The documentary, Roger and Me, by Michael Moore details the account of a town’s collapse after its main job supplier was eradicated. The town of Flint was long supported by a GM manufacturing plant. Multiple generations of families had been employed by this factory which was shut down by General Motors CEO and Chairman, Roger Smith. The effects of this closing can be seen in three major themes in sociology: social class within Flint became very distinct; poverty significantly increased along with its consequences; and the cycle of poverty was very easily identified in the aftermath of this collapse. After closing the GM factory, social classes in Flint were more easily recognizable, citizens were either poor or wealthy. The rich residents …show more content…
For many generations, the people of Flint had been employed by GM. These families were forced to start from scratch and establish themselves elsewhere. The poverty they experience from this transition will be felt for many generations. The parents laid off by GM, will not be able to afford higher levels of education for their children, placing them at a disadvantage. Impoverished children also may not have access to positive outlets, possibly leading them into crime. These children will not be able to obtain a high paying job due to lack of education and will be forced into the same poor working class as their parents. Further, the next generation of children will experience the same disadvantages as their parents. The town of Flint experienced this as well. After the economic collapse of the town, they attempted to revitalize the town, boost morale, and draw in tourists. Flint spent millions of dollars of money they did not have on amusement parks and various tourist attractions to bring in money for the town; unfortunately, these new commercial enterprises had closed within months furthering the town’s debt. As its residents’ poverty increased, crime also rose which created the need for a new jail. Flint was continually forced to spend on necessities that it could not afford, leading it to be named the worst city in America to live
The tenement was the biggest hindrance to achieving the American myth of rags to riches. It becomes impossible for one to rise up in the social structure when it can be considered a miracle to live passed the age of five. Children under the age of five living in tenements had a death rate of 139.83 compared to the city’s overall death rate of 26.67. Even if one did live past the age of five it was highly probable he’d become a criminal, since virtually all of them originate from the tenements. They are forced to steal and murder, they’ll do anything to survive, Riis appropriately calls it the “survival of the unfittest”. (Pg.
In the late nineteenth century, many European immigrants traveled to the United States in search of a better life and good fortune. The unskilled industries of the Eastern United States eagerly employed these men who were willing to work long hours for low wages just to earn their food and board. Among the most heavily recruiting industries were the railroads and the steel mills of Western Pennsylvania. Particularly in the steel mills, the working conditions for these immigrants were very dangerous. Many men lost their lives to these giant steel-making machines. The immigrants suffered the most and also worked the most hours for the least amount of money. Living conditions were also poor, and often these immigrants would barely have enough money and time to do anything but work, eat, and sleep. There was also a continuous struggle between the workers and the owners of the mills, the capitalists. The capitalists were a very small, elite group of rich men who held most of the wealth in their industries. Strikes broke out often, some ending in violence and death. Many workers had no political freedom or even a voice in the company that employed them. However, through all of these hardships, the immigrants continued their struggle for a better life.
Because of an economic depression in 1893, the Pullman employee’s wages were cut, and quite a few of them lost their jobs.3 Most were getting paid too little to live on. One lady that was interviewed said “I received [one dollar] day and paid [seventeen dollars seventy one cents] per month rent for one of the companies houses”.1 She needed either higher pay or lower rent in order to have the means to pay for housing. Multiple cases of this were reported when the strike went to court. Another example was when J. B. Pierson, another employee of Pullman was questioned as to the price of the Pullman houses he was quoted as saying that “the Pullman houses averaged from one-third to one-half higher than similar houses in the surrounding suburbs”.1 Pullman...
...oncerning poverty displayed during the Colorado Coal Strike has stayed with United States culture, and shows little signs of leaving. Through this strike solidarity erupted in the working class; by using their clothes to display support for the working class yet simultaneously linking themselves to one another. This type of solidarity has been seamlessly erased from our cultural narrative, through silencing, these battles not only from textbooks, but primarily from perpetuating stereotypes that only prove to divide.
Many people that did not come from rich families lived a life of extreme poverty. They sent kids to work in factories to help pay for things needed to survive, such as food, clothing, and other necessary materials. There were many poor families living in poverty during the Victorian Era: ‘I reflected. Poverty looks grim to grown people; still more so to children: they have not much idea industrious,...
...reatment of these workers by the railroad corporations such as working in highly dangerous conditions while receiving very minimal pay. In this sense culture and ethnicity played a different role from the two previous chapters in how the area confronted social change.
...ng this simplistic definition of capitalism which means that there will be “winners” and “losers” to this relationship. The focus upon the “bottom line” leaves little to no room for the consideration of social consequences such as unemployment and poverty. The disconnection that capitalism creates enables itself to flourish thus limiting the potential to achieve socio-economic justice. Fundamentally changing the way capitalism operates requires a political shift in power dynamics. Consumers who do play a role in how the economy is structured are needed to be brought back to consciousness by demanding justice.
