1. Nickel and Dimed By Barbara Ehrenreich
How Should We Live?
Socratic seminar preparation

2. How Should We Live? Can an individual “live on” a minimum wage job?
What factors did you consider when answering this question?

3. How Should We Live?
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4. How Should We Live?
Define “poverty.”

5. How Should We Live? Respond to this quote:
“To be a member of the working poor is to be an anonymous donor, a nameless benefactor, to everyone else.”

6. How Should We Live?
Have you ever had to take a personality test as part of the hiring process?
If so, what do you think this type of test tells future employers about a person?
Is this a valid predictor of one’s ability to perform a job?
Should these types of tests be banned?

7. How Should We Live? Should the minimum wage be raised? Why?
If it is raised, how might this impact the economy?

8. How Should We Live?
How does the cost of housing, food, health insurance, gas, etc. impact one’s life?

9. How Should We Live? Are low-wage jobs unskilled jobs?
Does one’s salary/wage equate to one’s skill and ability level?
Discuss how wages and skills are related and/or not related.

10. How Should We Live?
In the wake of recent welfare reform measures, millions of women entering the workforce can expect to face struggles like the one Ehrenreich confronted in Nickel and Dimed.
Should the government be held responsible for these people?

11. How Should We Live?
Housing costs pose the greatest obstacle for low-wage workers.
Why does our society seem to resist rectifying this situation?
Do you believe that there are realistic solutions to the lack of affordable housing?

12. How Should We Live?
Many low-wage workers receive almost no benefits—no overtime pay, no retirement funds, and no health insurance.
Is this fair?
Do you think an increase in salary would redress the lack of benefits, or is this a completely separate problem?

13. How Should We Live?
Ehrenreich is white and middle class. She asserts that her experience would have been radically different had she been a person of color or a single parent.
Do you think discrimination will shape Ehrenreich’s story?
How?
Do you agree or disagree that this discrimination is still prevalent today?

14. How Should We Live?
Many minimum wage workers rely heavily on family—for housing and help with child-care, by sharing appliances and dividing up cooking, shopping, and cleaning.
Do you think Americans make excessive demands on the family unit rather than calling for the government to help those in need?