Minimum Wage Barbara Ehrenreich Analysis

This article, written by Barbara Ehrenreich, describes her month-long experiment with living on only minimum wage in June of 1998, shortly before certain welfare programs were to be cut back. She intended to test the viability of living only on minimum-wage jobs, as well as the claim that “work will lift poor women out of poverty while simultaneously inflating their self-esteem, and hence their future value in the labor market.” Ehrenreich at first expects her privileges – such as her intelligence, race, health, and transportation – will allow her to easily find a job and survive off of it. Immediately, her expectations are dashed by the difficulty she faces in finding a job she would prefer. She eventually settles on being a waitress, and for a short period works two jobs at once. After a month of exhausting work, she finds she is unable to withstand the physical, emotional, and economical demands of minimum-wage labor any longer. This article focuses mainly on the personal struggles of minimum-wage labor – the physical exhaustion, the

She uses these interactions, as well as the interactions between her coworkers and managers, to gather an understanding of and collect information on minimum-wage life. The conflict perspective is also clear in the interactions Ehrenreich has with the authorities in her experimental life – customers, managers, and sometimes coworkers. The hierarchies among those working in the restaurants at which she is employed, the treatment those laborers receive from their management, and the divide that is created between the workers and the customers clearly outline the scramble for resources, the division of authority, and the personal hostility that arises among individuals and groups as described by the conflict