fMaria has 10 post(s)

In the report,” The Roots of the Widening Racial Wealth Gap,” by Thomas Shapiro, Tatjana Meschede, nd Sam Osoro, they indicate the four main factors that have fueled the racial wealth gap in the U.S..They break down and explain in detail each of the four main factors, home ownership, Income and Employment, Inheritance, and College Education.

The first factor they discuss is Homeownership; the study shows that homeownership is the largest form of investment for most American, similar the American Dream which everyone who moved to America dreams of owning a house and have it full pay at once. To own a home is the biggest investment and eventually becomes one of your the most important aspects to your life. At first, African American families were giving loans very quickly and with low-interest rates, once the economy hit a recession they were forced to go into foreclosure, creating a bigger gap for between the equality of Whites and African Americans.

The second-factor Income nd Unemployment, due to African Americans suffering and having to be set back because of the discrimination they have suffered for many years in the employment situation.Due to the discrimination, they have low wages which do not allow them to become wealthy. Many face unemployment because they have been discriminated thru the hiring process. It creates instability for them and their families.

The third factor is inheritance, most White American families have been around for many years, which has given them the opportunity to be able to gain wealth to pass down to their future generations. However, that is not the case with African Americans who have suffered discrimination in labor and wages which have not allow them to create wealth for them and have an inheritance to pass down to their future generations.

The fourth factor is College Education, at first education was a way to better-living condition and way to create wealth for you. The college has become more and more expensive making very hard to be able to attend college and not be in massive debt. Not only having a debt but many have to drop out of college before actually finishing their degrees due to a high cost of college degree and having to support their families. Many White have their parents who pay for their full college tuition or have an inheritance to be able to ay for some of their college years.
Lastly, the article discusses the Social and Cultural factor many believe that marriage is easier for bills when having two incomes, yet when both spouses are paid low wages it does not make it easier having too low incomes to be able to support a family. I strongly agree with the research and numbers show how the discrimination has set back African Americans in a way that it becomes extremely hard to be bale to catch up to the success of the White Americans.

The article, “ Wage Penalty for Motherood,” by Michelle Budig and England, is a great example for what mothers have to deal with in the work force, I completely agree with their artice and research. They give examples on why mothers are being penalized in their workplace, the way their job expereicen are interrupted do to the caretaking of children.Mothers take lower paying jobs that are mother friendly,t they become less productive at work due to the demands child taking demands, they start to be discriminated by their employers.

When women leave their job to take care of their children, because they have to go on maternity leave they are taking time away from work and away from having more experience in the work field. It becomes domino affect because the women have to take time out to care fo their children and while they are home, and away from their work place, they are setting back from learning new techniques or keeping up to date with what the work place needs.Therefore by the time they return to work they have been penalized with wges cut for not been up to date in the job field.

Budig and England also discuss that women chose mother-friendly jobs, which are jobs that come with ower paying jobs but they are flexiable to understading the high demands of motherhood. The penalized for motherhood comes with a low wage and a reward to be able to be flexiable to atten any motherly events or duties. If the job were a high demaning paying job, they would not be mother friendly jobs. A mother friendly job allows mothers to attend work while earning a low wage in exchange for flexiably for motherhood.

Motherhood also get discriminated by their employers,they second guess themselves when giving a promotion to mothers because they will have more flexiability and will be more productive. They would rather give the job to a women who has no kids they believe she will be more productive and flexiable to the high demands of the work field.

Motherhood has the rewrds of having giving birth, yet it is penelazied for it. Motherhood caue with penalization in the work field, a woman has to have settle for lower wages and go to motherfriednly jobs to have flexiablilt to be a mother and have child care. They also look down by their employeers and coworkers because they may seened tired or unproductive with the demands of child caring and raising. It seems to be ironic that motherhhod comes with a high penalization when we should be caring and making the process for child care for women to be able to succeed in their work fields.

