Being Poor By Barbara Ehrenreich Analysis

With all of the media 's hatred of poor people, it must affect their self-confidence and how they view the American Dream. Through her experience, Jennifer Mayer has noticed that very problem. While working in the soup kitchen, she noticed that most of the people who came in lived in "survival mode" and only lived "day-to-day" with no real goals. They had no dreams of success because they believed it to be impossible (Mayer). One reason for this self-esteem issue is their lack of education. Since poor people rarely have a college education, they feel like they have no future. This can often cause them to give up on their dreams and resort to crime (Reef 225-226). Also, because poor people are below America 's social and economic system, they will often give up on their dreams.

There is also a major case of gentrification, where suburban Americans are moving to urban neighborhoods raising the process of living and resulting in the Americans living in those neighborhoods to have to move to the suburbs. Resulting in the suburbs now facing poverty and lacking the resources to aid the people who are moving there, like public transportation. There has been a frequent amount of progress to help the working poor, however, there has been no improvement because it is nowhere near what is actually needed. A major point which was made in the movie was that once you are working, you no longer qualify for assistance because you would now be making too much. Many of the working poor have incomes right at the poverty level and because of that they do not qualify. It is a major problem, because these individuals are just making enough to get by and not to actual “live comfortably”. Overall the film explains, because of Americans not believing in the seriousness of poverty or the ones affected by it there has been no major moves to improve it resulting in poverty rates only getting higher over the

A question one might ask themselves; why would two authors write a book on the working poor? This topic is of high importance but people in the United States do not seem to understand. The census taken in 2012 tells us 46.5 million people in the United States are living in poverty and 20.4 million people are living in deep poverty which is where income is 50% lower than the poverty line. 80% of humanity living in the United States lives on $10 a day; that is over half of the people living in poverty, and they are hardly being able to provide for themselves. Working class is the majority in the United States which makes this topic very important. When 80% of the U.S. population is considered the working poor, and they live below the poverty

Poverty and homelessness are serious issues in the U.S. today, especially because of the current recession, with levels of poverty and unemployment higher than at any time since the 1930s. Blacks and Hispanics are being affected disproportionately by homelessness, as well as poverty and unemployment in American society. This is just another example of the racial caste system and institutional racism that goes far beyond that of social class, and has always been the case in recessions and indeed with every other social and economic problem in American history. Even though the country elected a black president in 2008, wealth and incomes for minority groups, which were already far lower than whites, have been in severe decline for the past few years (Baumann 2001). Compared to the trillions of dollars in federal assistance that has been extended to the large financial institutions from TARP and the Federal Reserve, programs to aid the poor and homeless have been very inadequate, and are even being cut back on the local, state and federal levels.

Being at the bottom in the United States means to be the poorest and to have the lowest socioeconomic status, these people usually work minimum wage jobs or don’t work at all and live off of welfare. The culture of poverty thesis states that ‘Poverty is caused by shortcomings in the poor themselves (Oscar Lewis, Macionis, J. 2004)’. Many people feel this way, but some blame society, ‘Poverty is caused by society’s unequal distribution of wealth and lack of good jobs (William Julius William, Macionis, J. 2004). Most people in US are poor or have a very small income which sides more with society being the blame for all these people struggling to support themselves in today’s economy (Macionis, J. 2004, p. 277). The functional model in sociology focuses on the social structures of low-wages (Merton, as cited by Carnochan, S. 2013) which is what most people in poverty are stuck living off of due to lack of education and opportunity. Some people argue that to maintain low prices for goods and services poverty and low-wage work is important and needed for our economy (Gans, as cited by Carnochan, S. 2013). Some people may believe this is true, usually those in a better social position, but some people have an opposing opinion to the low pay of some workers. The conflict model explains this inequality of wages in the work world, it also brings to attention how people with and without power experience inequality. For example, CEO’s with lots of

The United States has a history of discriminating against the poor and racial influences as well. From the legal system imposing harsher sentences and actions against those who cannot afford counsel, to the economic system issuing unfair sanctions to the poor, to political implementation of policy to deem poverty a crime, poverty in America is an issue that must be tackle. And with wealth inequality at its highest more than ever with politicians being brought, poverty will continue to be an issue until something serious

David K. Shipler’s The Working Poor: Invisible in America presents a focus on the struggles taking place in society among people, particularly the poor. The author uses perspectives from the citizens’ lives to support the main idea. The beginning of the book focuses on how the poor are often treated by their more powerful employers. The treatment of the poor includes being mistreated, abused, and taken advantage of. The first chapter of the book talks about an Earned Income Tax Credit and how much the poor are helped from this.

