“I work hard, buy quality clothes and fake my way through dinner-party conversations. I’m also part of a fast-growing Canadian underclass.”
Working Poor
Posted inStory
The American Worth Ethic
Like so many of our lofty ideals, the “American Work Ethic” is actually two different standards — one for the wealthy and one for the poor — with two different interpretations of what work looks like.
Posted inBooks, Nonfiction, Quote Posts, Quotes, Unapologetic Women
When a Missing Nickel Makes All the Difference
“Yet money was a lie—pieces of paper and metal suggesting prices for goods, services, labor, and human beings themselves in a way that often had more to do with profit than with true value.”
Posted inEssays & Criticism, Nonfiction, Quotes
Plasma For Sale (Used) — $20 a Pop
Sarah Smarsh’s brother has sold his plasma for the last decade to make ends meet under mounting credit card debt and student loans.
Posted inCurrent Events, Nonfiction, Quotes
Weighing the Impact of Nationalized Medicine
In Texas Monthly, Michael Hall surveys the Texans whose health has dramatically improved after receiving medical coverage through the Affordable Care Act, and the group who labored to get them enrolled.
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
What’s Left at the Bottom of Pandora’s Box
When writer Dale Maharidge and photographer Matt Black traveled through California, Ohio, and Maine to labor alongside the working poor, t hey found lots of things they expected — long hours, low pay, financial uncertainty — and one thing th ey didn’t: hope.
Posted inEditor's Pick
A Photographic Chronicle of America’s Working Poor
Writing Dale Maharidge and photographer Matt Black traveled through Maine, Ohio, and California for this piece updating the landmark study of the American working poor, Now Let Us Praise Famous Men.