Nickel and Dimed
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.
