Social Inequality Portrayed in Nickel and Dimed- Barbara Ehrenreich - Book Report/Review Example

Social Inequality Portrayed in Nickel and Dimed- Barbara Ehrenreich Introduction The concept of social inequality first came into practice in Europe with the definition of class where British obsession with class became rampart across the world and mostly on her colonies. The concept of class has for long now become an American project of pathological denial where it is characterized by significant lower depths of the American unemployment structure as well as significant differences emerging on the pay levels irrespective of the quality of job an employee possesses. In Nickel and Dimed, Barbara sets out to explore the social inequalities portrayed by the American labor market and embarks n her role impersonating like majority of women in the low income earning level. Desperate for a job as well as the week’s lent like the class she intends to research on, she sets out to search for a job. She acquires a job in a house of an old couple where she upholds a number of tasks among them a waitress, a dietary aid as well as a house cleaner. Her employment experience leads to her realization of how her co-workers in that social class experience difficult lives where those possessing the role of low level managers keep on tracking the workers (Ehrenreich, 2002). Her even most surprise is that irrespective of all the high supervisory that these managers employ, the women cleaners only have a half-full bucket of water as well as a few chemicals aids and some air fresheners with them. The specific clarification of the items with the workers is to signify their value while comparing with the high supervisory accorded. During her working hours in the houses of the rich, she realizes an amazing flow of spiritual books although no translation is accorded as charity to the employed. The lives of workers are pathetic, as explained through their living conditions where they live in trailers, car parks as well as motel rooms. The work experience of Barbara is important in exploring the social inequality within the American society that the paper wants to put into perspective. The Minimum Wage Issue When the American government set the minimum wage level among the American workers and employers, majority of the population thought of the standard as key in ensuring creation of wealth among the citizens. The concept is far much attributed to the fact behind the government aims of ensuring creation of a society where the population comprised of middle income earners. However, Barbara, curious of the conditions of the low income earners according to the minimum wage set by the government of $7 per lower and above, explores the conditions of these low income earners in disguise. When secures employment in one of the rich families homes, she is astonished and disgusted in the manner that those in the high level within the society, thanks to their wealth mistreats the poor workers (Ehrenreich, 2002). The surprise is not only as a result of poor working conditions and excessive work, but also failure to sustain individual needs from the income earned. While the goal of ensuring realization of a middle income population would ensure a situation where every individual owned a home, the situation is far from possibility. Rather than mange purchasing homes, the poor workers remain homeless where even renting is a major challenge. The inadequate resources earned prompt them to adapt to poor living conditions that expose them to all sorts of harm that can affect human beings. Poverty an American crime During the time of publishing of Nickel and Dimed, various signs of economic downturns that signify increased levels of poverty were already underway with cracks appearing in the stock market. It is equally important to realize that the challenges that the author encountered therefore occurred during a period where the economy was achieving growth an indication that with the failure of the economy, the low income earners gets exposed to more challenges and hardships. Consequently, the policies set tend to underestimate the levels of poverty within the U.S considering that those earning below $7 an hour living below the poverty line. If the measure is applied, a significant twenty-nine percent will as a result fall in that category (Ehrenreich, 2002). The result of the low earnings thus indicates that these Americans are deprived off the basic needs of housing, food education as well as medical care. Considering the increased costs of medical care and housing among others, the trend of the number f the poor continues to widen. Despite the resulting figures of the poor in the U.S, it is also important to note that a few rich take the advantage of enriching themselves through providing little wages and where their return is high while seeking cheap labor. Thinking of such trends, it signifies danger in the social class created within the U.S population and while an emphasis on the global crisis is emphasized after Barbara conducted her research, the situation is even worse. Hardships Encountered Among the Low income earners The experience of Barbara during her working period in the houses of the rich presents adequate evidence of the hardships that the poor encounter as they engage on their daily activities. One of the hardships she encountered refers to skipped meals where the workers tend to skip meals owing to the tight budget that forces them to live without some necessities. While the upper class lavishes in richness and all manners of food at their disposal, their counterparts on the other hand undergoes different life situations where they have to skip meals to try to strike a balance between the growing needs that is beyond their reach. Lack of medical care is another hardship that the low income earners