By: Kerstan Nealy (’22), Staff Writer
The sweet smell of cinnamon fills the air. Spicy, it burns my nose as I inhale, trying to taste it on my tongue. Daddy adds the cinnamon to the mounds of mashed sweet potatoes in the bowl, nutmeg, and condensed milk. For me, the focus of the holidays is sweet potato pie. However, the national focus of the holidays is changing into one of material consumption.
This increasing focus on consumption often times exploits the “working poor”. Working poor is a term used to describe the economic situation of persons who work for the majority of the year (or who are actively searching for work), but who still fall below the poverty line. In 2017, 21.2% of black or African-Americans in the United States were below the poverty line, defined as having an average untaxed income of $25,100 for a family of four (Talk Poverty). Many of these people were part of a class of Americans that worked, but that could still not gain traction and get ahead in order to move out of an impoverished position.
As Thanksgiving has become more focused around black Friday sales and Cyber Monday deals, consumers have begun to spend large amounts of money on tech items and toys during or around Thanksgiving. Not only does this shift in consumerism create a societal pressure to purchase en masse, but it also creates a work environment that caters to the growing demand for Thanksgiving sales. To fill this demand, companies increase their hours or change them in order to meet the early morning Black Friday hours. For those that are able to afford to take time off, or that receive time off as part of a state job, Thanksgiving functions as a break of sorts. However, for persons unable to leave work as a result of living from “paycheck to paycheck” there can be significant feelings of guilt associated with the holidays, and feelings of shame (Sutherland). Missed family time is one of the social costs associated with people who live below the poverty line while working because the majority of employment is found within factories or service positions that can afford to keep worker pay low because of easy access to workers by these companies (US Bureau Labor Statistics). Due to the nature of work within service and factory positions, taking a day off may jeopardize a worker’s position at their job.
The position of the working poor is largely due to structural inequalities within the United States that work to perpetuate the oppression of workers and minorities. The shift in the holidays to large-scale consumerism exacerbates the tensions that already exist between the working poor, family time, and long hours. The holidays may then be understood as another part of a larger mechanism that seeks to create long-term patterns of “impoverished or dependent” persons. So, before bundling up to rush to a black Friday sale next year, or visit that one store open on Thanksgiving day, think critically.
Enjoy your holidays.
References
Sutherland, Jean‐Anne. “Mothering, Guilt and Shame.” UNC Chapel Hill Libraries, 2010,
onlinelibrary-wiley-com.libproxy.lib.unc.edu/doi/epdf/10.1111/j.1751-9020.2010.00283.x.
Talk Poverty. “Basic Statistics.” Talk Poverty, 2017, talkpoverty.org/basics/.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. “A Profile of the Working Poor, 2016 : BLS Reports.” U.S.
Bureau of Labor Statistics,
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1 July 2018,
www.bls.gov/opub/reports/working-poor/2016/home.htm.
