6.26.2012

Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America by Barbara Ehrenreich

This book has a good premise that is poorly executed. Journalist Barbara Ehrenreich set out to uncover what it's like to be part of the working class poor in America. With her masters degree and a chunk of "just-in-case" money she goes "undercover," taking jobs that pay only $6 or $7 an hour and writes about how she gets by. The first fourth of the book I was intrigued, but it quickly went down hill.

To start, there is a big difference between pretending to be poor, knowing you will return to your enjoyable life in a few months, than actually being poor. Ehrenreich never actually discusses this discrepancy, nor does she acknowledge the fact that she doesn't struggle with many barriers that actual poor people do. More often than not, there is a reason behind someone's poverty, whether that reason be lack of education, addiction, lack of resources, language barriers, mental disabilities; the list goes on. Ehrenreich never really has a problem finding a job, no matter how low paying, but she doesn't talk about the fact that her ability to speak well, or the fact that she has means to a shower everyday and a dentist anytime she needs, might just have helped her get said job so quickly. There are many people who aren't so lucky.

The book also reeked of haughtiness. Many times Ehrenreich questioned why no one realized she had a masters, or even asked her about it, implying an innate link between education and intelligence; implying that those with no education are not intelligent because you know, she was different from everyone else. She was smarter because she had a higher education and used to eat frisee salads for lunch, you guys. How could no one notice she didn't belong? How could they not figure her out? This attitude of hers got old fast.

Finally, to top it all of, after she tells her coworkers - you know, those people who actually are poor - that SURPRISE, she's really a journalist who will be returning to her comfortable life - she couldn't believe their reaction wasn't greater! Why weren't they floored? Why didn't they worry about more than who would have to cover her shift until they hired someone else? Moreover, she didn't even consider the fact that writing about how hard it is to be poor, from the perspective of a well-off, pretentious individual, might be somewhat offensive to these women who are struggling to get by. It's almost as if she's saying "Sorry your life sucks, but at least it's well articulated in this new book I wrote about you that will be published soon. Peace."

I mean come on! There are so many things wrong with this book.

Publisher: Owl Books, 2001

18 comments:

  1. Yikes! Will definitely not be reading my copy of this book. UGH! So disappointing! Ehrenreich sounds like a selfish cow, if you ask me. I'm getting rid of my copy TODAY! Thanks for you honest post - loved it!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh man sorry you had a copy, I feel bad now :(

      Delete
    2. Don't feel bad. I bought my copy ages ago. Plus, I'm donating the book, so someone else can get the chance to read it and not like it - LOL!

      Delete
  2. Oh man. I saw her speak about her book on dancing, and she seemed pretty cool, but I could see her acting like this.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'd be interested to hear her speak just to see what she is like in person.

      Delete
  3. I remember liking this book and I do think she points out a lot of very good things about trying to survive on minimum wage. However, you do make a good point that she never acknowledges how lucky she is to go back to her comfortable life, or how she has extra advantages the other people don't. I don't remember thinking of her as coming off as snobby but I may have brushed past those points while focusing on her talking about how Wal-Mart employees can't actually afford to buy discounted/damaged Wal-Mart clothes.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm glad you enjoyed it more than I did. I just couldn't get beyond all of the discrepancies and her attitude. If I could, maybe I would have liked it more.

      Delete
    2. I have a feeling I was able to overlook all the attitude because I was in college when I read it, probably in the middle of taking a bunch of Soc classes. I'm pretty sure if I read it now I'd be super annoyed with her

      Delete
  4. I read this book a long time ago and remember it being really eye-opening. I'm sure there might have been points that would irritate me if I were to read it today. Such a pity though because it seems like her intentions were good but maybe she spoiled them by her approach to this book.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. She did have good intentions, I believe, and the premise was interesting. Just, as I mentioned, poorly executed.

      Delete
  5. I so agree! I read this book just after I had been brokety broke broke (working for B&N at less than $1 over minimum wage) and at the time I was living in NYC on Ramen noodle wages, and I found the book hyper-frustrating. For instance, I remember her having a decent car, and when I was super-broke, that's always what would do me in. Just when I had a month when I could actually, shockingly pay all my bills, the muffler would fall off of my car or some other horrendous $500+ repair (which was more than my monthly rent as I lived in low-income housing at the time!) Also I think she didn't count her long-distance calls to her family in her budget, when I had to count long-distance calls to my college friends! I too found her "experiment" to be halfassed at best. Good concept, wish someone else had actually done it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Carin that is such a good point I totally forgot about the fact that she had her super-reliable car, when so many people in poverty either have seriously unreliable cars, or even have to take the bus.

      Delete
  6. Oh dear, this sounds terrible! Can I just ask... why *would* anyone realise she had a masters? People with MAs don't magically get it tattooed on their faces or anything, right? Yeah, I'm going to avoid this, so thanks for the heads up!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I know that's the thing it was so reducible that she thought since she had a masters she exuded this air of higher education.

      Delete
  7. I tried to focus on what she was trying to do, rather than how she was acting, but it was difficult, because of the poor execution and I was also broke as hell at the time.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I had almost the same reaction to Scratch Beginnings last year (both of these have been used by our writing program for first years - YIKES!). There is so much more to the story, and I've not yet seen anyone really get it right. I'm not sure those with privilege can shed enough of it to even come close. Here's my post with more of those types of Amens: http://wordyevidenceofthefact.blogspot.com/2011/01/scratch-beginnings-me-25-and-search-for.html

    ReplyDelete
  9. Being poor isn't just about getting by (nor not) each month, it's also about the sense of hopelessness about the future.

    If the author carried out the experiment with 'emergency' money, reliable transportation, and the knowledge that she was returning to her charmed 'masters' existence in a few months, she just couldn't have understood the experience.

    This isn't at all what I thought this book was about - I'm crossing it off my TBR list. Thanks for the warning.

    ReplyDelete
  10. This is an absolute classic. What makes it so much more poignant is that it was written over 10 years ago and still bears witness.

    ReplyDelete