Ehrenreich: Undercover Activist for Blue-Collar Workers
- Rebecca Remix
- Nov 24, 2015
- 1 min read
After reading the essay "Serving in Florida" by Barbara Ehrenreich, I found myself reflecting on the research aspect of her essay. Although she did not cite other scholars, she did do some major first person research. Ehrenreich went undercover, posing as a waitress, to gain some insight on the environment that she was studying: the blue-collar workplace, specifically, serving restaurants. Instead of just doing some research and talking about what others have said, she went in and did the work herself.
Ehrenreich is still talking for people (instead of just letting people talk for themselves), but she does a lot of different things to help with this trend that many just turn a blind eye to. As I said before, her first-person, undercover research helps with this. Ehrenreich does the work herself, and I can attest to how difficult that work can be. She also surveys her co-workers and includes some quotes/stories from them. Her essay, although not outright stating a solution to the problems that she finds, seems to end on a note of calling to action. This call is directed towards ALL people, not simply the blue-collar or white-collar workers.
All in all, she does a pretty good job of recognizing that she is simply going undercover, which is really different than living this life every day. This is one of the things that does contribute to a convincing argument on Ehrenreich's part.
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