Poverty is a tremendous problem in the United States. Unfortunately, many of the families who are living in poverty have much more difficulty finding good jobs than those who are not. In The Working Poor, by David Shipler, there are many different circumstances that cause people to get to that point. Many of those in poverty have too many barriers in their way for them to be able to rise above the poverty line and support themselves. Some circumstances that cannot be avoided like disabilities or being born into a poor household can create biases that make it more difficult to get employment. Seeing what causes many to become impoverished and how some people were able to rise above the poverty line may be beneficial to others and possibly prevent
Moreover, with only having the ability to work on small odd jobs, or low paying careers, around his or her local area, is not enough to help a family to obtain the necessities that are needed for a strong healthy environment. Jo Goodwin Parker shows this in her piece "What is Poverty?" as she states "I pay twenty dollars a month rent, and most of the rest goes for food.... I try my best to use only the minimum electricity. If I use more, there is that much less for food" (Parker 406). With most Americans, they take what they have for granted, like the ability to have running water at their finger tips. For those in poverty; however, they have to focus all mostly everything just not to see his or her children starve when dinner is not on the table that night. Additionally, with the inability to afford transportation, health care is very hard to secure in houses that are trapped in poverty. To demonstrate, when looking at Parker 's story again, after talking about how she cannot send her children to school due to their diseases, she states that" yes, there are health clinics and they are in the towns.... I can walk that far (even if it is sixteen miles both way, but can my little children?" (Parker 406). Also, due to the lack of transportation, parents are unable to travel out further in the search of work in the
The age of the Great Depression was littered with varying stories of extreme poverty rivaled by the contrasting stories of the .1 percent of society that possessed extreme wealth. President Hoover called the depression “a passing incident in our national lives” (cite 1) which proved to be a gross underestimation of the severity of the situation. The previous decades that brought roaring success and expanding technology was thought to be a period of great success that was earned through hard work and fluid government; and so when the economy collapsed blame turned inward and failure felt deserved just the same.
Each man has a different background and different problems with which to deal; how that person solves his problems, makes the man who he is. During the Industrial Revolution in America, technological advancements began to greatly impact the lives of the American people. To the poor people, the city was a glamorous place with a multitude of opportunities to work and gain wealth. To the rich people, the city was where their successful and monopolized businesses were located, but it was associated with continuous poverty. As America’s industrial revolution continued to grow during the Gilded Age, a gap between the wealthy and the wealth-less grew thicker in education, the economy and politics, and urbanization.
The Frontline documentary “Two American Families” produced by the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), portrays the life of two typical middle class families living in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (Frontline Video, 2013). This follows the life of the Neumann family and the Stanley family as they pursue the ideal type of life, The American Dream, from 1991 through 2011 (Frontline Video, 2013). However, the pursuit of their fantasy quickly turned into a fight for economic struggle (Frontline Video, 2013). These struggles were all brought about by the new shaping economy (Frontline Video, 2013). At the beginning of the documentary, the Neumann family seemed well put together (Frontline Video, 2013).
McCullough explains how Johnstown became an example of ‘The Gilded Age’ industrialization prior to the 1889 disaster. The canal made Johnstown the busiest place in Cambria County in the 1820s. By the 1850s the Pennsylvania Railroad and the Cambria Iron Company began, and the population increased. There were about 30,000 people in the area before the flood. The Western Reservoir was built in the 1840s, but became generally known as the South Fork dam. It was designed to supply extra water for the Main Line canal from Johnstown to Pittsburgh. By saving the spring floods, water could be released during the dry summers. When the dam was completed in 1852, the Pennsylvania Railroad completed the track from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, and the canal business began its decline. The state offered to sell the canal, the railroad company bought it for the right of ways yet had no need to maintain the dam, which due to neglect, broke for the first time in 1862. McCullough stresses that man was responsible for the...
...ture, “we must first begin by understand[ing] the complex but deeply valued meaning of work and place that formed the backdrop against which deindustrialization was staged” (67). With Linkon and Russo’s emphasis on Youngstown’s representations of social and class conflict it becomes apparent that anyone who grew up in a town that based its identity on labor could relate. The problem is not in the past it is in the future. With a better understanding of the struggle of work and place, the youth of today can help mend Youngstown’s identity by building upon the gap on working class solidarity that was created not so long ago. The connection then would be “the struggle for meaning in Youngstown would not end with the closing of the mills” however it will end when the people no long believe in themselves” (130). That is when the connection is lost between work and place.
The Great Depression touched people at every race and income level. It seemed no one was exempt from the emotional and economic toll of the downturn. Lives were turned upside down, and many did not know how to cope. With the financial collapse, kids lost their college funds, and families lost their homes. Families had to resort to making shelter any way they could. Communities were erected in almost every state that consisted of shelters made of crates and metal sheets; these communities were known as “Hoovervilles” (Leuchtenburg, pg. 251). Others would seek refuge in caves, subways, and under bridges (Leuchtenburg, pg. 252). The life savings of many were lost before anyone could comprehend what was happening.