Nickel and Dimed recounts Barbara Ehrenreich’s objective attempt to live as an unskilled minimum wage worker in Florida. She rents a trailer for $500 a month and she works as a waitress at Hearthside as her first job. As she describes her first workday, Ehrenreich does an amazing job intertwining the sad, tough lives of the workers with the monotonous tasks of her job. She also highlights that she misses her competence most (Ehrenreich 1998). The managers of the establishment do not try to help the workers learn about the business or how to run it, and simply treat them as meagerly paid slaves. Ehrenreich underscores the cruelty of allowing below minimum wage salaries compensated by tips, as these salaries rarely add up to an amount close to
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William Domhoff’s Who Rules America provides a critical look at the ruling class in the United States. He specifically highlights the sheer amount of capital and power this class owns. Because of their similar high standing, many of these powerful people participate in nonprofit groups apart of the policy-formation network, ran by the power elite (Domhoff 1967). He also discusses the conservative affiliation of the class, albeit some small differences in their overall conservative views. Domhoff believes the government should curb this groups power and support normal citizens (Domhoff 1967). According to the article the ruling class also holds domination over the other classes, meaning they control the less fortunate people’s roles in society (Domhoff 1967). He describes the opposition to the high class as a liberal-labor coalition, and these groups participate in class conflict. The ruling class also holds political power as politicians generally come from strong backgrounds, while in theory all classes should be …show more content…
In theory a meritocracy is a society where any citizens can use a multitude of hard work to gain wealth, regardless of circumstance. Barbara Ehrenreich’s experiment tests this theory, and the results are depressing. Her research underscored the cruelty of the low-wage workforce. Many of her coworkers came from similar backgrounds, troubled and lonely. These coworkers had a plethora of problems outside of their employment. This underscores the inherent advantage some have in American society. The fate of Americans does not depend on their own accomplishments, but rather the stature of their family and even their structures and cultures. For example, access to quality schools depicts a huge advantage some citizens have over others. These schools provide a background of work-ethic and the skills needed to get internships, jobs, and succeed. Many major industry jobs that require a degree help further the career of their employees. On the contrast, the managers of Barbara Ehrenreich’s workplace simply put their employees down and did not provide any type of tips (Ehrenreich 1998). The people who can afford and prioritize education are much better off in American
William Domhoff’s Who Rules America provides a critical look at the ruling class in the United States. He specifically highlights the sheer amount of capital and power this class owns. Because of their similar high standing, many of these powerful people participate in nonprofit groups apart of the policy-formation network, ran by the power elite (Domhoff 1967). He also discusses the conservative affiliation of the class, albeit some small differences in their overall conservative views. Domhoff believes the government should curb this groups power and support normal citizens (Domhoff 1967). According to the article the ruling class also holds domination over the other classes, meaning they control the less fortunate people’s roles in society (Domhoff 1967). He describes the opposition to the high class as a liberal-labor coalition, and these groups participate in class conflict. The ruling class also holds political power as politicians generally come from strong backgrounds, while in theory all classes should be …show more content…
In theory a meritocracy is a society where any citizens can use a multitude of hard work to gain wealth, regardless of circumstance. Barbara Ehrenreich’s experiment tests this theory, and the results are depressing. Her research underscored the cruelty of the low-wage workforce. Many of her coworkers came from similar backgrounds, troubled and lonely. These coworkers had a plethora of problems outside of their employment. This underscores the inherent advantage some have in American society. The fate of Americans does not depend on their own accomplishments, but rather the stature of their family and even their structures and cultures. For example, access to quality schools depicts a huge advantage some citizens have over others. These schools provide a background of work-ethic and the skills needed to get internships, jobs, and succeed. Many major industry jobs that require a degree help further the career of their employees. On the contrast, the managers of Barbara Ehrenreich’s workplace simply put their employees down and did not provide any type of tips (Ehrenreich 1998). The people who can afford and prioritize education are much better off in American