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Barbara Ehrenreich

バーバラ・エーレンライヒ

Barbara Ehrenreich

Profile

Gender
Female
Born
1941-08-26 （Butte, Montana, United States）
Died
2022-09-01 （Alexandria, Virginia, United States） age 81
Nationality
United States
Languages
English
Religion
Atheism / Non-religious
Residence History
Los Angeles (childhood onwards) → New England / New York (education and early career) → Alexandria, Virginia, United States (later life)

Career

Occupations
social critic, journalist, author, activist
Active Years
1969-2022
Affiliations
National Women's Health Network (founder/advisor roles), National Abortion Rights Action League (involved), Economic Hardship Reporting Project (founder), Democratic Socialists of America (honorary co-chair), NORML (board member), Institute for Policy Studies (board of trustees)
Memberships
Democratic Socialists of America (honorary co-chair), National Writers Union (involved), Institute for Policy Studies (board trustee)

Education

Reed College
Sciences (physics → switched to chemistry) / Physics / Chemistry
Degree: BA
Period: 1959–1963
Year of Graduation: 1963
Country: United States
Senior thesis: "Electrochemical oscillations of the silicon anode"
Rockefeller University
Started in theoretical physics, switched to cellular immunology / Cellular immunology
Degree: PhD
Period: 1968（入学）–（取得年：1960年代後半）
Year of Graduation: 1968
Country: United States
Completed PhD in cellular immunology. Exact completion year reported as late 1960s in sources.

Awards

Lannan Literary Award
Organization: Lannan Foundation
Result: 受賞
Erasmus Prize
2018
Work: For work in investigative journalism and social criticism
Organization: Stichting Praemium Erasmianum (Netherlands)
Result: 受賞
National Magazine Award (shared)
1980
Work: Cover story for Mother Jones
Category: 報道（excellence in reporting）
Organization: American Society of Magazine Editors
Result: 受賞
National Magazine Award (essay)
2002
Work: Welcome to Cancerland
Category: エッセイ
Organization: American Society of Magazine Editors
Result: 受賞
Sidney Hillman Award
2000
Work: Harper's article (chapter later in Nickel and Dimed)
Category: ジャーナリズム
Organization: Hillman Foundation
Result: 受賞
Puffin/Nation Prize for Creative Citizenship
2004
Work: Work challenging the status quo through socially responsible work
Organization: Puffin Foundation / The Nation Institute
Result: 受賞
Four Freedoms Award (Freedom from Want medal)
2007
Work: Life's work embodying FDR's Four Freedoms
Organization: Roosevelt Institute
Result: 受賞
Guggenheim Fellowship
1987
Organization: John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
Result: 受賞
John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation (grant)
1995
Organization: MacArthur Foundation
Result: 助成
American Humanist Association - Humanist of the Year
1998
Organization: American Humanist Association
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America

2001 Nonfiction / Investigative journalism 224 pages

A firsthand investigative account in which the author went undercover in minimum-wage jobs to test whether one can survive on low wages in the U.S., concluding that it is effectively impossible to cover basic living costs on such pay.

laborincome inequalitypovertysocial justice

Bright-Sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America

2009 Nonfiction / Social criticism 336 pages

A critique of the positive-thinking industry and how relentless optimism can be harmful for individuals and society; includes the author's reflection on her breast cancer experience.

cultural criticismmedicine and societycritique of positive thinking

Living with a Wild God: A Nonbeliever's Search for the Truth about Everything

2014 Memoir / Nonfiction 256 pages

A memoir exploring the author's mystical experiences and her lifelong search for meaning as a nonbeliever.

belief and unbeliefpersonal memoirmystical experiences

Natural Causes: An Epidemic of Wellness, the Certainty of Dying, and Killing Ourselves to Live Longer

2018 Nonfiction / Cultural criticism 320 pages

A critical examination of the wellness industry and contemporary obsessions with longevity, questioning cultural approaches to health and death.

wellness cultureattitudes toward deathmedical criticism

Bibliography

  • Long March, Short Spring: The Student Uprising at Home and Abroad (with John Ehrenreich)
  • The American Health Empire: Power, Profits, and Politics
  • Witches, Midwives, and Nurses: A History of Women Healers (with Deirdre English)
  • Complaints and Disorders: The Sexual Politics of Sickness (with Deirdre English)
  • For Her Own Good: Two Centuries of the Experts' Advice to Women (with Deirdre English)
  • The Hearts of Men: American Dreams and the Flight from Commitment
  • Fear of Falling: The Inner Life of the Middle Class
  • The Worst Years of Our Lives: Irreverent Notes from a Decade of Greed
  • The Snarling Citizen: Essays
  • Blood Rites: Origins and History of the Passions of War
  • Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America
  • Bait and Switch: The (Futile) Pursuit of the American Dream
  • Dancing in the Streets: A History of Collective Joy
  • This Land is Their Land: Reports from a Divided Nation
  • Bright-Sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking has Undermined America
  • Living with a Wild God: A Nonbeliever's Search for the Truth about Everything
  • Natural Causes: An Epidemic of Wellness, the Certainty of Dying, and Killing Ourselves to Live Longer
  • Had I Known: Collected Essays
  • Kipper's Game (fiction)

Adaptations

  • The article "Welcome to Cancerland" influenced documentary coverage such as Pink Ribbons, Inc.

Style & Themes

Literary Style
sharp social criticisminvestigative reportageclear, persuasive essayistic style
Recurring Motifs
class and laboreconomic inequalityfeminism and healthcritique of medical cultureskepticism toward positive thinking

Health

  • Breast cancer
    2001（診断）
    Diagnosed in 2001; the experience informed her essay "Welcome to Cancerland" and contributed to her critique of cancer culture and the social handling of illness.
  • Stroke (cause of death)
    2022（死去）
    Died of a stroke in a hospice facility on September 1, 2022.

Legacy

Barbara Ehrenreich was recognized as a public intellectual who incisively critiqued inequality, labor, and medical culture. Nickel and Dimed became a classic of social justice reportage; her work influenced investigative and immersive reporting and bridged activism and journalism. She received numerous awards and honorary degrees.

Academic Societies

  • New York Institute for the Humanities (fellow)
  • Society of American Historians (fellow)

Archives

  • Papers of Barbara Ehrenreich held at the Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University

In Popular Culture

  • "Welcome to Cancerland" helped spark critique of cancer-awareness culture and influenced documentary work such as Pink Ribbons, Inc.

Quotes

  • The one regret I have about my own abortions is that they cost money that might otherwise have been spent on something more pleasurable, like taking the kids to movies and theme parks.
    Source: The Worst Years of Our Lives (1990) (1990)
  • Explorer of Prosperity's Dark Side
    Source: New York Times (obituary headline) (2022)

Trivia

  • Founded the Economic Hardship Reporting Project to support immersive reporting on the working poor.
  • Holds a PhD but turned away from a laboratory/scientific career to pursue journalism and social criticism.
  • Received multiple honorary degrees (including from Reed College).