eng101

1

3

A Review of “From the middle to the margins: addressing job insecurity, income inequality and social fragmentation”: Article Review

Jinrong Zhao

International Degree Completion, Trinity Western University

ENGL 101: Introduction to Writing

Professor Jean Jeon

February 12, 2021

A Review of “From the middle to the margins: addressing job insecurity, income inequality and social fragmentation”: Article Review

Lafferty, G. (2015). From the middle to the margins: addressing job insecurity, income

inequality and social fragmentation. SAGE Journals, 29(2), 354-360. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0950017015569833

Introduction

In the article “From the middle to the margins: addressing job insecurity, income inequality and social fragmentation”, George Lafferty (2015) explains that why income equality is a significant problem that the gap between the poor and the rich keeps increasing in the society by reviewing two books, the Squeezed middle and worker marginals, with sociological perspective. George Lafferty has a bachelor's degree in politics and sociology at Griffith University and holds a Ph.D. in political theory at the University of Queensland. Lafferty previously worked at the University of Queensland and Griffith University as a senior lecturer. He was also a professor and director of the Industrial Relations Centre, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. Lafferty has published on political topics in international journals and books, and has also participated in various government policy bodies related to employment and industrial relations. Although the main argument of the writing does not consider different perspectives, Lafferty (2015) writes an effective article because the organization is legible and the writing style used fits the purpose of the writing. 

Summary

Lafferty (2015) states that the books, worker marginals and the squeezed middle, are addressing the same issues, which are job insecurity, income inequality and social fragmentation. To start, Lafferty begins that the U.S. has a failure in solving economic inequality because the U.S. government implements an incorrect economic policy that favors the rich than the poor. Then, the author elaborates that the living standard of the middle class in both the U.S. and the UK is dropping by mentioning that the middle-class family incomes have grown slow behind economic growth rates since the 1970s. After that, the author continues with evaluating the book of Worker Marginals that workers’ rights are currently not protected very well. He adds that non-citizens immigrants are often discriminated by employers with poor working condition and lower pay. In the end, the author concludes that labor rights remain a challenging issue in the current U.S. society.

Body Paragraph

Although the article is effective, the main argument of the writing does not consider different perspectives. In more detail, the author is only focusing on proving his own argument that he does not consider other points of view. In the article, Lafferty (2015) compares those two book that “[…] they concentrate on the USA and the UK, the issues raised and the strategies developed are relevant for other developed nations in the era of neoliberal globalization” (p.354). Clearly, the author explains the issues mentioned in the books also apply to other developed countries. He does not consider that every country has different culture backgrounds and social structures. This reveals that the author is not taking the full consideration of other perspectives. In addition, the article also highlights the key of solving income inequality is that “A social-democratic agenda of progressive taxation and public spending no doubt remains valid and indeed urgently necessary in policy terms” (Lafferty, 2015, p.359). This suggests that the author argues progressive taxation and public spending will be the solution to the issue of income inequality. In fact, there are politicians convey that progressive taxation may cause a new issue which is capital flight. Based on the author’s background, he has bias on the poor, so he ignores that the rich are the economic engine. Therefore, although the article is effective, the author does not take full consideration on other points of view.

However, the article is effective because of the legible organization. More specifically, the author divides the essay into four sub-headings. At the beginning and the end of the article, the author writes the sub-heading like “Introduction” and “Conclusion”. Clearly, these two sub-heading are making the structure clear for the reader to read. At the same time, they are also making this article more logical that the reader will be easy to follow. Not only this, the author also writes two sub-headings “Retrieving the middle” and “Contesting the margins” to clarify the structure of the body. With this in mind, this suggests the author is explaining the books “The Squeezed Middle” and “Marginal Workers” separately. He introduces the theme of those two books with thorough sub-headings. It will lead to a clear interpretation for the reader. Thus, this essay is effective because it expresses a legible organization to the reader through clear sub-headings.

The article is also effective because writing style used fits the purpose of the writing. In more detail, the author writes academic vocabulary that can be understood by the intended reader. In the article, the author explains the theme of the book “The Squeezed Middle” that “The second theme examines the policy lessons drawn from analysis of declining ‘middle-class’ family living standards in both countries” (Lafferty, 2015, p. 355). Clearly, the author tends to demonstrates the relationship between the middle class and economic policy. In this sentence, there is no economic jargon used, but they are all academic vocabularies frequently used in academic writing. In addition, Lafferty (2015) mentions the unfair treatment of foreign workers that “Non-citizen immigrants formally possess almost as many legal protections as citizens” (p.357). With this in mind, the author conveys that foreign workers are not treated fairly although they have the same legal protection. The writing style is concise and can be interpreted by the intended readers. Moreover, this articles is written professionally in a way that it contains university-level words. Therefore, this article uses the effective writing style that fits the purpose of the writing.

Conclusion

In conclusion, this article is effective because of legible organization and professional writing style. Overall, it is an effective and influential essay even though it has weakness in its main argument. This article would be useful for politicians who wish to study income inequality because it explores deeply on the issue of income inequality by comparing two academic books.