å Sunday, November 13th, 2016

In Nickel and Dimed Ehrenreich uses an old fashion method of journalism but going undercover as a low wageworker that “just” got off of welfare. I think there are benefits and drawbacks to this way of conducting research.

Ehrenreich particularly did not conduct her research in an authentic way because she did have some “cushions” to try to make her research a little easier. Generally a woman just coming off of public assistance would not have the luxury of having access to a vehicle. Ehrenreich was able to find affordable long term housing in motel while she looked for a place to live which seemed to be standard for people with low income in Portland Maine where she decided to conduct some of her research. Maine was a location that she chose in order to conduct her research in a area that was very “white” in order to avoid the pressures of being in a low wage work force with other races that would be typical workers in the service industries. Maine was so white that this would not be an issue. She discovers that this is a similar place as some of the other locations that she has been conducting her research. Similar jobs to attain with similar wages for the unskilled woman.

Ehrenreich was able to get jobs as a dietary aide and also as a maid without having any experience in these fields. She is able to meet people/Co Workers at these jobs and is able to learn a different perspective of some of the other struggles these individuals face such as limited funds for childcare or the uneasiness of having to leave your child with someone that you do not fully trust. Also, the struggles of not being able to take a day off because your job will not be secured if you miss a day of work. Being able to have an insider’s perspective of her co-workers was the real benefit of putting herself in this position to conduct this research.

I do partially agree that Ehrenreich did not need to leave her home to fully conduct this research. I think that she could have gotten testimony from different people of all races and from a few different age groups in order to get some stories of what it is like to live as a low wage worker. Besides the benefit of meeting the people she worked with and knowing their stories, I feel like Ehrenreich being a white woman in America who is educated has a slight upper hand compared to others that are living below the poverty line without even realizing it.

Toniann German

Soc#Ass.7

I feel what Terkel is arguing is that in order to understand the true meaning of work ethic we must separate the idea that work is about making money.  Rather Terkel suggest that we must find meaning within the work that we do. Even if you are stuck in jobs we may not like, we must take pride in what we are doing. His example of the waitress may show that although to some her job may seem simple, To the waitress it is meaningful.  She takes pride in that she is good at her job and provides great service to her customers. The waitress takes pride in making her customers happy. I feel that although the work may not be enjoyable Terkle wants us to look at how our work is benefiting our lives and values.

I believe that because we live in a world were work ethic is not viewed in Terkles point of view, society has had to try to sell happiness along with their products. For example, most of us have heard the saying service with a smile. This is because many people are being told to fake smiles and fake their happiness in order to make sales. Instead Terkel is saying that we must find joy in what we do so we can provide a real joyful experience.

There is a human disconnect from work, Terkel expresses how the people through his interviews felt as if humans no longer matter in their work. Terkel brings up the point of human jobs being taken over by technology. As a result people no longer feel as if they are being noticed or appreciated in their jobs in addition to feeling as if they are not making a difference.  I also found his interviews with the blue-collar workers and the white-collar workers very interesting. I found it very surprising that in both types of work the employees felt unhappiness and at times invisible.

Although I agree with Terkel in that it is important to find happiness within your work, especially because not everyone has the option to purse their dreams. I do however think that it is easier said than done. It is very hard to find happiness in a job which you work in only to maintain your survival. It is hard to find happiness in work where you are unappreciated, underpaid, and replaceable by machinery.

The benefit author Barbara Ehrenreich obtains as described in her book Nickel and Dimed is not one that is measured by charts and graphs, but by experiencing the relationship and struggle people have with low wage earnings and how they maintain their everyday lives. In her book, Ehrenreich decides to shed her current “work life” as a writer and scholar, and become one of the low wage working class. The author sets to obtain low paying jobs with little to no experience and obtain housing throughout her experiment. She has also set some guidelines for herself in which she strips down her skills and experience, she must take the highest paying low wage jobs and take the cheapest rent option when seeking where to live. Ehrenreich states that she does go into this experiment with some advantage, but she is not dismissing the disadvantages the majority of low wage workers in America experience. While she provides herself some necessities such as a car and not subjecting herself to homelessness or hunger, her journey to experience life as a low wage earner in this society presents itself to be a difficult one.

In the second chapter Scrubbing in Maine, Ehrenreich decides to conduct her experiment in an environment where her “whiteness” is common among the masses. She, who is a white woman, argues that she chooses this environment so that she can get into the low wage workforce with very little involvement of race and prejudices. She stays at a motel while she secures employment and simultaneously tries to find a place to live. She obtains two jobs in Maine; one as a dietary aide in a nursing home on weekends and one as a house cleaner at a home cleaning service. She also obtains housing that can be sustained with her earning wage, but we quickly discover that making ends meet becomes a challenge. We also quickly discover that her relationship to work is one that subjects her to adjust things such as what she eats, her health and how she relates with her co-workers. It is an environment that ultimately tells the tale of how low wage earnings and high stress jobs do not fulfill even the basics of living everyday life.

I truly believe that the goal of Ehrenreich immersing herself into this experiment is one that was necessary. While we can easily use numbers and others stories to measure results easily, the overall experience she demonstrates in the pieces shows the human connection along with the difficulties and sacrifices one has to go through on a day to day when earning low wages. It is within those experiences that we tend to discover the relationship one has to work and life. Where human beings struggle to make ends meet in a society that asks so much in return as far as wages are concerned, it is proof positive that the value one equates to the level of work one does is not balanced in any way.

Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich is the research she decides to do about the hardship people in American go through because of low wages. Her curiosity lead to do this research by incorporating herself in the lives and circumstances must people in America go through every day. Her family recommended she do the research without living throw it, the way people making low wages do. Her family at first weren’t too keen on her decision but she made her choice.

The day she started her research she made some rules for safety reasons she would have a car either her own or a rental and she would have some extra money for the beginning of her research. She went into this experiment with some privileges most people having a low-income job don’t have. She started job hunting but rapidly understood that in order to get a job it is necessary to have a place to live an address to write down on the applications. Similarly, she realized that she was looking for jobs in a predominantly black area where she stood out. This is when Ehrenreich chooses to do her research in Maine because is predominantly white and she would fit in.

This experience gave her the chance to see firsthand the struggles low income families go thought to survive in this country. Ehrenreich was able to see how difficult it is to find a livable space making minimal wage. She saw how some people had to struggle and basically live like animals because they can’t afford better living conditions. Correspondingly she experienced how many people get sick or injured but continue to work though it because either can’t afford to go to the hospital or can miss a day’s work because of fear of losing that precious job.  This gave her the opportunity to feel the frustration must of us go through with our employers, when they choose the job at hand instead of our health or sometimes safety.

Certainly, if Ehrenreich hadn’t made the decision to experience the life of low income families first hand and follow her family’s advice, this research would not have been the same. Even though she had the privilege of knowing the struggles she was going though were temporary and that if she was going hungry she would buy something to eat, she really tried to stick though the struggles like many of her coworkers. This made her research feel more authentic to her.