Preview

Blue Collar vs. White Collar Work

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1411 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Blue Collar vs. White Collar Work
Throughout history the lives of the people in the working class have not always been easy. People always work hard to earn money and support their families; however, people don’t always work in a suitable working area. The term “Blue Collar” is jobs that require manual labor from people. The problem with these kinds of jobs is that the places the people work in can be extremely unsanitary and may cause a bad working environment for the people in it. Blue collar work is also the work most people do not want to do but it is needed for the people who do white collar jobs to prosper. Also blue collar workers are known as people who did not do well in school or people that aren’t smart. Well that is not the case with these workers because without them we wouldn’t be able to do some of the things we do now or be able to survive. Also some blue collar workers are called undocumented workers in which they don’t have any documents to prove that they can work or are from this country but help the country in doing jobs that are needed for a low wage. Therefore blue collar workers are a very important part to society and we need them to thrive.
For example in “Made in L.A” there are 3 young Latina immigrants who work in Los Angeles sweatshops they do manual labor for an extremely low wage. Even though they did the same work as others they got paid less because they are immigrants, it is hard work with low wages but they continue to do it to support themselves and their family just like the blue collar workers do nowadays. With the little voice they had, they protested and tried to make a difference for all future immigrant workers not to be treated inferior to them.
People in blue collar jobs get paid less than white collar workers which are office work but they enjoy their job other than others even though it is dirty. Even though the U.S has strict policies on immigrants, they are actually needed because they do many of the blue collar jobs that are needed in the country.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    In the essay “Blue-Collar Brilliance” written by Mike Rose, he begins to talk about how Blue-Collar workers are smarter than what society put them out to be. Rose talks about his mother and how she has to member a lot of martial during the work period. Rose also talks about his uncle that started as a regular worker and worked his way up to supervising the paint-and-body line. This is where Rose came to see that Blue-Collar workers are smart they aren’t just given the credit. I agree with rose I Think that Blue-Collar workers are just as smart as the other classes of workers it’s about applying yourself.…

    • 725 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    WALKOUT The Movie

    • 332 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The movie “WALKOUT” was a very informative movie on the struggle of mexican americans to gain the rights they deserved. Being that I have family from Mexico, I know that there is a struggle for people to get to the promise land of America. When they get here they deserve the rights everyone else has. This movie showed us how the chicanos fought for that right and used the freedom of speech to get the word out.…

    • 332 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The article, “Blue Collar Brilliance” is important because it gives credit to those who work blue-collar jobs and shows people that just because they had less schooling they are just as intelligent. The article shows people that blue-collar jobs not only take an extreme amount of physical labor they also require a large amount of intellectual skills as well. So, next time you see a blue-collar worker will you be as quick to judge their intellectual…

    • 778 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    -White collar jobs are jobs with high prestige. They are higher class jobs done by professionals. They are often less laborious.…

    • 934 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Rosie and Uncle Joe, are both somewhat an image of the true core of blue-collar work. Mike says it himself “To acknowledge a broader range of intellectual capacity is to take seriously the concept of cognitive variability, to appreciate in all the Rosies and Joes…”(Pg254) If it wasn’t for the true brilliance shown in the many blue-collar professions or the ideas from that of a blue-collar professional, would we be where we are today? Because much of society would agree, that today is a cleaner, safer, much more efficient world than that of even 20 years ago, largely due to the contributions and actions of the blue-collar workforce. Lastly, if we continue to “reinforce social separations”(Pg254), do our actions make us more mentally competent than the thought we have of blue-collar professionals’? Or are we simply doing as Mike Rose said we would, and “reinforcing social separations”? That is the true question…

    • 672 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    APUSH DBQ IMMIGRATION

    • 532 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Immigrants w/o a job were often willing to work for less pay can citizens were. Businesses were content with paying lower wages to immigrants and often exploited them.…

    • 532 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Nickel and Dimed

    • 1125 Words
    • 5 Pages

    My perception of the blue collar Americans was transformed as a result of the book. Previously I had always felt that is someone wanted to find a job, they could. If a hard working American went out into the work force looking for a job that could support them, then they would certainly find one. However after reading the book, I now understand that it is not always this easy. Sometimes the jobs that are offered to the blue collar Americans are not good enough to support themselves or their families. I am also a lot more understanding of what it is to be poor. I see how difficult it is for the poor, and how much easier it is for the people who prosper in society. Poor people have practically no opportunities to succeed in life. They have no social mobility and it is nearly impossible for them to find a job that will allow them to move up on the social ladder. For example, working in a fast food restaurant puts a limit on how much money you can make. Even if you become a manager or assistant manager of a fast food restaurant it is still not going to be a significant salary raise. My own treatment of waiters, maids, and salespeople has been reinforced. Even though I always knew that it is hard for these people to work in the jobs that they have, I have even more respect for them then I ever have had before. I see how waiters have so much responsibility that is not always in their control. The difference between the haves and have-nots has only grown as time passes. The rich and the poor have become more and more disconnected with each other. Drawing some references from the book, one of many results of this disconnection is that the rich, and also the middle class, are often oblivious as to what amount of sweat and…