experience in the U.S, a condition that also signifies the extent of social inequalities portrayed by the economic class among the citizens (Ehrenreich, 2002). In a developed sate like the U.S, medical care is equally advanced an indication of a possibility of continued and long lasting lives. However, the benefits of the medical care services remain only to the capable group while the poor fails to acquire these services owing to high costs associated with the services. While some things like medical checkups remain essential, the low income earners fail to access such necessities. It is not surprising even to realize that accessing the medical services when unwell is a burden to the poor. Another significant hardship relates to lack of housing for the workers where the workers are forced to make occasional sleeps in vans, cars or even in motels where they work. Considering such hardships encountered by real workers signifies that the social inequality among the American population is very high. While the rich continue to impose their capitalistic measures t enrich themselves, they do so at the expense of the poor workers who must turn to work to ensure they continue to survive. While the issue of basic needs may encompass other additional before individuals claim for secondary wants, it is disgusting to realize that some American workers are far much away from achieving those needs. Since a significant number of the poor are still employed, it is a worrying trend with the economic challenges affecting the U.S and the world in general sending some signals of worse trends and widening gap between the two social classes (Ehrenreich, 2002). While some still consider a majority of the U.S population as middle class, the middle class posses a decent life though not lavished. Living conditions experienced by Barbara and her co-workers are more of a representative of the poor working class. The contrast is true as Barbara and her co-workers worked for the rich and high class individuals whose life characterized significant differences from that of their workers. The employers seems t care less about the condition of their workers with the roles at the job place being more than what a single employee needs to perform. With that little pay, an employee is required to multitask with supervisory measures enhanced at to ensure time is not lost as they employers want every hour they pay for is accounted in terms of labor provided. Acceptance of the social inequality as Fate It is surprising to realize that the poor accepts their living conditions as well as the working conditions they encounter as fate and seem comfortable. Despite the hardships and suffering they encounter, the American low income earning workers perceive the situation as right and complains from one employee are vehemently opposed by the others. These individuals have accepted their life conditions as fate with no hopes of changing that perspective a situation that has far much enhanced the employers to continue to humiliate them with their working policies. Such a level of acceptance of the work living conditions signifies that these low income earners posses little light towards their future or a better life but rather the best life is for the rich and theirs the other. However, the acceptance of such a situation seems connected to live challenges that these individuals encounter thereby expecting worse situations if out of work place (Ehrenreich, 2002). During her experience as a worker, Barbara encounters one appalling moment that fully shocks her first from her reaction ad that o her co-workers while the suffering worker is equally contended with her situation. Barbara fails to bear witnessing one of her colleagues continued suffering as a malnourished, pregnant woman falls as she undertakes her work but insists on carrying on with her work despite breaking her ankle. The situation puzzles Barbara owing to the pain and suffering encountered by her colleague making her lose her tempers. She realizes that the victim is contented on the need to carry on with her job as she is not only worried about losing her boy job but also her boy friend’s wrath. In that occurrence, the author explores more challenges attached with the low social class individuals where even family relationships depend on the income a partner contributes. The sense and feelings for one another disappears when one of the partners fails to provide for the family needs that seem really pressing. Consequently, the rich employers remain less or never consider the fate of the workers as availability of workers is abundant with illness leading to immediate replacement. Upon seeing the response of the injured colleague, Barbara feels she is obliged to take responsibility of her colleague where she decides to take the matter to the supervisor (Ehrenreich, 2002). It is however surprising that the supervisor is at the scene but is equally settled with the decision of the injure worker to continue working so long as she fully undertakes her duty. Barbara, therefore protests to the supervisor about the condition of the work as degrading as well as exploitative. He continuous pressing for the betterment of the working conditions maker Barbara lose her temper and utter the words that the job is junk anyway. The words seems not only to arouse the supervisor, but her co-workers who consider the words as a real mistake and unwilling to forgive her. Considering how fragile self-esteem of women is, it is worrying to realize that these poor women accept harassment only for the benefit of retaining their jobs. The author presents a statement that attaches the poor as a different group of persons that has completely disappeared from the culture at large. She goes further to emphasize that the disappearance of the poor from political rhetoric as well as intellectual