David Newton: Bibliography

Original Contribution

I want to explore the lives of minimum wage graveyard shift workers – those who work overnight – and specifically their ways of coping with abnormal sleep patterns. This shifts away from my original plan for this hypertext, but I feel that with such a topic I will be able to collect data more easily. I intend to interview night shift workers from a wide range of employers.

Annotated Bibliography

Boushey, Heather, and Shawn Fremstad. "The Wages of Exclusion: Low-Wage Work And Inequality." New Labor Forum 17.2 (2008): 9-19. Alternative Press Index. Web. 9 Nov. 2011.

Boushey calls into question the legitimacy of the national poverty line. She writes that the concept of poverty is far more complex than a wage threshold written as a simple dollar per hour rate. This paper investigates the importance of having low-wage jobs to an economy, suggesting at the end that an unequally distributed wealth promotes health and better average quality of life. This source also presents profound pieces of data regarding the bottom portion of wage earners.

Chan, Anita, and Kaxton Siu. "Analyzing Exploitation: The Mechanisms Underpinning Low Wages And Excessive Overtime In Chinese Export Factories." Critical Asian Studies 42.2 (2010): 167-190. Alternative Press Index. Web. 10 Nov. 2011.

This paper uses the example of business hours policy in Chinese export factories to analyze the universal practice of worker exploitation. Chan takes original surveys and discovers trends in unequal employment and wage distribution at the low-wage level. Her research involves the separate examination of trend differences between genders and age groups. The study involves the analysis of workers’ attitudes as well.

Christopher, Karen. "Welfare As We." Feminist Economics 10.2 (2004): 143-171. Alternative Press Index. Web. 10 Nov. 2011.

This paper focuses on single mothers living with little-to-no income and the changes they face as welfare policy changes. A section subtitled “Income, Poverty, and Hardships” details the extent of single-mother poverty. Thorough examination of wage data creates a vivid picture of what the low-wage life means for single mothers. A subsequent section subtitled “Hardships” explains the implications of such low wages.

D'Ambrosio, Antonino. "The People You Don't See." New Labor Forum 13.2 (2004): 136-139. Alternative Press Index. Web. 9 Nov. 2011.

A first generation American, D’Ambrosio experienced poverty and the low-wage life first-hand. He writes of his parents’ experiences working for desperately low wages upon reaching America from Italy. He comments on the role of the media in aggravating the relationship between businesses and immigrants, later going on to analyze the film Dirty Pretty Things and relating it to the relationship.

Ehrenreich, Barbara. Nickel and Dimed: on (not) Getting by in America. New York, NY: Henry Holt, 2002. Print.

The author of this book takes the time to experience low-wage life first hand. Her experience entails actually working a minimum-wage job and spending only according to a low-wage budget. She writes of not only her own experiences during her research period, but of the people she encounters in her work. She learns the behind-the-scenes aspect of low-wage life – the part that the normal consumer doesn’t get to witness

Schlosser, Eric. Fast Food Nation: the Dark Side of the All-American Meal. New York, NY: Harper Perennial, 2005. Print.

Schlosser choses an issue with multiple stake-holders, each desperately trying to keep its head above water. He examines the consequences of each individual stake-holder’s actions upon the others through interviews and talks with hatchery owners, restaurant franchisees, and restaurant workers. His non-partisan approach to the issue illustrates the idea that in all matters of business with multiple stake-holders, all members of the production process suffer in one way or another.

Shipler, David K. The Working Poor: Invisible in America. New York: Vintage, 2005. Print.

This work takes the form of a novel, but involves much new data on the lives of low-wage workers. Shipler takes a compassionate look into the lives of several different minimum or sub-minimum wage workers, including the lives of illegal immigrants. This source, especially, depicts the daily lives of low-wage workers outside of the workplace. Shipler describes the impact of poverty on family life and the psyche.

Stapleford, Thomas. "Defining A 'Living Wage' In America: Transformations In Union Wage Theories, 1870-1930." Labor History 49.1 (2008): 1-22. Alternative Press Index. Web. 10 Nov. 2011.

This paper makes an in-depth analysis of the concept of a “living wage.” Stapleford traces the definition of the term as it changes over history. He relates the changing concept of “living wage” to changing qualities of life using surveys and other data regarding wages and costs of living.