Work Identity is Consuming Americans
It is almost automatic when Americans meet a stranger in a social setting to ask “What do you do for a living?” This question is not surprising given that adults spend most of their waking hours at work than spending time with family and friends. Work, for most people, is the defining aspect of life and thus becomes an individual’s identity outside of the workplace. Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary defines identity as: The distinguishing character or personality of an individual (401). Today’s Americans are consciously or subconsciously bringing their work identities home, ultimately affecting social status, standard of living, relationships, and resulting personal sacrifices. Our society places a great deal of importance on a person’s employment. A person’s job title can quickly define an individual’s
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Society stereotypes people based on their job title and the nature of their employment. A job title and the amount of money earned creates a socioeconomic status. When an individual defines themself by their job and title, the problem manifested is a slow alteration of their sense of self. In her essay, “Serving in Florida,” Barbara Ehrenreich recaps her social experiment of living the life of a low-wage waitress in Key West, Florida. Ehrenreich shares her experiences of learning the art of waiting tables, interacting with the patrons and personnel of the restaurant. She learned through this experiment the hardships of affordable housing, inadequate transportation and food that her coworkers faced (917-930). Americans in occupations such as restaurant staff, fast food prep, retail cashier, farming, janitorial, garbage disposal or cafeteria work are often judged by the job title; uneducated, poor and unqualified to obtain other employment. Many of these low wage jobs have few prerequisites for hiring. An assumption is made that people seek these low wage jobs because they lack qualification and skills
The juxtaposed contrasts that she often uses are seen explicitly in anecdotes or implicitly in conscious thoughts. Such contrasts first appear in the first paragraph. Even before Ehrenreich makes any substantial effort to join the poor working class, she is hit with this sudden unease of being recognized. At that time, it is clear that she has not relinquished her middle class status since she feels ashamed of being identified as a poor worker. In the world that the author originally belongs to, name and reputation are considered important to one’s standing in society yet in the working class realm, as Ehrenreich later finds out, one is often “unnoticed” and names are “unuttered.” Not only are names forgotten but one’s ability and education are also ignored when looking for jobs. Oblivious to the “rule” for hiring for unskilled jobs, Ehrenreich initially worries about her over-qualification but only to be shocked when she realizes the employers are not even interested. Whereas jobs for the middle class often demand higher education and past accomplishments, jobs for the low-wage workforce are simply depended simply on luck or as Ehrenreich claims “ being in the right place at the right time.” One can convey this as part of a corporate scheme to ensure the
Previous generations have a strong belief of keeping work and home life separate; that work is for work and home is for play (Rampell, 2011, para 21). Today’s professionals do not seem to abide by similar beliefs, constantly crossing the borders of one into the other. While many recognize this as an issue that could result in employees being less productive, it has actually resulted in them accepting that their work may run late into the evening or even into the weekend. I agree with this completely in that I grew up being taught that business is business and personal is personal; you leave your home life at the door. But now times have changed, and my weekends are no longer dedicated to my home life, but for work, because I attend classes during the week. Also, in my line of work in the Allied Health industry, it is a requirement to work off hours. Long gone are the days of working nine to five, Monday through Friday; technology and the demand of wanting affairs done and done as soon as possible, has made it so the “work week” is now 24-7. “Jon Della Volpe, the director of polling at Harvard Institute of Politics, said, ‘Some experts also believe that today’s young people are better at quickly switching from one task to another, given their exposure to so many stimuli during their childhood and adolescence’” (Rampbell,
Life is full of hardships, ups and downs, and everywhere in between. Barbara Ehrenreich took on this life experience of working a minimum wage job and only living off what she earned. All the work she did was the for her book Nickel and Dimed, or the excerpt from Serving in Florida. I have worked a minimum wage job and understand how hard it could be to try and live on what little you earn. In Ehrenreich’s Serving in Florida, she first expresses, “ Picture a fat person’s hell, and I don't mean a place with no food. Instead there is everything you might eat if eating had no bodily consequences- the cheese fries, the chicken-fried steaks, the fudge- laden desserts- only here every bite must be paid for, one way or another, in human discomfort” (394). At first all I could think
Society views stereotype women as people that stay at home and perform house related functions. They are not given equal rights as men, and as such feel repressed from their freedom. A woman who has a job is viewed as one who has equal standing w...
6. Lewis, Bronwen, and Charles K Warriner. "The Job-Profession Continuum." The Kansas Journal of Sociology, 1971: 34-44.
The intersection of dominant ideologies of race, class, and gender are important in shaping my social location and experiences. By exercising my sociological imagination (Mills, 1959), I will argue how my social location as an Asian American woman with a working class background has worked separately and together to influence how I behave, how others treat and view me, and how I understand the world. The sociological imagination has allowed me to understand my own “biography”, or life experiences by understanding the “history”, or larger social structures in which I grew up in (Mills, 1959). First, I will describe my family’s demographic characteristics in relation to California and the United States to put my analysis into context. I will then talk about how my perceptions of life opportunities have been shaped by the Asian-American model minority myth. Then, I will argue how my working class location has impacted my interactions in institutional settings and my middle/upper class peers. Third, I will discuss how gender inequalities in the workplace and the ideological intersection of my race and gender as an Asian-American woman have shaped my experiences with men. I will use Takaki’s (1999) concepts of model minority myth and American identity, Race; The Power of an Illusion (2003), Espiritu’s (2001) ideological racism, People Like Us: Social Class in America (1999) and Langston’s (2001) definition of class to support my argument.
