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Deborah Fink has described in her book “Cutting into the Meatpacking Line” how fluency in English, along with gender, race, and ethnicity has played a role in the inequality and discrimination inside the meatpacking plant, where she has become a part of for a short period of time. Accordingly, in chapter four, Fink mentioned that “racial division ran throughout the plant” (Fink, p. 113) and that most of the management and supervisors were white except for one distinct higher level employee named “Ricardo”. Furthermore, Fink also described that distinctions amongst workers in the cafeteria was obvious so as discrimination towards minority groups on the floor plant. With that said, the ability of some workers to speak the English language as
an important aspect of communication within the plant, somewhat had an impact on which area of the factory they should be working. Furthermore, being able to comprehend instructions both verbally and written was necessary especially that safety was given with utmost importance inside and around the IBP plant. On the same token, I would agree that today, fluency in English is very important to being successful in the USA. It becomes necessary for an immigrant to have the ability to understand and speak the language of the new environment or country he or she is at in order be competitive. I also agree to some extent that having the ability to speak the English language as a critical requirement in order to advance in the corporate world of business in America today could erode the premise of freedom and equality because it could limit a person’s claim to the privileges that is enjoyed by those who could speak the language.
In “Scrubbing in Maine”by Barbara Ehrenreich. Ehrenreich decides to work at the Maids Franchise so she can observe how the system was made for the maids. During her time being a maid she became emotionally impacted by the way her and the women were treated. Ehrenreich experiences in the article”Scrubbing in Maine,’’are the ones I can relate to even though both jobs don’t seem the same, the fact is my time spent working at Jewel is remarkably and depressingly similar to the time spent by Ehrenreich as a maid. In both instances employees are not really human, but are parts of a bigger machine and only Blue collar workers are stereotypes as uneducated unthinking individuals. As Blue collar jobs emphasized the routines, dehumanization of the employee, and loss of control over a person’s time. Workers do not engage in cognitive skills, but physical
The characters in this play worked for the Olstead company for generations. Consequently, this physical environment became a major element in their day to day lives. Working for Olstead was critical because of the positive reputation and high wages. Stan, an older main character expresses this in the following quote, "Not many people walk away from Olstead's, cuz you're not gonna find better money out there. You leave, it'll be impossible to get back in. They'll be ten guys lining up for your fucking job" (Nottage, 31). The workers heavily depended on the job, which drilled that idea into their moral environment. Unfortunately for them: "American think tanks report that the booming stock market is widening the income gap between the poorest and richest U.S. families." (Nottage, 13). The company desires more profits, so even though characters dedicated their whole lives to the company, speculation about lay offs began. Tracey, a worker at the company, displays a 'hiring' flier written in Spanish to her fellow coworkers. In this scene, a Colombian man named Oscar translates the flier to them. Little do they know, Oscar will later on work for the company after everyone else is fired and accept a lower wage than the frequent
In the book Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser talks about the working conditions of fast food meat slaughterhouses. In the chapter “The Most Dangerous Job,” one of the workers, who despised his job, gave Schlosser an opportunity to walk through a slaughterhouse. As the author was progressed backwards through the slaughterhouse, he noticed how all the workers were sitting very close to each other with steel protective vests and knives. The workers were mainly young Latina women, who worked swiftly, accurately, while trying not to fall behind. Eric Schlosser explains how working in the slaughterhouses is the most dangerous profession – these poor working conditions and horrible treatment of employees in the plants are beyond comprehension to what we see in modern everyday jobs, a lifestyle most of us take for granted.
Anti-Semitism is the hatred and discrimination of those with a Jewish heritage. It is generally connected to the Holocaust, but the book by Helmut Walser Smith, The Butcher’s Tale shows the rise of anti-Semitism from a grassroots effect. Smith uses newspapers, court orders, and written accounts to write the history and growth of anti-Semitism in a small German town. The book focuses on how anti-Semitism was spread by fear mongering, the conflict between classes, and also the role of the government.
