Waging a Living
The film Waging a Living by Roger Weisberg presents an image of society where issues related to inequalities and poverty make life difficult for members of the community. In line with the structural functionalism theory, the society in Waging a Living is presented as a sum of parts that work together to offer the best living conditions for its people. While the systems used in the film to help people improve their lives and even raise themselves out of poverty, they end up making things difficult for members of the community, especially when they fail to work as expected. Instead of creating stability and solidarity, the parts that make up the society in Waging a Living make it difficult for people to earn a decent living and this is demonstrated by the challenges that the characters in the film have to overcome on a regular basis.
A good example society’s impact on poverty in relation to functionalism is seen through the character Mary Venittelli. When broken down, society functions in different parts that work hand in hand to make life in society possible. To earn a living, people have to work and get paid. The salary in return is used pay bills and buy food and this is how society functions. Weisberg however depicts a society where the constructs are not working and people struggle to get by (Weisberg, 2005). Despite having a job as a waitress, Mary risks losing her house and also her ca as she is unable to pay her bills. Employment has therefore failed her despite it being a tool meant to help people get buy. Another let down is the fact that her credit card cannot solve her financial problems either, despite it being intended for that purpose. While Weisberg’s society does work in parts, the parts fail to give people the desirable life they seek.
In addition, Mary shows the struggle that people living in poverty have to go through in the name of keeping the parts that make up society functioning. Since people need money to earn a living, employment acts as the part of society that gets things done and people paid. However, since workers also have to raise families, more jobs are created like baby-sitting. In the case of Mary, life is made even more difficult since she has to work and raise a child on her own (Weisberg, 2005). While a baby sitter does help, the cost of employing one leaves little money to allow Mary a comfortable life. Society has led people into believing that life would be easier if people went in line with what is considered a norm in society. After struggling to pay the sitter and get by, Mary considers how things would be easier if she was in a relationship so that she can share the burden with her partner (Weisberg, 2005). Since people are expected to have families, straying from the status quo is presented as a move likely to make things difficult especially for those living in poverty.
There is also the case of Barbara Brooks, a mother of five and also a part time students seeking to create a better life for her and her family. Society has created a culture where people need each other in society. Families represent stronger bonds between people, but these families grow to include friends and colleagues (Weisberg, 2005). Since families are parts of the body that make up society, people have come up with policies to ensure that people do not struggle to maintain the culture of family. However, Weisberg shows how these parts do not always work as expected. Although education is important, poverty makes it difficult for people to get spare time as is seen with Barbara who has to attend night classes as her day time is occupied (Weisberg, 2005). Even though she makes enough to get by, she admits that life is more complicated now that she cannot rely on government aid like she once did. Although there are measures set in place to maintain the idea of an ideal society, sometimes these provisions fail to achieve what they were originally intended and this makes it difficult for the parts that make up society to keep functioning.
Although Waging a Living does reveal the shortcomings that exist in a society made up of parts dependent on each other to function, the challenges are presented in such a way that it does not provoke rebellion. Though poor, characters are described as being clean and living in decent homes with ideal lifestyles. People have cable TV, they dress nicely and even enjoy nights out for drinks and entertainment. Mary for instance makes enough to not only sustain herself but can also afford a sitter. Throughout the film, it is clear that even with all the poverty, poor education, low wages and inequality, society remains to be a desirable place to live in. furthermore, ideologies such as education and had work can raise one from poverty keep the machine that is society functioning because people will keep working and engaging in activities that make up the parts that build a society. Whether positive or negative, people will continue to keep the parts of society working because they associate their lives with fitting in to a community.
Weisberg R, |(2005) “Waging a Living” Film
