Alexander 1

Brittany Alexander
Professor Phillips
Intro to Writing
9-4-2014
Article Summary
In Barbara Enrenreichs article titled The (Futile) Pursuit of the American Dream she
speaks about the hardships of white-collar individuals in corporate society. When Barbara started
this project in late 2003 she found that unemployment was about 5.9 percent, but compared to
later statistics almost 20 percent, equivalent to 1.6 million of the unemployed were white-
collar professionals.
Companies started calling this strategic move downsizing, right-sizing,
restructuring, and de-layering, Barbara studied and found that mid- and high- level corporate
executives and professionals were suffering the same demands as the lower-paid wage earners
were. For example: working ten to twelve hour days followed immediately by working on their
laptop at home, as well as answering work related phone calls during vacations and holidays.
Barbara became determined to get a job in the white-collar world and to investigate and
learn about the problems first-hand. She created herself a different identity, so to speak, she
legally changed her name to Barbara Alexander, her maiden name, and created herself a resume.
She stated it took days to come up with her resume. She wanted to stick to as much truth as she
could when it came to which job titles shes had before. She also had to find people who would
be willing to lie for her just in case a potential employer called wanting to know what kind of
employee she is.
After all that was said and done Barbara decided on 3 rules. 1, do anything to land the
job. 2, be prepared to go anywhere for the job or even the interview. And 3, take the first job
offered that met her requirements as to income and benefits. She set aside $5,000 and 10 months,
which shows how dedicated she was to this project. She figured 4 to 6 months to seek for the
right job and another 3 to 4 months of employment to get the answers she was looking for.
Barbara finishes her article by stating that in the beginning the project seemed less
challenging than she might have liked. She also thought that it would be easier for her
emotionally, physically, and financially than the real white-collar job seekers because the
situation was not real for her, but she than admits that she was wrong on all counts.

Works Cited
Enrenreich, Barbara. The (Futile) Pursuit of the American Dream. The Say / I Say: The Moves
That Matter in Academic Writing. Ed. Gerald Graff, and Cathy Birkenstein. New
York:W.W. Norton, 2014. 260-270. Print.