Monday, February 1, 2016

Advantages and Disadvantages

In our world today, certain demographics have an advantage over others. This seems to be true in all social levels, really makes a difference in the lives of those who barely have enough money to survive. In Nickel and Dimed, Ehrenreich talks about this, saying she has many advantages over others living in the same situation. She's educated, healthy, and white, which provides her a leg up compared to many other people. In the book, she also talks about how certain jobs are predominantly white, others mainly black, and others filled with any uneducated people. These traits, (or lack of them), creates certain advantages and also impacts what job they wil have and where they'll live. This is unfair for those who don't have an education, or something similar, as they are forced into even worse situations.

Sunday, January 24, 2016

In(visible) Effects of Poverty

Minimal food. Inadequate shelter. Lack of education. There are many things connected to a life of poverty that everyone can see. These also seem to form the base of our perception of poor people everywhere, which may ignore a larger picture. The working poor are suffering from more than lack of money, which has been shown multiple times in the book Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehreneich.  The self-esteem of the working poor is much lower than the average middle or upper class person, which honestly isn't too surprising based on how they are treated. In Nickel and Dimed, when Barbara, (dressed as a maid, a low paying job), walks into a diner, and is completly ignored by the workers behind the counter. "A maid's uniform has the opposite effect..translatable into: What are you doing here?" (100). After enough encounters like this, someone's opinion of their self would definetly go down. It isn't fair to treat someone differently based on the money they make, yet it seems that the working poor experiences that everyday.