Getting Me Cheap

Dinner out, grocery delivery, and a nanny for the kids are everyday conveniences for many households. This book looks at the people who provide them. Sociologists Lisa Dodson and Amanda Freeman turn their attention to the low-wage workforce behind these comforts, a workforce made up mostly of women.

The authors follow these workers through the food industry, health care, home care, and other low-paid fields. Many of the women are trying to raise children while holding jobs that offer little stability, and they receive no public assistance. Their own children often take on adult responsibilities early, caring for younger siblings and aging relatives.

Drawing on years of close fieldwork and hundreds of interviews, Dodson and Freeman examine how the American economy traps millions of women and their children in limited prospects and poverty. The book also looks ahead, proposing policy solutions and arguing for organizing women across class lines.