The division of the working class is basically what Ehrenreich is addressing. She describes a world where she takes lower class jobs and experiences that the job came with. These experiences were part of her reasearch for book "Nickel and Dimed." There are differences in class because of several different reason. First, you could be born into a family where you are taught to submit to authority and obey the rules. Or, secondly, you could be born into a family where you are taught to think on a higher level, question authority and question why things are done. Both of these are ultimately how the seperation of class happens. The people that are taught to "obey" are usually the manual workers and the uneducated. Yet, the people taught to think for themselves are the ones that are born in the upper class.
Also, distribution of power, which ultimately decides what you will do in life, is aquired by those who have more ability. Ability usually abounds within the upper class. Example, having the ability to attend higher education and better one's self. This does not undermind the lower classes the least. Usually people in the lower class will work their way out of what they have to better themselves and not do what their parents did. This transition is very important in the developement of society for reasons such as: working to accomplish something that no one thinks you can do, working to develope the skills that you need to succeed, and working to better one's self.
People are at different levels and things are different for these reasons above.
the question is, what would you change about the way things are done?
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I think the way to start is by dropping stereotypes. This is the best advice I can give, while using "Black Men and Public Space" to respond to your question. It seems there are more straight, white, men in higher positions than homosexual, minorities, and women. In "Black Men and Public Space", the narrator had to deal with people obviously being uncomfortable around him because he was a black man. He even gave a couple of examples at his place of employment. I do not see this often, but I assume some owners feel they can not hire these groups of people because women are "weak", heterosexuals are "irresponsible", and minorities are "immoral". Homosexuals can't even serve openly in the military and women can't pursue certain careers in the military because they are considered "weak". Most of these careers are combat specialties, which are the specialties that get promoted quicker. This makes it very, very difficult for a woman to move up to the rank of general, even though it does happen and there are a few female generals right now. There are also examples of this happening with minorities and other groups who are stereotyped against. Even when a homosexual, minority, or woman gets a prestigious job, their average salary is lower than that of a heterosexual, white, male. I know this is not the case in all situations, but the statistics show that this is a trend in our society.
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