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Reviews tagging 'Religious bigotry'
Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America by Barbara Ehrenreich
2 reviews
laurel616's review
informative
medium-paced
2.0
There was a disappointing and surprising page about fatphobia in the "Selling in Minnesota" chapter. It came out of no where and was never challenged by the writer. I was shocked, and almost put the book down and DNF’d (honestly I would have if it had come earlier in the book). this was in the 20th anniversary reprint from 2021 too! Barbara, I am so disappointment and I hope you have had time to reflect on your bias since.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming and Fatphobia
Moderate: Religious bigotry and Dementia
satsumaorange's review against another edition
challenging
informative
slow-paced
3.25
I read the shortened article version of this piece in my Intro to Sociology class in university, and I'm glad I went back to read the full-length thing.
I'm inclined to give Ehrenreich more credit than some other reviewers have. It's important to remember that this piece was written more than two decades ago, and since then, our cultural understanding of the issue has become more nuanced and intersectional. At the time, general attitudes towards the poor really WERE as Ehrenreich describes: 'they should just get a job and then they'll be fine' (me paraphrasing). I think this book still has some worthwhile points to make, as long as the reader keeps in mind the cultural context of the time and the background of the author.
However, I still couldn't shake a feeling of voyeuristic shame as I read through this book. Ehrenreich frequently acknowledges her advantages in the experiment, and it's clear she intended to be "self-aware" about it, but I was still uncomfortable by the end. She acknowledges her advantages, yes, but then describes all the ways she thought she would be mentally and physically superior to her working-class coworkers. It comes across as a bit egotistical at times, and I wish she had exercised a bit more humility in writing this piece.
At the end of the day, I think this book is still relevant, especially to people who are somewhat ignorant to the state of the world outside their economic class. It's sort of like a "baby's first inequality" to those of us who have moved past the basics of social justice. Maybe recommend it to your open-minded libertarian father and see what he thinks.
I'm inclined to give Ehrenreich more credit than some other reviewers have. It's important to remember that this piece was written more than two decades ago, and since then, our cultural understanding of the issue has become more nuanced and intersectional. At the time, general attitudes towards the poor really WERE as Ehrenreich describes: 'they should just get a job and then they'll be fine' (me paraphrasing). I think this book still has some worthwhile points to make, as long as the reader keeps in mind the cultural context of the time and the background of the author.
However, I still couldn't shake a feeling of voyeuristic shame as I read through this book. Ehrenreich frequently acknowledges her advantages in the experiment, and it's clear she intended to be "self-aware" about it, but I was still uncomfortable by the end. She acknowledges her advantages, yes, but then describes all the ways she thought she would be mentally and physically superior to her working-class coworkers. It comes across as a bit egotistical at times, and I wish she had exercised a bit more humility in writing this piece.
At the end of the day, I think this book is still relevant, especially to people who are somewhat ignorant to the state of the world outside their economic class. It's sort of like a "baby's first inequality" to those of us who have moved past the basics of social justice. Maybe recommend it to your open-minded libertarian father and see what he thinks.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Classism
Minor: Racism, Dementia, Religious bigotry, and Sexism
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