In the article,”Doing Gender by Giving Good Service by Elaine Hall she explains how gender roles are a significant contribution to how people treat and rate their service if it’s good or bad. Hall describes two approaches gendered organization approach and gender in organization approach; she goes into detail to explain the relationship between both and how one has more power over the other using her information from her research.

Hall defines the gender in the organization approach to be center more to the differences between the genders and their behavior in the work environment. Hall explains that the gender in an organization is brought into a gender-neutral work environment by the person. She uses the example of the woman police officer who is classified as a gender neutral career, however as the difference between female and male police officers are very easily to rise to question when sexual harassment is involved. Also, society tends to view female police officers as weak and not up to the standards as male police officers would be. This is when the gender roles and their behavior set them apart.

In a gendered organization, Hall describes to be the gender who play a role in what job the person would perform better. It Dates back to when a woman would be only good as caregivers at home due to their gender. Hall explains how in the restaurant business women have to be flirty, to give excellent service, when the waiters do not have to be flirty to provide good service. The gender organization portrays a role different when it comes to gender. If you’re a woman you are mostly to be hired as a housekeeper or a nanny, why?. Because society has set the idea that woman are born with a giving to be caretakers and therefore will be performed better as so. Their gender plays a significant role when getting hired for certain jobs.
Depending on what the job is looking for they will hire you, in the club/restaurant business if they are seeking to attract men as consumers, they will hire young good looking girls and give them uniforms in which benefits their bodies. Not only do they have to wear tiny and rebelling uniforms they also have to flirt and be well put with their hair and makeup done. This is an example of how gender organization plays a role in whether or not you will hire and once hired you still have to keep up with the job requirements of the workplace giving more power when it comes to addressing the way gender constructed within the workplace.

Many say that you don’t know what someone is going thru until you walk a mile in their shoes. Barbara Ehrenreich set out to be different and achieve a thru life experience on how people are living on the pay they have from their low-wages jobs. In on of my other classes I had to do some readings on Ehrenreich, where she tells her story as an undercover maid which is what she also discuss in this chapter. Knowing her reading and previous works, I have to say that Ehrenreich benefits from living the real life experience. She could have gone out and interview couple people about their lives, and how they go on living pay check to pay, however, it would not have the same real life effect as for her to do the old school style journalism.
Ehrenreich benefits from putting herself thru the actual life experience many have to face on a daily basis to have a job that supports their families. She begins to set rules for herself, just in case she can’t any longer take it. Then her search for a place to live and describes how it was difficult to find a place to feel as you are home, finds herself finding places that are no safe to live in or they are no clean. Anyone living on a pay check to pay check low-wage job does not have money for a security deposit; therefore, she has to settle for what she can afford. If she were just interviewing people who live on low-wage jobs, she would not have felt the anxieties when she wasn’t able to find a place to call home. The feeling of anxiety from living in an unsafe, unclean place are not acquired from interviewing people or researching statics.
As she begins her job search, she also faces the channels of not having the proper wardrobe for an office job. An individual who lives from a low wage job would not have a closet full of business wardrobe or the privilege to go shopping for some. Therefore she has to settle to pay for her motel six room. Although Ehrenreich stuck to living her research as much as a person serving and struggle with a low wage job or on the search on, at the end of the day she could always pull out her ATM card and bail herself out of nay problem she faced. Her determination to stick to living as a low wage person gave her the insight on how many have to live paycheck to paycheck without the security of having a job or the education required for a better job. Ehrenreich benefits from sticking to her research and for the short amount of time was able to walk in their shoes.

