For better or for worse?

While reading "from Serving in Florida", I kept debating back and forth whether Barbara Ehrenreich's experience working in less than desirable conditions were worsened because of her previous privileged lifestyle or if they weren't as bad as they could have been. 
They could've been worsened because she's never been put in a situation like this before. She's very fortunate and has never been treated like she was in that environment or forced to do that type of work. The difference between the two types of lifestyles is incomparable so the drastic change could've made the poor conditions seem worse than they were for the other workers.
On the other hand, this experiment could've also been biased the other way around in that the situation for Ehrenreich was better than it was for the other workers. She knew that this was just an experiment for her own purposes and that none of her actions would have long-lasting impacts on her life. For instance, while another worker could do something, be fired, and have zero sources of income, she could do the same "thing" and have no permanent effects. This could serve as a sort of cushion for comfort and lessen the extremeness of the situation.
In my opinion, I think the circumstances were worse for Ehrenreich than they were for the other workers. In her usual lifestyle, she was, in a way, shielded from this type of lifestyle so it probably came off as a shock to her.

Comments

  1. Isabella SmithMarch 3, 2019 at 2:51 PM

    I agree with what you've written! The situation could have very well been biased and that's what I kind of thought about while writing my blog for the weekend too!

    ReplyDelete

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