On reviewing “Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America”, “Working at Wal-Mart”, and “The High Cost of Low Prices”, these articles and films offered a unique observation into the working class society of both the United States, as well as many Third World countries. Wal-Mart was exposed as an anti-union superpower, taking advantage of the working class in America; consequently, they are also viewed as an abuser of the Third World labor force as well. In the film “Working at Wal-Mart”, journalist Barbra Ehrenrich explores the traps of the minimum wage working class; moreover, she casts her college degree aside and joins the low end work force  in order to better understand how the uneducated survive in the United States.

“The High Cost of Low Prices” offered a viewpoint that directly questioned the moral fiber of Wal-Mart. Many American employees, both former and current, told shocking stories of mistreatment by the super retailer. Wal-Mart employees in China revealed the horrendous working conditions that they must endure in order to maintain their jobs; consequently, the film provides volatile evidence in an attempt to reveal that low prices at Wal-Mart are a direct result of poor working conditions existing overseas. 

Journalist Barbra Ehrenrich documents the traps of the minimum wage working class in her essay, “Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America

Cover of Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price

Image via Wikipedia

”, and her film “Working at Wal-Mart”. Ehrenrich takes us on a journey through the lower side of the American workforce, teaching us that poverty and squalor are closer to home than one may choose to accept. She offers incredible insight regarding her journey into American Poverty:

I am not doing this for the anthropology. My aim is nothing so mistily subjective as to “experience poverty” or find out how it “really feels” to be a long-term low-wage worker. I’ve had enough unchosen encounters with poverty and the world of low-wage work to know that it’s not a place you want to visit for touristic purposes (p238)

Through her compassionate viewpoint, Ehrenrich offers us a unique perspective into the American world of poverty and desperation.