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The negative impact of having a low income job
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Throughout the years, there has been many misconceptions about being working class. “Working class” can often be a confusing term, it’s a term that means differently to others. “Working class” refers to hard working, minimum wage, individuals with no college degree who struggle economically. However, many think “Working class” are lazy, low lives, who have nothing going on for their lives. Growing up, I would see how much my parents have struggled to provide for me and my siblings. My mother cleans houses for a living and my father is a welder. When I was young I would often feel embarrassed whenever a friend asked me what my mother did for a living, I would make up a big lie rather than telling the truth and say what she really worked as. For too long, society has …show more content…
created a bubble of embarrassment around those who work for others, making them feel ashamed for what they are.
In today’s day and age, it’s rare to find someone who is proud of being a working class person. Most people live their lives working hard, to become something more in life. In high school many of my teachers would tell us if we did not go college we would most likely be working at McDonald’s or someplace. I understood why they would tell us this, to encourage us to go to college but I took offense to this as well. Not only were they trying to lift us up but they did it while putting down another human being because of their job. Because McDonald’s is the worst place to be working at, right? Statistics show, back in 2007, about 28 percent of all working families were considered to be among “the working poor” (TheEconomic). Since then, the number has been up to 32 percent. Many people aren’t able to buy
homes, nor attend college due to the fact that even less expensive schools require loans. Many people tend not to notice that even to this day workers are being exploited. It’s time to redefine what it means to be working class and not just remind ourselves but to remind others that there is no shame in being a worker. According to one survey, 77 percent of all Americans are now living paycheck to paycheck at least part of the time (TheEconomic). The majority of us must work in order to survive in this world, in order to keep a roof over our heads, to pay for our bills, to pay for a car or the bus, to buy food. Most of us were not born with a silver spoon in our mouths, or got everything handed on a silver platter for us. In other words, we were not born into wealth, we must earn it. We have no inheritance or company profits to support us or to fall back on when times get rough. Now that I am older, I don’t feel embarrassed at all by what my mother does for a living, everything that I have in life is because of my parent’s hard work and sacrifices. I now realize the importance of being working class. I admire those who get up every day not only to work but to face the humiliation of those who think low of them. We need to continue working without shame and recognize the value of our work. No job should be beneath anyone. We need to stand up against those who not only exploit us but shame us and belittle us for our jobs. We need to start believing in ourselves and show that we are proud of being working class. We, as a class, will no longer suffer in silence. We need to demand an acceptable living wage, affordable education, and an end to exploitation. When we fight together, we WILL be heard.
We, as a society, feel the need to draw imaginary lines to separate ourselves whether it’s the line between color of our skin, our religion differences, our political beliefs, or the status of our class. As much as I wish there wasn’t a defining line between high class and the educated vs. low class and uneducated, there is. In Mike Rose’s narrative essay “Blue-Collar Brilliance,” he describes his mother’s lack of education and her hard labor work which is the quote on quote the blue collar working class.
