Working-Class Hero - 0 views
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The real secret to Ehrenreich's book, though, is yuppie voyeurism. Nickel and Dimed is an interesting read. It approaches the working poor like a separate species -- and for most of Ehrenreich's readers, they are.
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Ehrenreich's book does have historical precedent, but it's not Orwell. It's the illustrated guides to the London underworld so popular with the Victorians. Ehrenreich's official conclusion: It's difficult, if not impossible, to keep afloat on $7 an hour. Her implicit conclusion: The poor are different from you and me. They look different. They eat different foods. They live in places middle-class people rarely go. They smoke. They even think differently from the way we do. They distrust collective endeavors. They're not stupid, but they're not interested in politics or other abstractions. Above all, they instinctively dislike change, even when change might improve their lives.
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And sooner or later, she will be invited to testify before Congress, probably about the effects of welfare reform and the subsequent growth of the service economy.
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The problem with Ehrenreich's book is that while it identifies a real problem (hardworking people trapped in poverty), and it feeds an increasingly common anxiety (with the economy softening, could this happen to me?), it offers no realistic solutions. Ehrenreich's prescription seems to be this: Increase union membership and force employers to pay their workers more, perhaps by doubling the minimum wage.
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This compares Ehrenreich's book to Orwell's (who did a similar thing but took it more seriously) and speculates on possible consequences of the novel, pointing out a lack of a plausible solution.
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"Why is an author who slams the "corporate overclass" suddenly so popular with the corporate overclass? The usual masochism of the affluent accounts for some of it. The rich like to be told they're wicked, both because it confirms that they're powerful and because it makes them feel slightly less guilty." This article explains why Nickel and Dimed has popularity, even with the upper class. The rich, while they still may be wicked in some regards, have come to accept this fact rather then shy away from it. By knowing and accepting that they are the fittest in Darwin's "Survival of the Fittest" theory, which has carried over to American Capitalism, they feel "that they're powerful". The article shows interesting perspectives on which types of person read the novel and for what reasons.