endeavors is also evidenced through such attitude and actions of her co-workers (Ehrenreich, 2002). To the poor, the action of Barbara is wrong while seeing the other side of the story that deprives their co-worker humanity. The conception of the poor of their situation and losing of morals clearly signifies that inequality acts as the contemporary euphemism characterizing class within the society. Class signifies living flesh as well as blood, characterized by opposing interests where no individual fights for inequality creating a beautiful situation where both the rich and the poor remain united to enhance the goal f wealth creation. Anyone against such a union is portrayed by the two parties as an enemy to the antagonistic interests of the two parties and stands to lose among the two parties. However, it is not a sign that the poor creates much for their own, but rather maintain the status quo through ensuring that the rich continue in ensuring their goal of enriching themselves remain relevant. Barbara lingers on working on an environment that is fully unfamiliar to her through portraying the sheer physical pain she encountered daily, she muses on the experience of encountering public hair in the bathrooms washrooms as well as bathrooms of the rich as well as the significant variation in nature of filth lavatories. Although Barbara worked in a working environment very different from what she had earlier on, it is important to understand that the condition of her co-workers remained equally the same (Ehrenreich, 2002). Remembering such physical and psychological torture ensure in realizing how human beings differ only owing to their social differences where the poor continue to suffer all through as the rich continue to enjoy life. The social distance among the rich and the poor yields the physical intimacy that the author and her colleagues encounter on a daily basis as they try to make ends meet. The employers remain concerned about the possibility of employees stealing from them and therefore install CCTV cameras that serve as a deterrence for employees from rifling through drawers or stealing from them (Ehrenreich, 2002). Barbara recounts the irony behind the working relationship portrayed between the poor and the rich in the American economy. She presents the reason behind work as one that ensures the worker is saved from being an outcast while the working relationship between the rich and the poor in America dictates the opposite where the poor does an outcast work. She describes the work as one that entails invisible and all sorts of disgusting acts. Janitors, cleaning old women, changing adult diapers among others represent the untouchables that the poor in the U.S undergo irrespective of them living in a democratic society. Conflict Theory The explanation of the working conditions presented by Barbara clearly depicts the social inequality characterizing the rich and the poor within a nation. The sentiments are supported by the conflict theory that focuses on inequalities through emphasizing on the role played by coercion as well as power to enhance in creating social order. The concept relies heavily on the works of Karl Max who portrayed society as an institution where different groups are fragmented to ensure competition of both social and economic resources at the disposal of the societal setup. To maintain social order, political, economic as well as social resources remain essential, a situation similar to the one experienced by Barbara and her colleagues while working for the rich families. To the proponents of conflict theory, every society or nation should experience a situation where no individual or group of individual experiences inequality if rationality was observed. However, inequality results because individuals entitled with sharing the disproportionate society resources work to ensure defending their interests as well as advantages. The connection between the masses results not from the shared values but rather through coercion at the hand of individuals in power. Since the connection between individuals and groups in societies relies on power control, individuals and groups struggle to control resources as that achievement indicates attainment of power. As a result, those who mange to control resources become the controllers of power and work hard to ensure their interests and advantages remain intact. The rest on the other hand remain without a choice but must adhere to the voice of those in control unless they reach to a consensus and revolt against the other group. With a consensus people get united along a common group that possesses the same interests that eventually leading to opposing the other group. Conclusion Nickel and Dimed is a masterpiece of work by Barbara Ehrenreich that capture the social inequality experienced in the U.S. through exploring and reflecting on her experience as one of the poor workers in a rich family, the atrocities the poor undergo at the hands of their employers seem intolerable. However, it is equally surprising to realize that the society perceives he condition as normal while the gap between the poor and the rich continues to soar. Like the conflict theory of inequality asserts, social inequalities result from misuse of power to guard personal interests as opposed to the good of all a situation similar among the American population. Despite the evident social inequalities among the rich and the poor, it is surprising to that out of desperation, the poor accepts their situation attributing it more to fate rather than develop a realization of the injustice they undergo. It is equally surprising to see that th government is doing nothing to address the social inequality characterized in the American economy. Reference Ehrenreich, B. (2002). Nickel and dimed: Undercover in low-wage USA. London: Granta. Read More