Motive
Members of the middle and upper classes have popularly held the belief that America is a land of opportunity. They have assumed that a person can start from the lowest ranks in employment and slowly climb to the top. This notion of self-determined prosperity is what many use to describe the American Dream.
However, before one assumes that the country is a land of opportunity for all, one must first examine the practicality of social mobility if a person started with a minim-wage job. The book Nickel and Dimed provides audiences with an opportunity to experience what it is like to do a minimum wage job. The protagonist’s encounters as well as that of the rest of her colleagues indicate that social mobility is locked out to many in the lowest stratum of the working population.
Thesis
Capitalism as a tool of social discourse is still as relevant today as it was several decades ago, when Weber and Marx came up with their theory. Marx affirmed that the human population will always be characterized by a struggle between social classes: the oppressed and the oppressors (Aron 151).
The composition between these ruling classes is what changes but the existence of the distinctions does not change. Owners of capital are constantly coming up with better methods of production but the distribution and ownership of wealth does not alter in relation to this fact. A contradiction between the relations of production and the means of production causes these two classes to constantly antagonize one another.
In present society, these contradictions are still eminent. The state and owners of capital continue to oppress the working class by using their input without giving them due compensation for it. Restaurant franchises, retail stores and service enterprises are the new form of capitalism; their low pay sustains their businesses by keeping their workers dependent. They have no opportunity to save and are thus doomed to a life of mediocrity.
Evidence
Barbara Ehrenreich found that minimum wage workers had no option but to continue working their jobs. Many of them had just joined the labor market after welfare reform had taken place. In the 90s, the country reduced welfare support after groups complained that welfare programs caused beneficiaries to become lazy or have more children than they needed. Laborers were propelled into the working population without due preparation. The lack of alternatives for the working class is recurring theme in Weber’s and Marx’s work.
The author of Nickel and Dimed realized that it was close to impossible to live on a minimum wage. Not only was it difficult for her to find a house at that salary, Barbara also realized that she had little money left to afford nutritious meals or even pay for health insurance. What is even worse is the hostility of the work environment. Some restaurants offered no breaks while others had dilapidated bathrooms. Managers often accused them of several vices and punished them for it.
Barbara’s workmates were easily dispensable irrespective of the difficulty and unfairness of their work situation. Since workers could barely make enough to meet their basic needs, like shelter, then it goes without say that they could not save. This takes away the only opportunity they have to get out of the rate race. Therefore, the exploitative system is self sustaining because it keeps workers in the same position.
In Nickel and Dimed, Barbara found that certain qualities predisposed individuals to low –wage work. For instance, one’s race and one’s language proficiency had a tremendous influence on how successful one could be. In fact, she avoided places like New York or California where minimum-wage jobs were largely synonymous with immigrant workers. This indicates that social systems exist to perpetuate the capitalist system. Controllers of resources use different platforms to make low wage work seem acceptable; one of them is social relations.
Analysis
Gerth and Mills (226) explain that bureaucracies attempt to level those who might undermine the system. They can use several methods at their disposal to achieve this, and one of them is political. As seen in Ehrenreich’s book, people in the upper classes used the political system to implement welfare reform. Eliminating a program that entitles people to financial support would safeguard employers’ interests.
This explains why there was a surplus of low-wage job applicants in most of the companies in which Barbara worked. This huge pool was a result of manipulation of the political system. Marx stated that “political power is the means with which the ruling class maintains its domination and exploitation.” (Aron 227). In present-day America, workers must contend with state policies that tend to worsen their financial situations and strengthen that of their employers.
Karl Marx explained that the relation of production that men find themselves in is independents of their will. They might be indispensible as a group, but as individuals they hold no power. This explains why workers had to contend with their difficult wage conditions. It did not matter that they made barely enough to eat. Such facts were a source of advantage to those who employed them. The capitalist’s main concern is to pursue profit at all means necessary.
Therefore, meeting the needs of those who produced (workers) was not a priority for them (Aron163). This explains why an antagonistic relationship existed between Barbara and management. None of them cared about the well-being of their workers. When one of the employees got pregnant, her employers perceived her as a liability. The theme of continual perpetuation of profit comes out in this scenario.
Marx argued that relationships between members of society boiled down to resource ownership and labor-provision. However, resource owners will use various mechanisms to make it seem like they are treating their workers fairly. Social relations are just some of the avenues that capitalists use to pacify the masses. In Nickel and Dimed, Barbara found that certain jobs were only for immigrant and colored persons. However, this did not mask the fact that other white people elsewhere still contended with working class conditions.
Reflection
Nickel and Dimed proves that social mobility from minim-wage positions is an illusion in modern America. These sentiments are well explained through Marxist theory. Barbara found that the welfare system created a surplus of workers. It was proof that the rich will use political systems to exploit workers, as explained by Marx.
Additionally, the exploitative system keeps workers down because they can barely afford the essentials. The theorists explained that capitalists will seek profit at all costs and neutralize any forces that impede this aspect. Social progress undermines their privilege, so it must cease to exist. Paying workers low wages ensures that they stay in their place.
Works Cited
Aron, Raymond. Main currents in sociological thought. NY: Doubleday, 1998. Print.
Gerth, Hans & Wright Mills. From Max Weber: Essays in sociology. NY: Oxford Univeristy Press, 1991. Print.