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Social Inequality of the Fast Food Industry
- jsclark5409
- Non-Fiction / People/Culture
- 2 views
- 10 years ago
- Mild Language
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Social Inequality of the Fast Food Industry
By: jsclark5409
Social Inequality in the Fast Food Industry
The Fast food industry has a giant impact in our society.
Millions of people all over the world go to a fast food
restaurant at least once a week. The people who work in these
restaurants, barely make minimum wage, where workers cannot
survive on their own. By using the social conflict theory, it
can show the inequality between the poor (workers) and the
rich (CEO’s).
According to Karl Marx, there are two kinds of people in
the workforce, which are the Bourgeoisie and the Proletariat.
The Bourgeoisie are the rich, or in the fast food industry the
CEO’s. The Proletariat are the poor, or in the fast food
industry the regular workers. What the social conflict
theorist will look at is the social inequalities between the
Bourgeoisie and the Proletariat. The CEO’s has set
rules, in which everyone must obey them, in order to keep
their job. In the fast food industry, there is no freedom,
because the workers are not in charge, and they are not paid
to think.
One way, that there is a distance between the rich and the poor
is the fact that there is “Alienation from the product
of one’s labor.” There is no passion in the work
that these people are putting in. In America, we are taught to
be successful, and in our society we look down on people who
have jobs in fast food restaurants. Society thinks of them as
lazy and worthless people. Our society believes that if you
are rich, then you are successful, but if you are poor then
you are uneducated and ignorant. Horovitz (2014.)
Another big factor in the social inequalities, between the rich
and the poor, is the “Alienation from the process of
one’s labor.” In the fast food industry, there is
no sense of freedom. There are charts and trainings that tell
you what to do, and what to say. If you don’t abide by
those rules, then you will be fired. It really is a
dictatorship, because you have to conform, where the same
uniform and do everything the exact way it is supposed to be
done. What we look for in a restaurant is uniformity, because
if we are in Tennessee or in New York, a Big Mac should taste
like a Big Mac. Schlosser (2001.)
Then to continue the distance between the poor and rich,
there is “no self-identity.” People are not proud
of their jobs, and there is just not any special connection to
their job. They won’t know who they are, and what their
purpose of life is going to be. This is very important in
life, and the fast food industry has made people to believe
all that matters is their job, and to do it correctly. Most of
those owners worry about themselves, and do not care about
workers as much as him/her. Kohn (1976)
To study how the fast food industry has impacted society,
the best way is to use the social conflict theory. Thanks to
Karl Marx, there are two types of people in the workforce,
which are the Bourgeoisie and the Proletariat. There are many
misconceptions of the workers in fast food restaurants, such
as unintelligent or lazy. In our society, we are always
excepting fast food to be the same everywhere. It is hard to
survive on the amount of money, that the owner gives you.
Plus, the owner makes all of this money, but the workers only
get a small portion of it. There is no freedom in the
industry, so you have to obey the owner’s rules or have
the risk of losing one’s job. Also, the workers cannot
help what the working conditions are like. In these jobs,
there is a lack of self- identity among the people. All in
all, hopefully things can get better for everyone in the
workforce, but there will always be the rich and the poor. Our
job is to close the gap between the two.
Kohn L. Melvin. 1976. National Institute of Mental Health;
Occupational Structural and Alienation
Schlosser, Eric. 2001.Fast Food Nation;The dark side of
the all American meal
Horowitz, Bruce. September 22, 2014. USA Today; Income Gap:
FineDining up; Fast Food down
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