Barbara Ehrenreich Nickel And Dimed Analysis

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Over several decades America has been coined, “The land of opportunities,” where every person lives behind a white picket fence, has 2.5 kids and a golden retriever in their yard. These have been ideal images painted in not only the minds of its citizens’, but also the minds of the rest of the world. The world is supposed to believe that America is the place where dreams come true, where job positions are unlimited, and you will be earning enough to “have it all.” Regrettably, the way we perceive America is quite distant from the truth. According to Barbara Ehrenreich and her experiences told in Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America, she faced the hardships of trying to survive on minimum wage. Ehrenreich is a well-educated woman who went undercover to reveal the hardships that numerous individuals face while attempting to survive on minimum wage with …show more content…
Joan told her story and the readers discovered that she did not have a home; she lived in a van (Ehrenreich, 2000, p.26). Along with food, shelter goes hand and hand. Access to affordable housing would have benefitted Ehrenreich, but also Joan, Claude, and Gail. All of these individuals were put in uncomfortable living situations, in which they had no other option besides dealing with their current place. For Gail it meant living with a man who constantly hit on her. Claude lived in an overcrowded apartment in order to pay the rent, Joan lived in a van and Barbara couldn’t find affordable rent. Public housing could have assisted these individuals. Section 8 housing, public housing, and project-based rental assistance are all viable options if they are currently available (Blau & Abramovitz, 2014, p. 54). The growing problem for numerous people is that there is affordable housing, but there is not enough for all individuals and their families as the poverty rate constantly

Barbara Ehrenreich Nickel And Dimed Analysis

where jobs positions are unlimited, and you will be earn enough to “have it all.” Regrettably, the way we perceive America is quite far from the truth. According to Barbara Ehrenreich and her experiences told in Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America, she faced the hardships of trying to survive on minimum wage. Ehrenreich is a well-educated woman who went undercover…

Words 1286 - Pages 6

Barbara Ehrenreich Nickel And Dimed Analysis

Barbara Ehrenreich’s “Nickel and Dimed: On Not Getting By in America” is an exposé on working as an unskilled laborer in America. In the excerpt we read Ehrenreich leaves her home to go undercover in Key West, Florida with $1,300, no job, and no place to live. She puts down her deposit at an “$500-a-month efficiency” 30 miles from town and gets a full-time job as a waitress. Unable to live on just one minimum wage job, Ehrenreich gets a job at another restaurant. When this proves to be too much,…

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Analysis Of Barbara Ehrenreich´s Nickel And Dimed

Although Nickel and Dimed was published 15 years ago, the topic of raising the minimum wage may be more pertinent than ever before. Just last summer, a $15 wage bill that was proposed made it clear that the debate is far from over. Barbara Ehrenreich, a best selling author and previous winner of the National Magazine Award, wrote Nickel and Dimed while undercover at several minimum wage jobs. The idea for the book was prompted during a lunch with Lewis Lapham, an editor for Harper’s, after Ehrenreich…

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Barbara Ehrenreich's Nickel And Dimed

Ehrenreich, Barbara. Nickel and Dimed: on (Not) Getting by in America. New York, Metropolitan Books, 2001. Ehrenreich’s tale of a low wage life offers insight into the world of poverty; One of which often goes unnoticed. She addresses the brutal reality of a full time job accompanied with no health care, no benefits, and enough pay to barely make it through the night. To find out for herself if it was actually possible to have a substantial life on minimum wage, Ehrenreich leaves her well-off world…

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Nickle and Dimed Analysis Essay

Analysis In the book Nickel and Dimed On (not) Getting By In America Barbara Ehrenreich writes of her experiences as she makes an attempt to be a part of the “working poor” in America. Her goal was to see if living comfortably was possible on a very low income, as a single woman with no children. “In 1998 – the year I started this project – it took, on average nationwide, an hourly wage of $8.89 to afford a one-bedroom apartment, and the Preamble Center for Public Policy was estimating that the…

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Sociological Analysis Of Nickel And Dimed

Nickel and Dimed: Analysis “In the 21st century, I think the heroes will be the people who will improve the quality of life, fight poverty and introduce more sustainable” by Bertrand Piccard. This quote will help show how tough some people can be in order to come out of poverty. As Barbara Ehrenreich was given the assignment to test how people survive through poverty. She decides to do this in three different locations in Florida, Maine, and Minnesota. She starts off her journey in Florida where…

Words 1748 - Pages 7