Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich

Introduction

The author of the acclaimed book Nickel and Dime, Barbara Ehrenreich, has engulfed in a living experience of the lives of the working class in America. She adopted the approach of participatory case study in her book, where she cloaks on the gown of poverty, the lives of working class who lives on daily wage basis, and gives us insight on the entry level employment. She intensively talks about the low wage rate, living expenditures, work ethic, and the ability to survive on meager wages (www.thinkyourwaytowealth.com).

Discussion

The interesting point in the economy of United States is that the greatest sector that dominates the job sector is of the working class. Enrenreich through her own experience tries to tell readers the difficulties that these working class phase, who are barely living for survival, work on meager wages and live on dire straits. Ehrenreich decided to go on a journey, where she would be going to different cities and be employed at different low wage occupational positions, which validates her findings further. By experiencing different occupational positions, different environment, different living conditions and dealing with co workers belonging to diverse race, she has presented a comprehensive set of her findings. She presents to the nation a testament for the absolute necessary to improve the living conditions of the working class by increasing the wage rate and providing affordable housing schemes to these people, which are an integral part of the economy.

For the survival on just basic needs, it is mandatory for the individual from the working class to sacrifice his sleep and other essentials, and take up a second job in order to meet the ends. The workplace does promote hard work, team work and spirit, but does not provide any incentive. Rather than providing motivation, these ...