Nickel and Dimed: on (Not) Getting by in America

1692 Words7 Pages
American feminist and author Barbara Ehrenreich journeys into the lives of the working poor - in her book Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By In America. She attempts to rationalize how members of the working poor are able to survive, or even prosper with living wages of six to seven dollars an hour. So, “in the spirit of science” (Ehrenreich, p. 9) Ehrenreich decides to plunge into the depths of the American stratification system, but not without some hesitation! Parameters & rules are set to fully experience the lifestyle and living conditions of her new class. She can not fall back on her education or skills from her current job, must take the highest paying job and try to hold it, and find the cheapest accommodations available. For the course of the project she will travel to different parts of the United States, starting off in Key West, then Maine and followed by Minnesota. Traveling to different places gives Ehrenreich a better understanding of the working and economic conditions in these areas, and the readers a better understanding of the socio-economic issues in the United States. Maine was chosen for it’s “whiteness” (Ehrenreich, p. 33) and where Ehrenreich would work as a maid at The Maids (original) and Woodcrest Residential Facility as a dietary aide. She worked with a group of three maids, Marge, Denise, and Holly. Tasks get split amongst them from house to house. In most situations an affluent person with resources would have the luxury of hiring a maid service, definitely not someone from the working poor or maybe even the middle class. Karl Marx’s conflict theory tells us that when there is social stratification, it creates powerful groups or also known as bourgeoisie, and lower class groups known as proletariat. In our political system the bourgeoisie or elites control most of the economic and political power, and have the resources to get their
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