The purpose of the TQE is to deepen your understanding of the relationship between social factors and intergenerational poverty. In Nickle and Dimed (Chapter 1), Ehrenreich discusses the challenges of being a working poor person in the food industry. Using examples of this chapter and your textbook, answer ONE of the following questions:
· Nickel and Dimed takes place in 1998-2000, a time of unprecedented prosperity in America. Do you think Ehrenreich's experience would be different in today's pandemic economy? How so? Consider for example how the lives of service workers have changed as a result of the pandemic.
· What were some of the greatest threats that low-wage workers face in order to stay out of poverty? Does a society have a responsibility to address those threats? Why or why not?
· Ehrenreich is single, White, and middle class. She asserts that her experience would have been radically different had she been a person of color or a single parent. Using the theory of intersectionality, explain how so?
· How do booming national and international chains—restaurants, hotels, retail outlets, cleaning services, and elder-care facilities—affect the treatment and aspirations of low-wage workers? Consider how market competition and the push for profits drive the nickel-and-diming of America's lowest-paid.
In your response be sure to make connections to this week's chapter reading and/or the video of Who are America's poor. In order words, how do Ehrenreich's experience (or your own) reflect the research on poverty?
Response: Read all the posts and choose one to respond to. In your response may want to:
· Make a connection between a colleague’s response, what you learned from the readings, and your own life.
· Extend or add to their point(s) by bringing examples from Chapter 7.
· Ask a clarifying question.
· Disagree or agree (with reasoning and evidence, if possible). Be sure to provide. evidence from the text.
· Add to the understanding of the topic.
Your response, as always, should be at least one paragraph.
Please read chapter 1.
Ehrenreich, B. (2001). Nickel and Dimed: On (not) getting by in America. New York: Metropolitan Books.
Please read chapter 1.
Ehrenreich, B. (2001). Nickel and Dimed: On (not) getting by in America. New York: Metropolitan Books.