Chapter Six: Working in a Chicken Factory
In the article Working in a Chicken Factory anthropologist Steve Striffler goes undercover and obtains a position as a line worker in a Tyson chicken processing plant. While working in the plant, Striffler is able to observe the lives of those working in the plant. He is able to make inferences not only about his fellow line workers, but of those in managerial positions, and compare and contrast the two. Striffler is able to infer how work orients one's life. Finally, reading this article makes me question my own life, and how working the line at a chicken processing plant would affect me.
To begin, as Striffler began his career in the chicken processing plant, he quickly got to know many of his co-workers. Right off the bat, one thing that was very clear was that he was one of the very few Americans working in this factory. The factory's workforce is largely composed of men and women of Latin origin. Conditions in the factory’s line are less than favorable. Management insists on running faster
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I have been very lucky in life to have received the number of opportunities I have had. But my view of opportunities and the workers at the Tyson chicken processing factory are different. As mentioned before, even the position as line worker at this factory is seen by many workers as a better opportunity than what they had before. So for them it is a great thing to have the jobs that they do have. With my current worldview, if I were put in their position I can guarantee I would be unhappy. Heavy workloads with little pay or respect from superiors would aggravate me for sure. But for these people, they see themselves as lucky, if they were to go back home they would be considered kings because of the opportunities they have working at this