Recommended: Unemployment as a contributory factor to poverty
Although the American economy is improving from the great recession , the middle class is shrinking, a problem for a consumerist based economy where the middle class makes up the consumerists. Every industry has a place in today’s world, however some industries are losing importance while others
As an investigative approach to write an article on the lives of minimum wage workers for Harper’s magazine, journalist Barbara Ehrenreich conducted her research by assuming multiple low paid positions herself. Her essential goal for this study was to determine how low paid workers survive on their income. She began her adjustment to the working class lifestyle by establishing regulations for herself to eliminate any advantages she could have from her real life. In doing so, she abandoned all of the luxuries that her middle-class career afforded her, such as a comfortable living environment, fresh quality meals, and working independently. Immersing herself into this lifestyle allowed her to witness the arduous circumstances of low wage living
In an article from the Chicago Tribune called, “How erratic schedulers hurt low wage workers” by Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz calls attention to the unstable work schedule many face in low-wage jobs. Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz grew up in Washington D.C and attended Brown University with a degree in international relations. She has worked for the Daily Herald and RedEye on a variety of sections ranging from business to crime. She is known for her 2013 story about singles cruise which the tribune calls a, “highlight of her journalism career”. Ruiz talks about how large companies are giving workers unstable working scheduling causing many to choose between family and work.
Urbanization made many families move to cities and start entirely new lifestyles that hadn’t been as prominent in the past. Before industrialization, the cottage industry, small home businesses, and farming were common forms of income. But, as they moved to cities, that had to change. Familial life weakened as mothers began working in factories, children occupying their time either working or playing in the dirty streets. People lived in overcrowded tenants or apartments.
The world is constantly changing. In the last 50 years it has changed in a whirlwind. With technological advancements that were made available to the working class family society became more connected than they’d ever been before. In the early 1900’s telephones and telegraphs became popular and in the decade’s following came landlines and cellphones. Where there had previously been newspapers and radios available for the flow of news, computers and televisions replaced them.
When interviewing members of society about their jobs, we can see a division between the positions that are respected and those that are not. Society looks down upon physical labor and idolizes people who have office jobs. The people who have jobs that require physical labor are often treated poorly by customers and are put into less than ideal situations; however, these people find personal satisfaction through wages, their coworkers, and experiences. Living in an underdeveloped community, people often have to work a minimum wage job to earn a living. Genesis Chavarria, an 18-year-old Latina, began to work at Wingstop at the age of 16 to support her family and herself after her mom lost her nursing job.
McClelland’s article “RIP the Middle Class” was published September 20th 2013 in a salon, which is an online news site that publishes pieces that includes fearless commentary and criticism point of views. McClelland’s Rhetorical statement is that big automotive cities are diminishing which is a result of losing; which as of a result of this causes the middle class to lose. The rhetorical statement that McClelland indulges to the audience is to be persuaded by the aim which is once known as the “blue-collar aristocrats” to the “blue-collared” workers. Whom struggle to pull in a national median title of “middle class.” The time era that this has taken place started in the 1970s, remembered by Americans as the “Decade That Those Forget” which blue-collared workers prospered in the middle class economy.
Mike Rose wrote an essay in a newsletter for a college honor society. This essay dives into the working class and different perspectives of it. Rose writes about experiences he had growing up seeing people who in his family work blue-collar jobs. He talks about the skills used in their jobs and the skills that were learned during working in the jobs. Rose discusses his experiences with getting a college education and working as a professor.
The female wage earners were often white, young, and unmarried. Most young women would expect to spend their money on things that are enticing to them (makeup, clothing, etc.). However, they were expected to contribute to their households with sharing their wages. They were not permitted to spend their paychecks frivolously and expected to pitch in to help with their families’ costs. Though there were 3.6 million women working in nonagricultural jobs, their pay was a “third to half of the pay for men” (Dubois, 295).
The progressive era was a historical movement in time where extensive social activism and political reform were taking place all across America. If would be inadequate to say that one class of women, either the working class or the middle class, were affected more or less than the other by this era. They were both handing different forms of change and reform, but all of equal value. The working class women were piloting research, implementing reformation programs, attempting to increase wages, improve working conditions, and lobbying legislation to make positive changes. Amongst the working class women were many notable women that changed history.
Is The American Dream Just a Dream? The American Dream is notable to be an aspiration for a better, wealthier, and joyful life for everyone of every class. For most Americans, this requires going to college and getting a college degree, getting a good paying job, buying a house with the white picket fence and a dog, and starting a family. Although this seems wonderful, a large amount of the American population believes that the Dream has changed extremely or doesn’t believe in the dream because of increased prices in society, the price of tuition being unaffordable, as well as the unemployment rate skyrocketing and lower job growth.
Throughout the years, the way American life has changed in many ways. In the reading, “The Transformation of Everyday Life” Florida talks about how it would be if you told someone from today’s society and have them live in the 1950’s and if you put someone from the 1950’s in today’s society how things in life would be different. In the reading “The Transformation of Everyday Life” I agree with Richard Florida that there are three different class, the service class, creative class, and working class. The jobs that are included in the service class are jobs in the fields in personal care, clerical work, and food service.
In a lot of countries, gender plays a big role in the labor market. For instance, in America, the middle full-time compensation for ladies is 77 percent of that of men [4]. In any case, women who work low maintenance make more than men who work low maintenance [4]. Furthermore, among individuals who never wed or have children, women make more than men [4]. It might be hard to explain such contrasts.
Davis and Moore put forth a theory in an attempt to explain social stratification, based on the job market, and the dual market theory. The dual labor market “Which concludes that two markets exist which operate by different rules. In one market, the tasks seem to be menial, not intellectually demanding, and are associated with poor working conditions and low wages. The Occupations are isolated and have no internal structures or career system. In other words, they appear to be qualitatively distinct from other kinds of jobs in the market.”