Ehrenreich’s use of statistical information also proves to her audience that she in fact has done her research on this topic. She admits that poverty is a social topic that she frequently talks about. She researched that in 1998 the National Coalition for the Homeless reported that nationwide on average it would take about a wage of $8.89 to afford a one bedroom apartment and that the odds of common welfare recipients landing a job that pays such a “living wage” were about 97 to 1. Ehrenreich experiences this statistic in first person when she set out job hunting in Key West, Florida when she applied to 20 different jobs, ranging from wait tables to housekeeping, and of those applications, zero were responded to.
In “Scrubbing in Maine”by Barbara Ehrenreich. Ehrenreich decides to work at the Maids Franchise so she can observe how the system was made for the maids. During her time being a maid she became emotionally impacted by the way her and the women were treated. Ehrenreich experiences in the article”Scrubbing in Maine,’’are the ones I can relate to even though both jobs don’t seem the same, the fact is my time spent working at Jewel is remarkably and depressingly similar to the time spent by Ehrenreich as a maid. In both instances employees are not really human, but are parts of a bigger machine and only Blue collar workers are stereotypes as uneducated unthinking individuals. As Blue collar jobs emphasized the routines, dehumanization of the employee, and loss of control over a person’s time. Workers do not engage in cognitive skills, but physical
“Occupation Profile.” Careeronstop Pathways to Career Success. U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training administration, n.d. Web. 5 Feb. 2014.
Christie Scotty has a problem; she is concerned with people who judge by an occupation. She states that the ubiquitous statement "And what do you do?" is what triggers her concern. Christie was a small town reporter, considered a professional and important job whereas she waited tables during that period of time, she was deciding on what to do next. She then mentions the constant disrespect she got from the customers. The customers always made rude gestures and made unacceptable comments which were upsetting for Christie. As soon as she graduated college, she took a job for a community newspaper. She then noticed the change in attitudes from clients they worked with as opposed to the restaurant customers. I have dealt with this type of judgment and I will point out the reasons why it is wrong and offensive.
In addition, Roth also found that women in her study found it disproportionately difficult to network with their colleagues, and experienced high levels of harassment, further preventing them from advancing in their careers (2000). In this scenario and many others, the employee’s gender is given more attention than actual ability to perform (Jackson et al., 1995). Successful token women in high profile jobs, such as Hillary Clinton and Sandra Day O’Connor, are used to conceal this discrimination, encouraging women to look beyond numerical underrepresentation as a sign of discrimination (Ryan et al., 2012) and to instead view women who are not as successful as not as
The more educated and diverse a society is, the better society’s job market is served. This social economic separation of class is both good and bad for society. Many workers at the lower levels of employment are both pleased and displeased with many aspects of work. Though this fact also holds true with most any job at any level, pay scale often compensates for endurance of a particular job type. The security of a person’s job is also an issue that in today’s economic times forces one to be prepared for change.
In addressing the issue of stereotyping in the workplace, women should continue to stand their ground. Having a backbone in a male dominant occupation is the most important way to make everyone overlook the fact that there are women working in male dominant jobs and that will not stop them from continuing. Researchers feel that the more women get themselves involved in the male occupations, the more it becomes understood that women are capable of doing what men do. If given enough time and opportunity, women could possibly stand above the men in the job that for hundreds of years came across as male
Although these skilled jobs are necessary we must also introduce a stable institution that benefits the low skill jobs. Those working in the low paying jobs are often exploited. Standing states in his article that in order for change to occur for the precariat or flexible job positions they must be recognized, represented and redistributed. Upright highlights how women are largely employed in low paying jobs. Inequalities in the work place for racial minorities such as blacks and women are common and there are policies in place to prohibit it; however, Biebly says, “Organizational policies are not the same as organization practices” (pg. 80). Working women often face an additional level of discrimination and are often torn between home and work. Women try to fully integrate family and work and often find themselves quitting because of mutually reinforcing and interlocking factors according to Stone’s article. This self-reinforcing system higher women at a lower pay than their husbands, with jobs structured toward flexible positions, which in turn limits their overall earning capability. These conditions and other characteristics can lead to less gender and racial inclusion, according to Emeka unemployment among black communities have regularly been higher and can be linked to attributes such as, but not
Discrimination for women in the workforce in the 1900’s were fewer than 25% of those who participated in the labor market. But in today’s time the percent has risen to around 75% and is still growing. As many women were affected in the workforce by prejudice. One in four women go though discrimination during the workforce process at least once during her life. Unlike men women are more likely to accept a lower income job because they have a house to clean, and also a husband and family to take care of. A fact is known that all women will make less over their lifetime then men will. More women are encouraged to follow the stereotypical career path such as nursing and teaching then doing construction work or even being a truck