The book Sidewalk, by Mitchell Duneier, touches on an extreme amount of social inequality issues and things that go on in an everyday urban society. He is a sociologist that wanted a personal inside look on what the people of the “sidewalk” go through in their mundane lives. The book itself, is a layout, better yet a portrait of these people’s or “vendors” experiences. Duneier wastes no time trying to dig deep into the problems that the people on the street have to go through. For instance, living conditions, hunger, and family issues while he also touches on bigger problems such as race, class, work, informal economy, social stratification, addiction, and gender issues. I believe Duneier's reasoning for writing and publishing this book is …show more content…
Society doesn’t necessarily believe that they are fit for any job because of how they look or what their current status is. If they have criminal records or anything that has to do with law violations they are frowned upon and turned away. I believe that Duneier is trying to show us that they too are humans and people that are part of our society. They too have families and friends. We shouldn’t ignore or degrade what they’re doing because that is sometimes the only option they have. Social Inequality is a huge problem everywhere but is an even bigger problem to people on the streets. In this paper, I investigate the idea of social inequality and inequality in general from the views of 3 main theorists, Marx, Weber and Acker. I will discuss their views on things such alienation,______, and gender inequality and the way that it ties in to the everyday lives of these street vendors. A big type of inequality that is presented in the documented text “Sidewalk” is alienation. Alienation is inequality in itself because it is the feeling of being isolated from a certain group to which on should be involved in. Duneier presents the reader …show more content…
Inequality is everywhere and is greatly shown throughout the book. The theorist that I believe hit the nail on the head and directly connected to my topic of inequality was Marx. I think that he was most interesting because all of his 4 types of alienation, I found examples of in the book. His ideas I believe are vital when it comes to types of work, from working under someone, to working for yourself. Alienation occurs in any job I believe, no matter what. I argue that the way Marx looks at alienation should open the worlds eyes to the negative effects that alienation has on people. Marx’s idea that, alienation is just another form of inequality because its to stand apart of or as stranger to something. And we see a lot of alienation and inequality in regards to the work place, race, class and life itself. Both of the words alienation and inequality are negative and a question that I believe is important to ask is , “ why does alienation occur so often?” Marx believes that “ working for money and not for the creativity of labor is akin to selling your soul” (lecture 4). But why I wonder? If alienation did not occur, the vendors in Sidewalk might have a better chance in succeeding in life. If people gave them a chance and didn’t alienate them because of their attire, hygiene and lifestyle. I agree with Marx in a way when he says that working for
Nickel And Dimed: Occupations Barbara Ehrenreich provides evidence in “Nickel and Dimed” that she’s an outstanding author with this book. Its engaging and compelling, no question about that. But it’s hard to get from side to side at times since of the authors attitudes. Her key summit is to carry concentration to the scrape of the working deprived, but she manages to be both abusive and divisive. Occupation on attacking our industrialist system, she fails to become aware of that the endurance of upper classes seems to be what motivates the poor, fairly than what dispirits them. She blames capitalism for the injustices of the world, slightly than easy bad management techniques. A company should be shown that would benefit from a union and it will be shown to all around that one that will promote even better from decent, gentle management decisions. Most irritating, she’s constantly negative about the whole lot, even the positive experiences she has. When one of her colleagues offers to allow her move in with her and her family, not only does Ehrenreich turn the propose down, but she still describes it sneeringly as a "touched by an angel moment." Does she have to dribble with irony yet when writing about an authentically type deed? She condemns "visible Christians," any and all organization, yuppies, anybody who hires and consequently exploits maids, welfare reform, and still tosses in a prod at people who study John Grisham. Is there someone she likes? Her logic is troublesome as well. She begins her research to see if the functioning poor have some financial endurance tactics that the center class don’t know regarding, and decides at the conclusion that no, they don’t, as if admitting that this would signify the poor are imp...
The book deals with several sociological issues. It focuses on poverty, as well as s...
A big disadvantage that the lower class has compared to the wealthy is a lack of quality education. While serving as a waitress, Ehrenriech learned about many different people. Some of these co-workers were immigrants who had recently come to this country. “I learn that he [George] is not paid by Jerry’s but the ‘agent’ who shipped him over--$5 an hour, with the agent getting the dollar or so difference between that and what Jerry’s pays dishwashers”(38). Their contracts lacked any benefits, and they were paid below minimum wage. People, like George, cannot read their contracts before they sign because they don’t understand the language. The critic would argue, “…They are baffled at the idea of fighting the class struggle of which…Ehrenriech appears to be the only person complaining about the situation…” In Georg...
...ll. The inner city has many complications the fact that most are African American is a mere coincidence. If we as a nation are capable of fixing all institutions and structural issues we could bring the slums out of poverty. The cycle of unemployment and poverty is a terrible cycle that cannot only be judged by race and cultural values. When reading this book keep in mind the difficulties, any family or person could go through these tribulations. There are many arguments and sides to each problem; this is another one of those. The battle for inner city poverty, and the factors that go along with it, has not been finished. Wilson brings out a different aspect which could help people expand horizons and come up with better solutions.
