Sociology - Tammy\'s Story PDF

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Essay based on a video we were required to watch and explain through a sociological lens with sociological concepts. ...

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Morgan Dietz Sociology 1000 Prof. Kramer December 2, 2019 The Tammy Assignment

Tammy is a woman living in a shabby trailer in suburban Waverly, Ohio. She is considered to be a member of the bottom of the lower class. Tammy’s ability to succeed in life is low. She doesn’t have an equal opportunity to thrive in society, because of her life chances. She doesn’t hold a high status in society, and is subject to the feminization of poverty. Tammy’s background puts her at a huge disadvantage. Because of the cycle of poverty, Tammy was never able to get a proper education, or a well-paying job. She has a roof over her head, but she isn’t living comfortably. She has a small amount of belongings, but for the most part, they do not work properly. Some factors that effected Tammy’s circumstances include her class, status, her low life chances, and her gender which makes her susceptible to the feminization of poverty.

Tammy is uneducated, and has an extremely low income. She strives to be educated and become a teacher, but does not have the means to do so. She works at Burger King, which is notoriously known as a minimum wage, low income job, normally occupied by teenagers, or low class individuals that cannot find another place to receive a steady source of income. Her job cleaning bathrooms at Burger King barely pays the bills. Tammy’s annual income puts her into the category of the lower class, more specifically the “working poor class”. She states in the

video that her friends do not understand why she walks ten and a half miles to work at a Burger King cleaning bathrooms when she could just stay at home with her kids and collect welfare. Tammy works hard after being on welfare for eighteen years, but doesn’t have an equal opportunity to adequately provide for her family. She doesn’t have a car, or a house or a radiator. She has little money to pay for anything other than necessities.

Tammy doesn’t hold a high status in society. While she is caucasian, she is still considered a member of the lower class, is uneducated, and doesn’t hold a job considered to be valuable in society. Status also indicates the degree of prestige, esteem, and power conferred on individuals because of these attributes. Her neighbors call her “trash,” showing what other people around her think of her and the way she lives. She explains how hard she works, and how her father had twenty-two children, that he unsuccessfully attempted to provide for. Tammy talks about how she wants to “get things going” concerning her house and her children, but does not know how.

Tammy discusses how hard her life is as a lower class woman trying to raise her family by herself. While walking to Burger King every day, she consistently has people speak sexual innuendos and sexually based comments to her while she is walking. She is also called trashy among other things. Tammy struggles to make ends meet as a female at the head of a household. Even though she is uneducated, she is only able to find a job as a woman cleaning bathrooms in a fast food restaurant, a job stereotypically held by women. This concept is known as the feminization of poverty. Ms. Crabtree is attempting to raise her children by herself, without any

help from anyone else, but struggling immensely. Because Tammy is a single mother, she is more likely to experience the effects of poverty as opposed to if she was a man.

In the video, two of her children, Matt and Beaux, talk about their life as children of Tammy. Matt specifically is extremely interested in the idea of social mobility. He is sixteen years old and talks about his desire to become a lawyer or an architect in the video. He also explains how embarrassed he is about where he lives and does not talk to his friends about his mother. He lies to his friends about his social class and never talks about his family. Matt also says that he tries to teach his brother Beaux how to act, and that he doesn’t associate with Beaux unless he dresses the way Matt likes him to dress. Matt wants nothing to do with his family and the way they live, and he wants to go to community college and educate himself so he can get a good paying job. Because of Tammy’s poor life chances, she will most likely not make it above the poverty line in her life time. Without an education, and a means to pay for it, the possibility for an individual to overcome the cycle of poverty is very low. Without funds from the video she took part in, Tammy would most likely be on welfare or working as a cleaning lady for the rest of her life....