Social Inequality of the Fast Food Industry

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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

Social Inequality of the Fast Food Industry

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