Books in Brief -- Barbara Ehrenreich part 1

Nickel and Dimed
by Barbara Ehrenreich (Henry Holt, 2001)
available in paperback at Amazon

In 1998, Barbara Ehrenreich, previously well-known as a social activist and journalist, undertook an unenviable writing assignment. At the height of the American economic boom, she decided to investigate the living conditions of the “working poor.” Refusing to trade on her PhD and professional accomplishments, she applied for low-paying jobs as if she were a divorced homemaker newly entered into the workforce. She attempted as well to find accommodation commensurate with her earnings. Nickel and Dimed reveals her experiences as a waitress in Key West, domestic cleaner in Maine and Wal-Mart associate in Minneapolis.

The strongest parts about Nickel and Dimed are not the descriptions of the different jobs that Ehrenreich took. In fact, the jobs themselves were fairly dull. There are no tales of sexual harrassment, intimidation by management or unsafe products pushed on to store shelves. No, the best part of the book is Ehrenreich's description of her attempts to live on the wages she received. I suspect that many of her readers have never had to face anything worse than a cramped university dormitory or small apartment. Insisting to herself that she not supplement her earnings with her “real life” savings, she was forced to live in trailer parks and long-term motels. Some of these places lacked security, privacy or kitchens, and in nearly all cases were worse than a standard hotel room.

In the last chapter, Ehrenreich attempts to make some sense of her experience. She argues that during the boom years, wages at the bottom of the workforce did increase, but also that the cost of living rose even more. (Also, low-wage workers tend not to be able to access information on labour conditions and thus cannot bargain effectively, meaning that wages are lower than one would expect.) She is angry that an American working full-time for the minimum wage and supporting a child would be unable to afford a safe apartment, and would be forced instead to live in ramshackle motels or to accept temporary accommodation and childcare from willing friends and relatives.

Nickel and Dimed is not perfect social science – there is little in the way of providing the context about how many Americans struggle to live on low wages. Like many angry authors (Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation comes to mind), she does not adequately explain whether the problems she found have changed over time or are any worse today than before “neoconservatives” took over and cut programs. On the other hand, her lack of jargon is refreshing, and her descriptions of menial labour are more revealing than any academic survey could be. For a book that can be read over a day or two, Nickel and Dimed is an excellent description of the struggles that many Americans live through.

One other thing should be pointed out – I think Ehrenreich is guilty of the crime discussed in Andrew Potter and Joseph Heath's suberb Rebel Sell. Potter and Heath argue that many in the countercultural left reject specific concrete policy reforms as insufficient and instead favour all-encompassing psychological or spiritual shifts as a means to deal with social problems. In her last chapter, Ehrenreich hints at some government initiatives that might alleviate the condition of the working poor, including health insurance, free or subsidized child care, subsidized housing and public transportation. Strangely, however, she does not explore any of these possibilities and, at the end of the book, provides a rather apocalyptic solution: “Someday, of course ... they are bound to tire of getting so little in return and to demand to be paid what they're worth. There'll be a lot of anger when that day comes, and strikes and disruption. But the sky will not fall, and we will all be better off for it in the end.” In the meantime, as Potter and Heath would argue, there are some things we could probably do.