SCHOOL FOR ADVANCED STUDIES – ALL CAMPUSES
2010 SUMMER READING ASSIGNMENT
Nickel and Dimed On (Not) Getting By in America
By Barbara Ehrenreich
Millions of Americans work full-time for poverty-level wages. Journalist Barbara Ehrenreich
decided to join them. Nickel and Dimed is the revealing, compelling, and widely acclaimed result of that
decision- a book that has already become a masterpiece of undercover reportage, and a portrait-of-theworking-poor classic that is showing up in classrooms throughout the nation.
How does anyone survive, let alone prosper, on $6 an hour? To find out, Ehrenreich takes lowwage jobs in Florida, then in Maine, and finally in Minnesota, working as a waitress, a hotel maid, a
cleaning woman, a nursing home aide, and a Wal-Mart salesperson. She lives in trailer parks and
crumbling hotels; she eats fast or cheap food since she can’t afford a stove, refrigerator, or cookware.
She also learns that one job is not enough; you need at least two if you plan to live indoors. And
healthcare is a luxury she cannot afford. This is that rare book that reveals a harsh reality without
resorting to sentiment, that speaks the plain truth without being preachy or complex. Nickel and Dimed
is an absolute must for anyone who wants to see what “prosperity” looks like from the bottom, or who
suspects that the “American dream” is becoming a fantasy.
Two Part Assignment due First Week of School
Interview (Before reading the book):
To understand the relevance of the issue addressed by Ehrenreich in Nickel and Dimed, use the
following questions for an interview of an adult in your home or community. The interview should reveal
his or her perception of an experience with the economic and social issue confronting and confounding
so many Americans.
Jot down or tape the responses to the interview. Using MLA style (1 inch margins, double space, size 10
or 12 standard font), identify the person interviewed and your relationship to him or her; then type a
transcription of the responses, being careful to authentically and accurately record the interviewee’s
words and ideas. The transcription will be collected during the first week of school.
Interview Questions:
1. In the wake of recent welfare reform measures, millions of women entering the workforce can expect
to face struggles. Have you ever been homeless, unemployed, without health insurance, or held down
two jobs? What is the lowest-paying job you ever held and what kind of help-if any- did you need to
improve your situation?
2. How do booming national and international chains- restaurants, hotels, retail outlets, cleaning
services, and elder-care facilities affect the treatment and aspirations of low-wage workers? Consider
how market competition and the push for profits drive the nickel-and-diming of America’s lowest-paid.
3. Housing costs pose the greatest obstacle for low-wage workers. Why does our society seem to resist
rectifying this situation? Do you believe that there are realistic solutions to the lack of affordable
housing?
4. Why do you think low-wage workers are reluctant to form labor organizations? How do you think
employees should lobby to improve working conditions?
5. Many campus and advocacy groups are currently involved in struggles for a “living wage.” How do you
think a living should be calculated?
6. How does managers’ scrutiny –“time theft” crackdowns and drug testing- affect workers’ morale?
How can American companies make the workplace environment safe and efficient without treating
employees like suspected criminals?
7. Many workers receive almost no benefits- no overtime pay, no retirement funds, and no health
insurance. Is this fair? Do you think an increase in salary would redress the lack of benefits, or is this a
completely separate problem?
8. Many Americans rely heavily on family-for housing and help with child-care, by sharing appliances and
dividing up the cooking, shopping, and cleaning. Do you think Americans make excessive demands on
the family unit rather than calling for the government to help those in need?
Analysis (after reading the book):
Based on your reading and analysis of the text, respond (using MLA format) in a lengthy paragraph for
each of three of the following questions:
1. At one point, Ehrenreich details the living conditions of her fellow workers at the Hearthside.
Reviewing these arrangements, explain how each set-up compares with the author’s own “$500
efficiency” quarters.
2. On her first and last day of housekeeping in Key West, Ehrenreich is met by a manager who addresses
her as “babe” and gives her a “pamphlet emphasizing the need for a positive attitude.” When and where
else, throughout the book, does the author encounter cheap talk or hollow slogans in her endeavors as
a low-wage worker? What purposes might such empty language serve? Why so prevalent?
3. At the outset of her Evaluation chapter, the author seems to arrive at a new understanding of the
phrase “unskilled labor.” Explain this new understanding. Do you agree with it? Why or why not?
4. Describe the problems that Ehrenreich has with how the “poverty level” is calculated in this country.
Is she correct on this score, in your view? Explain. Also, how does one’s understanding of the poverty
level- Ehrenreich’s or anyone else’s- relate to food costs and to the author’s assertion that our “wages
are too low and rents too high.”
5. Why does Ehrenreich refer to low-wage workers, at the close of her book, as the “major
philanthropists of our society”?
6. Do you think that having a job-any job- is better than no job at all? Did this book make you feel angry?
Better informed? Relieved that someone has finally described your experience? Galvanized to do
something?
Questions and summaries excerpted from:
http://www.barbaraehrenreich.com/nickel_and_dimed_reading_group_guide.htm