Barbara Ehrenreich

Barbara Ehrenreich’s research and book build upon/apply to the various anthropological concepts that we have covered in class in many ways. The main concept she did was fieldwork and ethnographic research. Ehrenreich wanted to see for herself, like many great anthropologists, how the world of minimum-waged work operated and how people who worked in minimum waged jobs survived. Instead of staying in her comfort zone and observing from afar or doing armchair anthology, like many late 19th century…

simply a foreign name could result in an individual being less likely to receive a preferred job position. In certain cases this results in individuals being forced to accept undesirable positions with meager pay. In Nickle and Dimed the author, Barbara Ehrenreich, observed that many jobs segregated individuals by race and gender. For…

the home. Barbara Ehrenreich states in an article that “the outlook is not as cozy when we look at the effects of the recession on a group generally omitted from all the vivid narratives of downward mobility…” (337-341). Poverty in America affects a large number of people. If affects the availability of homes in neighborhoods with low crime rates, access to nutritious foods, and a great education. The first problem a person living in poverty can face is suitable…

By using Barbara Ehrenreich’s article, “Working in Florida”, Steven Malanga’s, “The Myth of the Working Poor”, Kimberly Noble’s study on how low income’s affect the brain’s of children, and Poverties’, “Poor Us: An Animated History of Poverty” we will see different…

Barbara is not similar to the average worker whose life she tries to replicate. Most workers have the pressure that if they get fired, they would not have a job to feed themselves. An advantage that Ehrenreich has the start-up money for her experiment and she can decide to quit the experiment and go back to her normal life. Having only one job can not keep up with her month's rent. She was working two jobs to keep up with her rent. She describes both of her jobs as difficult, stressful and…

Barbara Ehrenreich argues that those in the workforce of minimum wage face struggles that affect their life styles, however they fight back tooth and nail too overcome these situations. In chapter two of Nickel and Dimed Barbara declares that those who fall under the ethnicity of “white” have a much higher chance of obtaining a job compared to someone of color. While reading this chapter some struggles that minimum waged workers faced are: housing standards, being able to afford food and having…

What even is the American Dream? What categories fall under so-called ‘American Dream?’ It seems everyone has their own opinions and own dreams. Is the American dream regarding how much someone owns, or how big their house is, or is it how healthy ones’ family is and the happiness of a community. Achieving the American dream has been the desirable way for humans living in the United States. The American dream can really vary, some believe it is achieved through hard work, while others think…

poverty? Poverty is the state of being extremely poor. Each year the rate of poverty increases. Meaning lots of people are struggling or in the border of survival. It’s not always easy to live under these conditions. The author of Nickel & Dimed Barbara Ehrenreich an undercover journalist, sets out to investigate the impact of the 1996 welfare reform act on the working poor in the United States. Why does poverty exist? Well there are many reasons, in a movie called Norma Rae the main character…

future. Which is very similar to Barbara in the Serving America story. Barbara was a very hard worker, in order to survive and be able to pay her rent and all her needs she had to work two jobs and forget about what tiredness was. She worked hard and had a series of unglamorous jobs but compared to Jay Z her money was…

been part of society for many years, and as a result there is often little pity, and little help for the poor. In the book, Nickel and Dimed, the author, Barbara Ehrenreich, an established writer, leaves her comfortable life, and lives and works the life of low wage worker, in order to shed light on the true nature of the lower class. As Barbara struggles throughout the time of her social experiment, she discovers how the difficulty of finding housing, as well as the time consumption, and wear…