This week’s reading, “ In working, Studs Terkel(1972: xxvii) believes that we should all stop thinking about the “ work ethic.” I believed that one should always have a strong work ethic in your field to succeed. I find in his writing this is what he is trying to state, Terkel argues that no matter what type of job you have or performed it should be meaningful to you as a whole in every aspect of your life.
Terkell goes on to give examples of different professions and interviews them about their jobs. They each describe the satisfaction their work gives to them despite the hard physical conditions it may require. I think this is where his connection to ‘’ Human matters” comes into play, and he argues that one should find persuade a career in which will make you happy and not money. As he interviews different fields of the job, he tells stories on how a waitress, is happy serving her customers and feel she does such a great job which fulfills her with such great achievement and gives her the satisfaction to come to work every day.
In my, opion Terkell believes and argues everyone find their calling in which they will find meaning in. He claims that ones the old man left his work and decided to find what he loves he enter the ‘’Human matter” cycle. He was able to find his calling and not feel as guilty for leaving his stable job for something that might not pay good, however as he persuades his passion for his new calling. He finds himself with satisfaction that equals to no money amount the other job ever did. It seems to me that Terkel idea is for human to make a difference in the world.
I feel pursuing my education and career goals. Attending CWE is for me to be able to persuade a career in Early Childhood Education, that each day I will wake up and love to go to work.Of course, there will be days that turn into wanting to run away from the job, but the fact that you have built a career and making a difference is what makes a job become a career. The fact that you enjoy and you are making a difference that gives you satisfaction, that achievement gives you motivates you to be able to keep going with your career.

In relation to the articles between education and work, the message is clear the higher the education, the better opportunities one has to obtain a well-paying job. Therefore, you are less likely to lose your job. If you have the upper education with a stable job, the unemployment rates will be low. In the case of someone who has a lower education level the fewer opportunities, they have to be able to obtain a well-paying job. If they have a lower educational attainment and not able to keep your job. They will have to be part of the unemployment rate, which increases the level of unemployment of people with lower education. Higher education comes at a very expensive cost, and the security of obtaining a stable well-paying job at the is not always secure.
In the article “Raising the Floor, Not Just the Ceiling” by Tressie McMillan Cottom concentrates on the issue of the administration of President Obama, not focusing on the higher education system. We can see that higher education does not mean to have a secure job after college. Therefore, he suggests a guaranteed job at the of college will be the answer to unemployment. The cost of obtaining an education has skyrocketed, students want to attend college for a better job, yet they are finding themselves with tons of debt after college, and many don’t find employment a year after they graduate at least not employment in the field they graduate from. Also with the prices of college higher and higher students are having to settle for a community or a college program they can afford. They have to look away from elite well know college although they may have the grades and brains to be admitted yet they don’t have the means to paying for it. Students have have to settle for less when it comes to their education. Cottom argues that the Obama administration has not don’t anything for higher education and should to advocate as much as they can while Obama is still in office.
As the cost of higher education rises, people are taking advantage of by having to accept mistreatment of employees to earn a living. In the Saadiyat Island, workers who come from Pakistan, India, Nepal, and Bangladesh are lied to and promised by the recruitment companies. They are taken away from their homes, to have to live in poor conditions, having to pay for their living arrangement and work long extend hours with no pay in sight for years to come. Languages play a significant barrier many can’t advocates for themselves, have no education, and their passport is hidden from them. The fact that they have no college degree and are desperate to have a job makes them be taken advantaged. The article on for-profit colleges states how the for-profit colleges are meant to be a way to students who can afford or attend community or state college have options. Many of their students do not graduate. They are concerned about having high enroll numbers and not high graduating numbers, the money they could put into ensuring their students graduate and obtain a job after; they use the money for advertising and marketing to attract new incoming students. Ironic how their primary goal is to attract student to enroll, yet they do not spend as much effort in securing a high graduation rate and obtain a job in their field after college.

In The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism by Max Weber, he states the lines written by Benjamin Franklin to explain the connection Weber is underlining between rationalism and the spirit of capitalism which are the following “Remember, that time is money. He that can earn ten shillings a day by his labor, and goes abroad, or sits idle, one-half of that day, though he spends but sixpence during his diversion or idleness, ought not to reckon that the only expense; he has really spent, or rather thrown away, five shillings besides” (Weber14).
Till today I would always listen to people say “Time is money” and never pay any mind to where the term came from or who it came or even the history behind it all, until today when doing the readings. Franklin was trying to motivate and explain to the people that our time was value and we should not waste any in minor things that will not give us wealth. Our time is valuable, and the time we do spend working we should think twice before spending it all at once. One should remember the hours spent earning the money and wasted only to reproduced.