When a young boy is found brutally murdered in a small Prussian town called Konitz, once part of Germany, now part of Poland, the Christians residing in the town lash out by inciting riots and demonstrations. Citing the incident as an act of Jewish ritual murder, better known as blood libel, Christians rendered blame on the Jews. Helmut Walser’s Smith, The Butcher’s Tale, details the murder account and the malicious consequences of superstitious belief combined with slander and exaggerated press propaganda. Foreshadowing the persecution of Jews which would take place three decades later, Smith analyzes and explains the cause and effect of anti-Semitism in Imperial Germany at the turn of the century. Utilizing Smith’s book as a primary source,
The articles by Meika Loe and Charlie LeDuff both exhibit how working conditions for women and minorities post-Industrial Revolution United States has not changed. Though some of what was happening at Bazooms was not the same as the slaughterhouse, both had do deal with verbal abuse, considered to be the lowest common denominator in the workplace, and fearing for your job. In today’s society, such affairs still happen within the workplace. People are viewed based on their gender or race and not their actual work ethic. Those who are illegal aliens get exploited for their status and get scrutinized for the wages being lowered since, they have little to no power cannot challenge authority. The women at Bazooms are degraded not only with the managers, but also the customers; however they can challenge authority.
The juxtaposed contrasts that she often uses are seen explicitly in anecdotes or implicitly in conscious thoughts. Such contrasts first appear in the first paragraph. Even before Ehrenreich makes any substantial effort to join the poor working class, she is hit with this sudden unease of being recognized. At that time, it is clear that she has not relinquished her middle class status since she feels ashamed of being identified as a poor worker. In the world that the author originally belongs to, name and reputation are considered important to one’s standing in society yet in the working class realm, as Ehrenreich later finds out, one is often “unnoticed” and names are “unuttered.” Not only are names forgotten but one’s ability and education are also ignored when looking for jobs. Oblivious to the “rule” for hiring for unskilled jobs, Ehrenreich initially worries about her over-qualification but only to be shocked when she realizes the employers are not even interested. Whereas jobs for the middle class often demand higher education and past accomplishments, jobs for the low-wage workforce are simply depended simply on luck or as Ehrenreich claims “ being in the right place at the right time.” One can convey this as part of a corporate scheme to ensure the
She says, “Not only were the professors and students white, which is of course not uncommon; so were the hotel housekeepers, the panhandlers, and the cab drivers” (51). Here she comes across an abundance of jobs, but settles for a job at a maid service and a job at a nursing home on the weekends. Ehrenreich runs into a lot of different conflicts in her position at the maid service. Realizing how much people are charged compared to how much the workers are paid and seriously unwell/injured people working and the boss just saying to push through it are just two of the issues that come up. Ehrenreich gets to a point of frustration that she actually makes a very vocal “complaint” to the manager, and, even though she thought there might be a conflict with him, the next day he actually gave her a raise. She lets out that she’s a writer and what she’s doing, but most of the women don’t fully grasp the concept. The next day she leaves Maine. In the end Ehrenreich never found a way to survive here either, and toward the end of the book mentions that she realized if she had stayed any longer her rent would have gone up for the season and there was no way she could afford it even with her weekend
Fink explained that the title of her book “describes the painful and extended process by which women and ethnic minorities inserted themselves into the meatpacking workforce and redefined the struggle for recognition of workers’ rights”, (Fink, p. 3). Fink detailed that because the majority of the early meatpacking industry was centered mainly in the Midwestern cities which grew in part from receiving government help and contracts, the government then had some influence over labor in these packinghouse plants. Government regulations has strengthened the unions, improved the workers’ compensation, and “improved the conditions on their production floors”, (Fink, p.193). Furthermore, Fink also described that the entrance of Iowa Beef Packers in the 1960’s has resulted in the shift of the packinghouses from urban to rural areas which later on resulted to the government pulling away from “labor and toward business” (Fink, p. 193) which eventually weakened the union. Moreover, when the power of the union degraded, so did the incomes and the conditions of the workers on the production floor. In addition, Fink also explored how the union’s ability to represent the wage workers in the packinghouse has eroded with the admission of women in the workforce during and after the World War II. Although the union added women in the workforce, they were treated not as men’s equals and were paid cheaply less than men. Furthermore, Fink added that “Women’s position in post-World War II packinghouse continued to erode until the situation came a head with a passage of the Civil Rights of 1964” (Fink, p. 194) which was supposed to stop gender bias in employment but did not. Similarly, Fink mentioned that “contempt for women facilitated the meatpackers’ use
Collins further talks about economic, cultural, and specifically linguistic reproduction. linguistic capital is a more specific form of capital. It refers to the role of language and class in social reproduction. This concept was originally coined by Basil Bernstein, who argued that “the experience of work process reinforces kinds of family role relations, themselves realized as discursive identities that are carried by ‘elaborated’ and ‘restricted’ codes” (39). We saw this in the 1960s; poor African Americans performed inadequately in school because they were culturally or linguistically deprived. Not only is race a determining factor in the social reproduction of inequality, but it is a combination of how facets of our identity intersect with changing values and norms of our society.
