The Jungle And Fast Food Nation Analysis

Values, beliefs, political ideas, and institutions in

The Jungle and Fast Food Nation

The leaders of Chicago’s meatpacking company and the leaders of many fast food chains today lack values, have orthodox political ideas, and do not follow proper code in their institutions. In society, since the beginning of time, businesses have existed. Businesses are important to get people what they need, which is often money. In both The Jungle and Fast Food Nation the corruption of business and capitalism are revealed. Both of these display that those with power in widespread businesses, take advantage of their workers and their customers. Throughout all of time, when involved in a business what the seller pays most attention to is profit. This is

The conditions of the workers and the quality of the products served were of no importance to the leaders in Chicago’s meatpacking industry, and are often not important to fast food chains today. The meat sold to customers in The Jungle is often soiled, but the head of the company allows it to be sold to maximise his own profit. Bad parts of the meat in the factory were cut out and disposed of but the remained parts were still then sold. Other meats were covered in germs from a leak in the building or rat feces as the rodents roamed around the building. The health or waste of money for the citizens in this case is not important to the owners. The conditions of the factory in The Jungle were horrid. As previously stated, there were leaks in the ceiling, rodents crawling about, no heat in the cold winter of Chicago, and the work was very difficult which even resulted in the death of an old man employed there. (Sinclair). The owners would not have invested in proper working conditions because this would have cost them money. After this book was released, in fact, the quality of this industry was further inspected and found actually as bad as described. The Meat Inspection Act and Pure Food and Drug act was shortly after passed by the president at the time, Theodore Roosevelt. (Rouse). The conditions in fast food chains now are better, but still not great. As stated by

Politicians are often bought out with money, and many workers can be bought out by politicians. Men and women in politics are sometimes paid by the owners of monopolies to vote a certain way or allow things that aren’t necessarily lawful. This kind of behavior leads to an oligarchy where the small percentage of millionaires run the country by buying out those in the Senate and the House to make decisions in their favor. These government officials are taking place in lobbying, as people with money influence the decisions they make for our country. In Sinclair’s The Jungle, Jurgis is bought out by a politician while he is involved with some trouble. Jurgis helps democrat Mike Scully by rigging an election, as he offers him a job as manager at the factory. In the restaurant and fast food industry, they also pay big money to politicians in order to keep their businesses running. With proper laws being enforced against the wrongdoing of the industry, the owners of these chains would not have nearly as large of a salary. These people make money off of breaking the law with their unhealthy, and poor quality products and their decision to not properly train or maintain a decent workplace for