I view Webber and capitalism as Benjamins influenced him believes of capitalism and start to use that at his methods in which one should follow to be successful in your life and wealth. He believes one should use his money and reinvest. He became aware of the concept and method before it was implemented in America. He believes that the time we have is used to earned money and the money we gain should be reinvested in capitalism. Weber goes on to describe the ethics one should have to succeed. One should pay its credit on time and be honest the way he will benefit from doing so. That is how one was able to build on his wealth and gain other trust and grew his wealth.

Weber explains how man are driven by the idea of power and wealth, which is very similar to today’s world. Many of us have to choice between our driven career or making better money. We spend more time working than actually enjoying the fruits of our labor. Webber believes that money and wealth will give you all you need, which in reality I think otherwise based on personal experiences in my life.

Hello, Class!

My name is MariaIsabel Gallardo; mostly everyone calls me Maria easier to pronounce. I was born in Ecuador and move to New York with my family at the age of eight, from the day one New York became my home. This my third semester at CWE and this class is part of my curriculum at first I wasn’t sure of what to expect from Sociology of Work except for the fact we will be learning about the history if work and the ethics that come with working. I look forward to learning the history of labor and the ethics that go with it throughout the class.

My family owns a Jewelry store where I currently work. I have been working there for about five years already. I used to work for an ESL school as administrate assistant and had to take a leave of absence due to an accident I had while vacationing in Cabo. I was not able to work. Therefore I took a leave of absence and with live always changing I ended up moving to Ecuador for about eight months. After the eight months I move back to New York, and when my father ask me to help out at the store, I accepted and from the day on I been working there, while going back to school to obtain my degree. My dream career would be to become a psychologist or a counselor for Middle School.

My fraternal grandparents who I have always been close were both hard workers in Ecuador. My grandmother who I’m named after Maria is an orphan and from a very young age had to work to earn a living to be able to support herself. While working for a wealthy family who she remembers treated her like a daughter, she meets my grandfather felt and love and marries him at the age of 18. From them on she was always finding ways to make a living from having a bar at a soccer clubhouse, where she would cook breakfast, lunches, and dinners. My grandfather worked doing administrative tasks for the city and the bull fighting Association since Bull fighting was pretty big deal in Ecuador. Sadly, he passed away ten years ago. My maternal grandparents, I don’t know much about them, not much there to tell. My father has worked his whole life back in Ecuador he had his own business, it was a coffee shop. When we move to New York, we started to work in the family store and has been a jeweler since then. My mother has been a housewife most of her life, with some period of times, she is always in the jewelry business.

I believe the fact I see how hard my grandparents and father have been hard workers; it has imprinted on me also to be a hard worker. Also the fact to see my mom been so dependent on her husband has made me want to be independent and be able to support myself. I moved out of my mother’s house and owned my own at the age of 18 years old while I was able to support myself and work at the ESL School, never looked back. Having to support myself made me put school on hold and just work, now I have decided to go back to school and get my degree. Having to listen to how my grandparents and parents didn’t have the chance to attend college and get a degree has defiantly impacted my decision on going back to college and get a degree. While I love to work with jewelry, I also love to help people out, and my dream career has always been to be a counselor or psychologist. I think having different plans and not putting all your eggs in on basket. To see your loved ones struggle to make a living is a huge motivation for me and to be able to provide for my future kids keeps me going and try to improve in my work, education and life for the better.

From reading Weber, I would say he believes in having a strong work ethic will help you achieve your goals and be wealthy. He believes that time is money and should not be a waste. Therefore if you are working and earning a living, you are not wasting your time. You are working for a better life. It was interesting to see how he used religion to compared to work ethics; I helped me have a clear view on the work ethics work.