Does the United States really support its citizens and allow them to prosper? In Barbara Ehrenreich’s book Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America, Ehrenreich investigates this question by living as a low-wage worker for three months in cities around the United States. Her experiences teach her that as her jobs change, so does her place in society. Nickel and Dimed effectively proves American society does not support the poor; instead, it decreases low-wage workers’ mobilities and forces them to live lives that are focused only on their jobs. Through her journey, Ehrenreich learns that because she works “unskilled” labor, her place in society changes.

In America after World War two, citizens were split between classes based on their economic stability. Americans today still look at these classes and defines these people as better off or worse off than the next person. Why do people judge others for having less money than them? Why do employers send lower class citizen away when they need the money the most? These are some question that citizens in the lower or lower middle class have when they are looking at their position in America’s economic system. Research shows that lower class citizens face more hardships to better their lives than those who are more stable.

Many reforms in the UnitedStates have been passed to help fight against the “War on Poverty”; but it has not been effective in eradicating poverty in the U.S. There are about 46 million people who are living in impoverished conditions and poverty continues to be a social issue in this country (Heritage Foundation, 2011) In the beginning, our country was formed under the belief that “this land is the land of opportunity and if we worked hard enough the American Dream can be gained” (Schwarz, 1997). People immigrate to this country today in hopes of becoming rich so they could gain a better life. In spite of coming to this country for a better life, many are faced with the lack of skills and money to succeed. In the end, most will end

Therefore, in order to make the American Dream achievable to everyone, income wages must increase for those in the lower class and government welfare should be provided to all Americans in order to increase the opportunity of social mobility. Though income inequality may seem as an inevitable issue that just happens to plague many Americans who choose to work in blue collar jobs, current economic inequality is more realistically the result of unfair economic policies that threaten to worsen if they are not immediately addressed. The poor conditions of the workers who work for long hours with little pay demonstrate that America is at a crucial point, and that without immediate action, the country will continue to plunge further downward into a less mobile and more contrasted

Even though having the “poor class” is a necessary evil needed for society to function, most Americans, at some point in time, will experience what it is like to live in poverty or live below the poverty line. One main reason for having a high percentage of people living in poverty is because the U.S. policy makers have ignored the poor and have given tax breaks to those with a much higher income. Funding for welfare was slashed and extended unemployment benefits were ended. With little success with the economic reform the United States has been going through for the past five years, about 14.5 percent of Americans are still living under the poverty line.

In the article Rich and Poor, Peter Singer sees extreme poverty as “not having enough income to meet the most basic human needs for adequate food, water, shelter, clothing, sanitation, health care or education” (pg. 234). Singer does not fail to compare those in extreme poverty to people who are living in absolute affluence. He suggests that it is the responsibility of those living in affluence to help those who are in need of obtaining even the basic human needs. He also argues that the affluent not helping is the moral equivalency of murder. Singer realizes that even though the rich can give to the poor these resources that they need, the rich do not feel enough of a moral mandate to do so. I disagree a bit with Singer because he seems to suggest that everyone who has the basic necessities is morally obligated to give but, I believe that this idea of a moral mandate to give should only apply to the extremely wealthy. Like Singer’s first premises says “If we can prevent something bad without sacrificing anything of comparable significance, we ought to do it.” (243) If the absolute affluent have large amounts of money, they can help to at least make people live comfortably without losing anything of great significance. The increasing poverty rates, not just in America but, globally cannot be solved if the extremely wealthy continue to do wasteful spending and choose to not put their money more towards programs and charities that better the lives of the people in their

We as Americans are extremely lucky. We live in a big country with many resources and almost all the luxuries we ever wanted. On the flip side, in America there are also many people who do not have these privileges. The lower class is a struggling class. For many years, people have been trying to pull themselves up from the lower class and the majority does not succeed. Childhood poverty is a large problem in the U.S. It is said that the poorest people in the United States are the children of the lower class. Childhood poverty could lead to a number of problems such as hunger, violence, physical and mental disabilities, educational problems, homelessness, family stress, sickness, and too-early parenthood. The sad truth is that

Income inequality was a large reason why people immigrated here in the 1800’s. Their countries were becoming too segregated by classification of income. Now this country is becoming more of what those people fled from over a hundred years ago. Moreover, many companies are now moving their production overseas and taking away the very jobs and opportunities that looked so attractive to the American immigrants. Back in America, some companies hire illegal aliens at low wages, which creates a larger lower class. As of 2010, illegal aliens made up 10% of the California workforce, with over 8 million illegal workers nationally. We need to keep this country from becoming like those socially segregated countries that people emigrated from in the past.