In the early twentieth century, at the height of the progressive movement, “Muckrakers” had uncovered many scandals and wrong doings in America, but none as big the scandals of Americas meatpacking industry. Rights and responsibilities were blatantly ignored by the industry in an attempt to turn out as much profit as possible. The meat packers did not care if poor working conditions led to sickness and death. They also did not care if the spoiled meat they sold was killing people. The following paper will discuss the many ways that rights and responsibilities were not being fulfilled by the meat packing industry.
While reading this article one of the most shocking sections were when the students were talking to Monzó and sharing their outlook on their place and their language’s place in society. These students even at this early age are feeling how devalued their first language has been. They feel like they have to speak the right* English, only use English in public places, never their first language, and that they must assimilate to the American culture as much as possible. This reminded me of a chapter in Lippi-Green (2012)’s text. Within this chapter Lippi-Green (2012) discusses how in the United States Spanish speakers are not only expected to learn English but they are expected to learn and utilize the right* English determined by the majority and assimilate entirely to American culture. Throughout Monzó and Rueda (2009)’s text the children in conversations expressed their observation of the social order in relation to language and race. This was surprising to me since they are only in 5th grade. During a conversation with one of the children Monzó and Rueda (2009) recorded an alarming statement, “He said that his mother could not be considered American because she did not...
My reactions and thoughts about the novel were surprising to read improper word language, the imagery details of her job positions, and the reactions were interesting. My interest was grabbed from the beginning of the book; as Ehrenreich’s reaction on ethnicity was unexpected. It didn’t seem to make a change when Ehrenreich worked at all her jobs; she wasn’t discriminated of her ethnicity. However, some jobs might be been looking for a certain person for the job criteria. It was mostly Ehrenreich’s work knowledge and prior experience. Barbara had more of an advantage to getting more jobs because of her ethnicity, age, and qualifications. While many people of diverse ethnicity struggle to find jobs with decent pay to survive. Ehrenreich had good motives to criticize about her coworkers and job outcomes if unfair. I would do the same, if in the same position as Ehrenreich. If employees get paid minimum wage it’s hard dealing with infinite issues of shortages, bad attitudes, bad work conditions, and poor management. Going from job to job is sometimes necessary whether for experiment or not fo...
...rreporting of workplace discrimination and harassment (TIEDI, 2011), it’s highly arguable that for some, while their grasp on the language may be minimal, their ability to recognize and thus personally experience racial discrimination on a personal level is not affected. Racially-motivated harassment within the workplace often leaves the individual with progressively high feelings of alienation and low job satisfaction overall, adding to the strains that exist within the cracks of Canada’s multicultural base.
Cheech Marin’s film, Born in East L.A., spotlights many key issues brought upon mainly by immigration. This comedic production hits the hearts to many because while it may be humorous, it is also a reality to hundreds of thousands of people worldwide and so it hits close to home to many. Immigration is the main topic of this motion picture, but I want to focus on one subdivision of it only; language. The linguistic barriers in between a border is evident in the movie and especially a reality in our world.