Sociology of Work
Assignment # 4

In Chapter Two of Karl Marx’s “ Wage Labour and Capital,’’ he begins to define what wages are and their relationship to labor. Marx’s defines wages to be “that wages are the amount of money which the capitalist pays for a certain period of work or certain amount to work”(Marx), Marx begins by stating that despite the different type of work a worker does they all have one thing in common and is a wage. Marx describes a wage to be an exchange of trade between the worker and the employee. It is a transaction in which the employee sells his labor or trade and time to the employee to receive money for their commodities. Marx goes in to explain how time is what capitalist buy whether is an hour, a day or week; the essential is the time of a worker. As the employee commits to his labor, the capitalist will pay him his wage. The wage the capitalist gives the worker allows him to buy commodities weather is meat, clothing, or shelter.He is only capable of doing so, due to his time spent laboring to earned a paid wage. The way I was able to understand Marx theory of wages, commodities and labor are all a domino effect. The capitalist pays for the workers time, in which the worker spends his hours, days, etc. In providing a service for the capitalist in exchange, he receives a wage that allows his to support themselves and lifestyle. As Marx states that ”wages” is the fancy term in which is use to decide the price of one’s time spent laboring.
Marx goes on to explain his theory of wages by using the example of a Weaver; the Weaver is giving the loom and yard by the capitalist. Once the weaver is supplied with the loom and yard, he goes to producing cloth. The capitalist now has his cloth and will continue to sell his cloth for 20 shillings.The Weaver has been paid for his labor and will in no way be sharing the earnings in which the capitalist will receive from demand and supply of his cloth. The Weaver has no concern in what the capitalist will do or if he would even make a profit of the cloth he produced, with the weaver been paid his wages for his labor he no longer has anything to do with the product or selling of the cloth. As the weaver has no connection to the final product with the cloth he finds himself just working to get by and earn a wage to pay for his commodities. Marx explains that the hours the weaver spends does not fulfill him in any satisfying way until he is giving his wages, that is when the weaver start to enjoy his life.
After reading Marx wages and labor piece, I believe more in one should choose a career in which you enjoy. The fact that you will be spending long hours, days and years to come in the laboring to earn a wage to be able to survive and be able to pay for your commodities.

In his article, “The Principles of Scientific Management, (1911:4)”, Frederick Taylor he discusses how one could simplify jobs and make days work more productive. Taylor started this paper by quoting then President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt: “The conservation of our national resources is only preliminary to the larger question of national efficiency (Taylor;p1)”. Taylor explains the concept to which he referred as to “soldiering” in which was his term for “slow working.” Taylor believes that money motivated all workers.Therefore an employee should pay day by day based on the quality of work he produces the day. He believes an employee will not work as hard, and if he saw his fellow co-worker “slacking” he will begin to question himself, why do I get the same amount when his not working as hard as I do?. It will create conflict between workers and decreased the quality of work produced by the company. Taylor believes that there has to be a healthy job environment for employees to keep motivated. He believes that a good relationship between employees and employee is a key factor, for efficient work. When a worker is not being watched so closely and carefully by his employer, will produce a better quality of work. He believes that if employers and employees work together to maximize the product quality and efficiency, it will benefit all, it was a matter of both realizing they are working for the same goal.Taylor believes if there was a solution to end the soldiering, that if the workers will not behave this way it will create higher wages and shorter working hours along with home condition possible.

The three causes for “soldiering” Taylor believed were, “ The Fallacy,”“The defective,””The inefficient rule-of-thumb.” Taylor states “ This paper will attempt to show the enormous gains which result from the substitution by workmen of the scientific rule of thumb methods.” (Taylor,p4) He believes that both the employee and employer will benefit from the substitution of soldering. In my opinion, Taylor’s theory sounds great on paper, however, in today’s world, the fact we live in a capitalist society seems to make a nonexisting collaboration. A capitalist or business owner has the pressure of material and competition, once he feels the pressure, he will begin to put the pressure on his employees and the principles of scientific management Taylor’s theory will be affected.