As Kendall notes, “the media portrays people who produce goods and services as much less interesting than those who excessively consume them” (429). Viewers want to be entertained, and simply just don’t care about the struggles of the working class. They overlook “low wages (and) lack of benefits” (429) because through caricature framing the media sways people to believe works to be stupid and reckless. Using this frame, they created people such as Homer Simpson, showing people that the working class doesn’t deserve raises, better healthcare, or any such luxuries because they can’t think for themselves. If that wasn't bad enough, the media often characterizes all workers as wanting to transcend their class (429). Through shows such as Extreme Makeover, they depict people who want to spice up their life and improve themselves as people, and that they need help to get to the next level. The media has undercut all of the hard work of this class, and has made people believe that the working class is unavailable, dumb and needs help to be their best self when in fact they are what allows for the success of
It’s considered a rarity now days to walk down a major city street and not come across a single person who is fighting to survive poverty. The constant question is why don’t they go get help, or what did they do to become like this? The question that should be asked is how will America fix this? Over the past year, Americans who completed high school earned fifteen point five percent more per hour than that of dropouts (Bernstein, Is Education the Cure to Poverty). According to Jared Bernstein, in his article “Is Education the Cure to Poverty”, he argues that not only do the poor need to receive a higher education, but to also maximize their skill levels to fill in where work is needed (Is Education the Cure to Poverty). Counter to Bernstein’s argument Robert Reich expresses that instead of attempting to achieve a higher education, high school seniors need to find another way into the American middle class. Reich goes on to say “the emerging economy will need platoons of technicians able to install, service, and repair all the high-tech machinery filling up hospitals, offices, and factories” (Reich, Why College Isn’t (and Shouldn’t Have to be) for Everyone). Danielle Paquette, though, offers an alternative view on higher education. Paquette gives view that it doesn’t matter on the person, rather it’s the type of school and amount of time in school that will determine a person’s
Why should we be the ones to pay for someone to sit around at home? The answer is one simple word, welfare. There are many reasons why people mooch on welfare, rather than going out and working. The only jobs these people are qualified for are minimum wage jobs. As Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Nickel and Dimed, worked at minimum wage paying jobs and reported the hardships that people had to go through on a day-to-day basis. A critic responded by saying, “This is simply the case of an academic who is forced to get a real job…” Ehrenriech’s reasoning for joining the working-class is to report why people who mite be on welfare, continue to stay on welfare. Her reports show there are many hardships that go along with minimum waged jobs, in the areas of drug abuse, fatigue, the idea of invisibility, education and the American Dream.
In "Class in America", Gregory Mantsios says that "when politicians and social commentators draw attention to the plight of the poor, they do so in a manner that obscures the class structure and denies any sense of exploitation." Based off our readings, class discussion and films, income inequality is known to be erased or ignore. Our society frowns upon the expression of income in our daily conversations, as it could be seen braggy or a complaint depending on your status of income. Because it's frowned upon to talk about, the topic of income inequality becomes erased or ignored. In addition, income inequality in America's class structure can affect people's ability to reach their American Dream.
Although most Americans continue to believe working hard is the most important element for getting ahead, they no longer believe that it guarantees success (Hanson 2010: 570). "Lack of thrift, effort, ability, motivation, and self-control are the most popular explanations for poverty among Americans. Thus, inequality is justified and the Dream can stay alive in the context of one of the wealthiest nations with one of the greatest wealth divides" (Hanson 2010: 571). Instead of one undifferentiated American dream to collectively strive towards, there are several interpretations which pertain to differing social locations. This is because of the inequalities of advantages and disadvantages across generations produced by cumulative institutional processes and an unfair opportunity structure (Pallas 2008:
The media portrays the upper class as something to strive for. Obtaining wealth and material possessions will bring you a happy life. The only way to get ahead is to emulate the rich and powerful and to live vicariously through them (Kendall 316). The media’s emphasis on the upper class takes away from people living life for themselves. Instead, they are persuaded to obtain a lifestyle that is realistically out of their means. Kendall states, “Largely through marketing and advertising, television promoted the myth of the classless society, offering on one hand the images of the American dream fulfilled wherein any and everyone can become rich and on the other suggesting that the lived experience of this lack of class hierarchy was expressed by our equal right to purchase anything we could afford”. Exaggerated views of the rich and successful in America are largely portrayed via television. Which gives a false idea of what happiness, wealth and material possessions can bring (Kendall 317). The poor and homeless are at the bottom of the class structure and are often overlooked, ignored and only portrayed as deserving of sympathy. They are stereotyped to be people who have problems such as drugs or alcohol (Kendall 318). Kendall goes on to explain that the middle class is considered the “working class” and are
Great Britain lead the way for industrialization and made it spread through out Europe. Some consider this the best thing to have happened in the world. Others however see this as a bad thing. Of course, with such a big change came an effect over all people such as reformers and the government but the greatest effect was upon the workers. Since the 19th century, industrialization has had positive and negative effects on the lives of workers.
The concept of the "working poor" has gained prominence in the post-welfare reform era. As welfare rolls shrunk, the focus shifted from the dependent poor to the working poor. It was obvious that without substantial outside support, even families with full-time low-wage workers were still earning less than the official poverty line. And while American society purports that anyone can prosper if they work hard enough, it became apparent that with inadequate opportunity or bad luck, a growing number of families could not attain the American dream, or even break the cycle of poverty. The new challenge for American social policy is to help the working poor lift themselves out of poverty. That's why progressives who supported ending welfare as we know it have set a new goal -- the government should "make work pay" so that no one who works full time is poor.
