No Shame in My Game

Book review

No Shame in My Game

Book Review

Introduction

No shame in my game is a book written by Katherine Newman and published by Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group in 2000. The author is an anthropologist at Harvard. This is a book written in context of describing the life and conditions of America's poor working class that is very poor and ignored. Indeed, it is a topic that is not much talked about in the media as well, and if it not so, many misconceptions accompany the coverage done by the media (Newman, 2000).

The author, Katherine Newman was inspired to write this book from an incident that happened to her in a traffic jam at Harlem. While she was travelling slowly in a taxi, she observed the lowest class of the society going to work at their workplace. She felt sympathy for them, and asked herself that to what extent she is aware of the conditions of this poor class. The answer came “not much”. So she decided to acquire awareness about this matter. Accompanied by a group of her graduate student from Columbia University, she came to know a lot about these people. She made her students stand behind the counters of the fast food chain alongside the poor workers so as to have a deeper insight about their bad conditions. The author, along with her students conducted interviews of 300 workers and job-seekers at a franchise of fast food, which she called Burger Barn”. Answers to questions like who these workers really are, what is the source of motivation that drives them to find and stick to these type of jobs, and perhaps what makes them convinced to be a member of the lowest grade society of America, and why are they settling to work at lowest wages that result due to scarcity of jobs. The author asked some interesting questions to which she got replies that provided her some significant insights to the matter. Her study revealed that the most impoverished group in the America is not of the unemployed, but of the poor low-wage workers. These workers not only work on very low wages, but suffer indignities and exhaustions as well (www. nytimes.com).

Body

This is a book that covers a number of different aspects that are associated with the subject of sociology. Earlier, the author Katherine Newman has written two books namely falling from grace and declining fortunes. In this book, Katherine has efficiently highlighted the bad conditions experienced by the urban poor.

In the start, she has made clear the intentions and will of this poor working class. According to her, the majority of this poor class wants to work, although, they can receive assistance for their expenses from the public. She also concluded that these people are very committed to their tasks and goals, despite of very difficult working conditions. They have to face discrimination from the upper class, but still they remain engaged with their work ethics. They enjoy very little opportunities of promotion or ...