Bait and Switch: The (Futile) Pursuit of the American Dream
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Overview
The bestselling author of "Nickel and Dimed goes back undercover to do for America's ailing middle class what she did for the working poor.
Barbara Ehrenreich's "Nickel and Dimed explored the lives of low-wage workers. Now, in BAIT AND SWITCH, she enters another hidden realm of the economy--the world of the white-collar unemployed. Armed with a plausible resume of a professional "in transition," attempts to land a "middle class job" undergoing career coaching and personality testing, then begins trawling a series of EST-like "boot camps," job fairs, "networking events," and evangelical job-search "ministries." She gets an "image makeover" to prepare her for the corporate world and works hard to project the "winning attitude" recommended for a successful job search. She is proselytized, scammed, lectured and, again and again, rejected.
BAIT AND SWITCH highlights the people who've done everything right--gotten college degrees, developed marketable skills, and built up impressive resumes--yet have become repeatedly vulnerable to financial disaster and not simply due to the vagaries of the business cycle. Today's ultra-lean corporations take pride in shedding their "surplus" employees--plunging them, for months or years at a stretch, into the twilight zone of white-collar unemployment, where job-searching becomes a full-time job in itself. As Ehrenreich discovers, there are few social supports for the new disposable workers--and little security even for those who have jobs.
Like the now classic "Nickel and Dimed, BAIT AND SWITCH is alternately hilarious and tragic, a searing expose of economic cruelty where we least expect it.
Barbara Ehrenreich's "Nickel and Dimed explored the lives of low-wage workers. Now, in BAIT AND SWITCH, she enters another hidden realm of the economy--the world of the white-collar unemployed. Armed with a plausible resume of a professional "in transition," attempts to land a "middle class job" undergoing career coaching and personality testing, then begins trawling a series of EST-like "boot camps," job fairs, "networking events," and evangelical job-search "ministries." She gets an "image makeover" to prepare her for the corporate world and works hard to project the "winning attitude" recommended for a successful job search. She is proselytized, scammed, lectured and, again and again, rejected.
BAIT AND SWITCH highlights the people who've done everything right--gotten college degrees, developed marketable skills, and built up impressive resumes--yet have become repeatedly vulnerable to financial disaster and not simply due to the vagaries of the business cycle. Today's ultra-lean corporations take pride in shedding their "surplus" employees--plunging them, for months or years at a stretch, into the twilight zone of white-collar unemployment, where job-searching becomes a full-time job in itself. As Ehrenreich discovers, there are few social supports for the new disposable workers--and little security even for those who have jobs.
Like the now classic "Nickel and Dimed, BAIT AND SWITCH is alternately hilarious and tragic, a searing expose of economic cruelty where we least expect it.
Reviews (4)
Bait and Switch : The (Futile) Pursuit of the American Dream
Written by Michael Scott from Santa Cruz, CA on January 10th, 2008
- Book Rating: 3/5
I was hoping for a broader focus for this book, but it seemed skewed toward a specific segment of the Middle Class. While it had some pertinent points to make in general, I feel this expose was focused too much on PR / Sales. It does point out how frightening entering the job market can be in general, and some of the hurdles we will come upon, and I found that informative… but being in the Tech Industry, I’m not sure how much of the trials and tribulations described in this book will apply to my situation if/when I re-enter the job market.
okay
Written by Doug from Columbus, OH on January 2nd, 2008
- Book Rating: 3/5
More of a commentary on career coaching, networking groups, and AFLAC sales than on the average white collar job seeker. It was a moderately intersting book and I did look forward to listening. However, I was hoping for interview and facts from real job seakers, not just her made up experience. Worth listening if you a road warrior as it certainly beats most AM/FM/XM.
Pursuit of A Nightmare
Written by Mandi Chestler from Lake Oswego, OR on December 3rd, 2007
- Book Rating: 4/5
Thank goodness for Ehrenreich's sly sarcasism and cheeky humor, or her newest book would be too depressing to read/hear. Whatever your white collar career, be it marketing consumer products or developing high tech software, America's corporate world has become a cut throat, souless nightmare. Before you become the next corporate victim, or if you've already been stabbed in the back by an office full of business suits, this book will provide a much needed wake up call.
bait and swithced
Written by Catherine Copeland on November 5th, 2006
- Book Rating: 2/5
I have always wanted to read nickled and dimed because I thought it might give me new perspective I can take into my classroom. I grew up poor (or lower middle class whichever is more PC). Through bad choices I spent some time on the welfare lines and eventually worked my way through college and off welfare. I wound up reading this book first and Wow I was shocked at how judgemental a liberal could be. Instead of being accepting of people she downright trashes and mocks people who in her own way she feels don't measure up to her own greatness. In one segment she tries to sell herself to a career coach as the PR person he needs. Good for her, I'm almost applauding her. Then she talks about wanting to press him down in the mud and how he should have some back bone. When he tells her that she is abrasive she stands back shocked and amazed because she even ignores her own words to say she didn't know where he got that from other than some kind of sexist line.