words   |  16 PagesSocial mobility, or the movement of an individual between the stratification of societal classes, remains virtually illusory, an unattainable falsity that millions have laboriously fought for since the turn of the twentieth century. Monopolies and wage slavery remain definite and palpable, both of which contribute to immobility between social rank ings, establishing an unbreakable cycle of poverty. The idyllic ethos of the American Dream, a belief that one will achieve success through hard work andRead More Feminism Essays3962 Words   |  16 Pageswomen, despite their views of difference feminism, hold varying expectations for the behavior of women. In her article What Abu Ghraib Taught Me, Barbara Ehrenreich recounts her the process by which she became disillusioned with the notion of female moral superiority. Despite claiming that she never believed that women were inherently gentler and less aggressive than men, Ehrenreich divulges her shock at the images of Spc.s Megan Ambuhl, Sabrina Harman, and Lynndie England, stating secretlyRead MoreHistory of Social Work18530 Words   |  75 PagesRichmond.......................................................................................................................................................29 George Orwell, John Howard Griffin, Pat Moore, Tolly Toynbee, Gà ¼nther W allraff, Barbara Ehrenreich ............30 Sir William Beveridge ..............................................................................................................................................32 Jane Jacobs (1916-2006) ..................................