Mark Peterson’s 1994 photograph, Image of Homelessness, compares the everyday life of the working class to the forgotten life of the lowest class in society. In the image, the viewer can see a troubled homeless man wrapped in a cocoon of standard manipulated 12in by 12in cardboard boxes and yarn. The yarn is what is keeping the man and box tied to the red bench. This bench has chipped paint and is right in front of a black fence. Underneath the bench is dirt and debris from the dead fall leaves. The center focal point is the homeless man on the bench. He is the focal point because he is the greatest outsider known to man. Behind this man is vibrant life. There is pulsating people crossing the clean street, signs of life from all the advertising on store windows, families walking and blurred cars filled with
Ann Petry’s The Street is more than a story of racism and poverty in America. This novel is about how the intersectionality of identities limit African-Americans from achieving equality in the dominant race’s society. The protagonist, Lutie Johnson has three barriers dragging her down. She is not only a woman, but a black woman that is also a lower class single mother. In the novel Lutie faces the realities of the American Dream, which for African- Americans is literally just a dream. Lutie also experiences the harsh effects of poverty and how it shapes one’s life.
There are many people who are driven by consumerism and many people who wish they can get in touch with that type of world. Consumers are often promoted to advertise more of the products that they are buying to get more people to buy more products. Hari Kunzru, author of “Raj, Bohemian,” creates a narrator who is obsessed with maintaining his individuality and free will in a world that is overcome with consumerism. Believes that the world takes away individuality when consumerism comes into play and how hard it is to maintain their true self. In her LA Times article “Teen Haulers Create a Fashion Force,” Andrea Chang writes about the phenomenon of teenage Youtube users who make videos that publicize their latest shopping binges. She expresses
These two works deal with the social oppression that women, especially lower class women face. Cee, as a child experienced the hardship a typical lower class American faces, combined with her race, her hard life is can only better imagined. As a young girl, she is physically abused by her grandmother, who is described in the novel as a woman who owns a car and a home, and by extension does the Moneys favor by housing them (Home 44). Cee had been born on the road when her parents lost their home in Texas, and moved to Lotus, Georgia. Her seemingly middle class grandmother holds that over her head. Being born in the streets – or the gutter, as she usually put it – was prelude to a sinful, worthless life” (44). Lower class or poor women are not only oppressed by the upper class, they suffer more from the hands of middle class people
At first, the narrator conforms to the uneventful and dull capitalist society. He fines success in his work at an automobile manufacture, has obtained a large portion of his Ikea catalog, and has an expansive wardrobe. He is defined by his possessions and has no identity outside his furniture, which he remarks, “I wasn’t the only slave of my nesting instincts” (Palahniuk, 43) and “I am stupid, and all I do is want and need things.” (Palahniuk, 146) For the narrator, there is no fine line between the consumer [narrator] and the product. His life at the moment is a cycle of earning a wage, purchasing products, and representing himself through his purchases. “When objects and persons exist as equivalent to the same system, one loses the idea of other, and with it, any conception of self or privacy.” (Article, 2) The narrator loses sight of his own identity; he has all these material goods, but lacks the qu...
"The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist. And poof-he was gone" (Usual Suspects). Today's devil is not a physicla being, but a metaphorical one. That of inequality on a worldwide scale. Although people would like to think that social inequality has been all, but destroyed in modern society it is still featured heavily within our media. Social inequality is the process of society limiting or harming a group’s social status. Prejudice can be based on class, race, and gender. It exists in all levels of media and reality. To Kill a Mockingbird and The Hunger Games show classism while The Little Mermaid and Antigone display sexism. Racism can be seen in The Hotel on The Corner of Bitter and Sweet and Black Like Me.
Ann Petry’s The Street In our society today, there are many images that are portrayed through media and through personal experience that speak to the issues of black motherhood, marriage and the black family. Wherever one turns, there is the image of the black woman in the projects and very rarely the image of successful black women. Even when these positive images are portrayed, it is almost in a manner that speaks to the supposed inferiority of black women.
Inequality in the United States was present for a very long time. It wasn’t until essentially the 1960’s when blacks finally had all of their humane rights. It took many courageous and very charismatic leaders to achieve all the things colored people grasped during this time. In my essay today I will be talking about some of these extremely memorable and honorable events and people that transpired and why they are so significant.
In the book Nickel and Dimed On (not) Getting By in America the author Ehrenreich, goes under cover as a minimum wage worker. Ehrenreich’s primary reason for seriptiously getting low paying jobs is to see if she can “match income to expenses as the truly poor attempt to do everyday.”(Ehrenreich 6) Also Ehrenreich makes it extremely clear that her work was not designed to make her “experience poverty.”(6) After completing the assignment, given to her by an editor, she had planned to write an article about her experience. Her article purpose intended to reach the community that is financially well off and give them an idea how minimum wage workers deal with everyday life. It also illustrated to the Economist of the harsh reality in the ultra-competitive job environment and how some one in a low paying career cannot survive. Ehrenreich’s motives gave her the tools to experience poverty from a statistical standpoint, but kept her from experiencing the problems poor people face everyday in life. The insight to the fact that maybe a person on welfare needs to be there not because they do not work hard enough but because the way society is setup they are going to be doomed to from the beginning. For example, her personal experiences described gives the reader knowledge that unless you are “Superman” you can almost never work enough to get ahead in life, and you would not have enough time to “go to college” to gain the education for a higher paying job. The first person point-of-view personalizes the book and that allowed me to be drawn into the storyline and plot completely. Some ways she handled situations angered me. I did not like a few parts of the book , they seemed to be confusing, but all these attributes in the end showed a human spirit flaws and all.
The first type of alienation is from “product of labor”. This is where the worker is separated from their work. This is basically saying that the work that the worker is creating does not necessarily show their creativity. Marx wrote:
As we prosper through time, inequality is slowly less evident. A lot of people don't realize that although things are improving with time, inequality is still prominent in our society. The people that are failing to realize that there still is inequality, are the fortunate ones. They rise well above the poverty line, and usually live relatively economically sound lives. They are the people who are supplied with our society's benefits.