Social and economic class is something we as Americans like to push into the back of our minds. Sometimes recognizing our class either socially or economically can almost be crippling. When individuals recognize class, limitations and judgment confront us. Instead, we should know it is important to recognize our class, but not let it define and limit us. In the essay, “Class in America”, Gregory Mantsios, founder and director of the Joseph S. Murphy Institute for Worker Education at the School of Professional Studies, brings to light the fact that Americans don’t talk about class and class mobility. He describes the classes in extremes, mainly focusing on the very sharp divide between the extremely wealthy and extremely poor. In contrast, George
Everyone would think getting an education is easy so you wouldn’t need a minimum wage job, but it isn’t. College tuition has gone up and so have private schools and catholic schools. Some private schools are at the cost of some colleges. Education has become very expensive, that people decide not to attend college and rather work a low paying job to get by. Some young adults are responsible for college payments if they want to further their education to make something of themselves because their parents do not have the financial funds to pay for it. People may think that parents just don’t want to pay for it, but that’s not the case, they just cannot afford it on their minimum wage job so young adults are forced to get jobs in areas such as department and grocery stores, or
How would you feel if your boss cut down your work paycheck just because he wanted a better life for them self? The men, women and children that worked in factories during the 18th and 19th centuries were brutally mistreated causing poverty, injuries and pallid body types (Thompson). At the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, working was incredibly unsafe because there were absolutely no labor or safety laws. Working conditions back then were extremely different from those that are in place today. The unbearable working conditions caused a vast amount of labor laws and rights.
America is not what it once was, and it is an extremely arduous task to carry on a job without a college degree. While there is a rush to get married and have a family still at a young age, people still realize that you need to know where your next paycheck is coming from to support yourself. The “American Dream” is still a looming theory that people are striving to attain, and those people are the students of America that are being told from our elders that this is what it takes to reach that point. While it may be dirty politics to do what it takes it get by and be accepted, American culture has become a love for the game in order to perceive that desired image of success.
Some people may ask are they going back to school when you already have a job. Little do people know a high school diploma is not enough to be able live in middle class society anymore. Jobs like McDonalds’ and Wal-mart you only need a high school diploma but to work in other fields you will need a higher form of a degree and that’s where college comes in. Majority of people go to college to get their degree so they can have a career. According the Bureau of labor statistics, show that 27 percent of jobs in the United States requires a college degree which is almost half of worker that has an associate degree or higher (U.S Census Bureau). The journalist Anthony Carnevale, Nicole Smith and Jeff Strohl reports on “PBS New Hour, Too many College grads? Or too few” In their study of “The Undereducated American” they stated if you increase the overall number of college graduates then the workforce with bachelor’s and graduate degrees will also increase. With both of those findings being increase less people will have to struggle to find a job in the field that they want to be in. On the other side of the spectrum, just having a high school diploma can get you job but to enlarge your salary you would have to move up in the company in a different way if you don’t have a college degree. For example at McDonalds it takes about 2 to 3 years before you move up a level in the fast food chain. It also takes a year before you can
"They neglect their children so that the children of others will be cared for; they live in substandard housing so that other homes will be shiny and perfect; they endure privation so that inflation will be low and stock prices high” (221). Barbara Ehrenreich uses juxtaposition by comparing the working and upper class to implore sympathy; she makes the working class appear as victims, which brings empathy and guilt among the upper class. Society doesn’t see low wage workers by their genuine attitude towards their paying customers, but as an outcast because of their occupational status. However, one individual changes the way upper classes view the working class in the form of a book. Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Nickel and Dimed, brings the audience into her personal journey as an intentional low-wage worker. Ehrenreich accentuates how society views low-wage workers: she highlights how society sees low-wage workers as drug and alcohol abusers, she reveals how society set up traps to prove that low-wage workers are liars and thieves, and shows how society creates a psychological effect, which affects how the working class views themselves.