    • 1125 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    These immigrants make up 13 percent of the population and more than half of these migrants are from Latin America and the Caribbean (New York Times). These immigrants come to the United States to find jobs, go to school and to pursue the dream of providing for their family and living a good life. This dream was well represented in Balseros by Rafael Cano when he said he wanted a house, a car, and a good woman (Balseros). Immigrants come to the United States to pursue a better life for their families and this pursuit is shown to have positive impact on society. The New York Times reports multiple studies have concluded that in the regions where immigrants have settled in the past two decades, crime has gone down, cities have grown, poor urban neighborhoods have been rebuilt, and small towns that were struggling are starting to grow (New York Times). Studies have shown that gateway cities with increased immigration have seen a reduction in crime and measurable economic improvement (Annuls). The immigrants are finding jobs, working hard, and spending the money they earn, and all of these activities are good for the economy. This is clearly evidence that immigration has been good for the society most directly impacted and these studies suggest immigration is providing stimulus to the United…

    • 880 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Blue Collar Workers

    • 1112 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Currently in society, many individuals consider blue-collar workers unintelligent and uneducated. Blue-collar workers are seen in this perspective because of their hands on jobs in which many individuals assume that intelligence is not required. “Our cultural iconography promotes the muscled arm, sleeve rolled right against biceps, but no brightness behind the eye, no image that links hand and brain.” (Rose 98) In Mike Rose’s text, he explains how being a blue-collar worker does not mean an individual is unintelligent. Rose shows how knowledge can be gained from many years of personal and work experiences. Mike Rose grew up in a cultural background of blue-collar workers who did not get a chance to obtain a formal education. This makes Rose…

    • 1112 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    While there people has gone through torture, racism, exploitation, and even hunted, these people have had an effect on everything that has happened in this country. They showed newly landed Europeans how to farm the land, what crops grow the best. They introduced them to the corn crop. They brought about how movement through the land had to be conducted, weather it was by canoe or by foot, they showed the trails and the rivers. They had introduced us to their religion and stories and legends, which are still told today. They had their language incorporated into our language and vice versa, look at the name of our country for example. These men and women, although exploited and taken advantage of, helped shaped this country into what it is…

    • 758 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Many Latinos living in the US are undocumented, or also referred to as illegal. Growing up as a minority has definitely had an impact on my perspective about society and my everyday experiences. Many ignorant individuals assume that an individual is undocumented if they are Latino, speak Spanish, and have low wage jobs, but this is false. Some people look down upon Latinos because they see them as inferior individuals, but race does not define an individual’s abilities to be successful…

    • 1502 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Issues that present themselves in movies like “Gringo in Mananaland” and “Birth of A Nation” is how African American and Latinos are shown having a good time by dancing and singing all the while they are on the job. This gave the English people, or Anglos, an impression that the ethnics didn’t mind working and rather enjoyed it. The Anglos used this against them to control and use…

    • 474 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Throughout time most Latin Americans have been seen as an undereducated and naïve race. For instance the type of job an American citizen would have wouldn’t be recommended for a Hispanic, because society has adjusted to them only doing the jobs they are good at. These so called “good” jobs are actually low-wage jobs that in an economy like the one today would not be able to support a family. Today Latin Americans have created a better name for themselves and are no longer seen as inferior uneducated beings, but as an inspiring race of people that show with a little hard work anything is possible.…

    • 566 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Bread and Roses

    • 835 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Being an industrial worker wasn’t easy around this period of time, especially when being underappreciated around the strike of 1912. In Lawrence, Massachusetts, it was one of the main cities whose economy was based on textile. Immigrants consisted of those who came from the countries of Portugal, Italy, and Ireland, and all they wanted to have been a better chance of living than they did while they were back in their native country. They weren’t bad people who just wanted to take over the country and make things harder on others. They simply wanted to earn their keep and have the dream that they have wanted all of their life. Most of these workers kept their heads down and chose to work under their conditions that weren’t safe. Most, if not all, immigrants acknowledged the fact that their lives were going to be much harder when living in America. Immigrants were looked down upon over the opinions of others. As American began to stabilize itself, it was seen to be that there was more opportunity. However, that opportunity was “taken” away from immigrants. Eventually, Americans started to treat immigrants unfairly, making them work long hours with no break, being underpaid, and working in harsh conditions that were not safe. And through all of the immigrant’s adversity, they still continued to strive in their industry and have a hard work ethic. Over the time, immigrant’s lives continued to grow in despair since they were being disrespected, and misused. Overall, they didn’t know what liberty was, and it will…

    • 835 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Essay On American Culture

    • 1176 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Immigrants have had an impact in our society in many ways it was just very difficult for them to show us that because they weren’t given the opportunity. Weather it was discrimination from Americans or even other immigrants, or it was just plain hard for them because they didn’t speak the same language which made it a lot harder to communicate…

    • 1176 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics