Inside Toyland Essay Example

and the women were the cashiers.The security officers at Toy Warehouse black men and the cleaning crew was three Latinas. They were also not unionized. At Diamond Toys, they were all white except for two African-American women and one Latina, who made up the cleaning crew.

They were unionized. At Diamond Toys they sold “whiteness”, people see white people as being more educated and Diamond Toys sold themselves as a toy store that had expert workers who were educated at what they did. They catered to the upper-class white women adults who would be buying the toy for the child.Toy Warehouse though, sold to the children.

Their ideal customer was the white middle-class mom. They played on their low prices and child friendly atmosphere. At both places, the manager who did the hiring used interpellation, a stereotype view of who should work where in the store and the employees themselves ended up taking on that stereotype and acting in the manner appropriate. If the manager had a certain person in mind for the position, for example, Toy Warehouse employed white women as cashiers; it would leave men out for the job, or the same with race.An example of Interpellation at Toy Warehouse was when an African-America man named Deshay who normally worked as a merchandiser, finding lost UPC’s and setting out the merchandise, was asked to help at the registers but skillfully evaded the job. He said it was because he had too many other jobs to do, that he was not hired to work the cash register, and that he would file a lawsuit if they forced him to work the register.

Deshay saw

himself in the stereotypes appropriate for black man that the hierarchy established at Toy Warehouse portrayed. At Toy Warehouse and at Diamond Toys, white middle-class and upper class women had the power.If they complained about a toy or the service they received, they usually were compensated. In one case, a black man tried to return a Lego kit to Diamond Toys and they said they could only give merchandise credit because he did not have a receipt he got upset. He threw the toy and it happened to hit a phone and then hit Williams in the face.

The White manager said to call the police. Williams did not press charges, but this is an example of how black men, when disagreeing with workers, are seen as a threat; but white women are instantly pleased to keep their business.Social class, gender, racism, and white privilege definitely plays a part in this. In line at Toy Warehouse, White women will often display there impatience at having to wait in line by rolling their eyes at other White people trying to see a sign of recognition that he service they were receiving was inferior because most of the cashiers were African-American women. Another example of White privilege was when an African-American manager was training Williams and customers were getting irritated.They elbowed themselves up to the counter and told Williams to call someone else up to the register.

When Williams told them that she was the one being trained, the women seemed embarrassed by their presumption. Male privilege was also a problem. At Diamond Toys when men would come into the store to shop, they expected everyone to

help them at the drop of a hat. One man got angry because they could not find the upc code for a Barney sippy cup and made Williams call the store director and he told both of them what he thought of store operations.He then threatened to write up a critique and submit it to a business journal for publication unless they sold him the sippy cup.

Other men did things that they were told not to, like use the phone and others still would bring in lists and expect the workers to go get the toys for him like at Toy Warehouse. Inside Toyland tells us about the power in our society by showing us who has the buying power. White middle to upper class White people have the power and that is who shapes what goes on in the stores and how they function.The White people get their demands met, whereas the “others” get what people give them; do not talk back or you will have the police called on you is one of the many messages that is sent out. I concur with Williams claims because I worked in retail for 5 years and saw all of this first hand myself. I never realized what it was until I read this book.

We were told to always watch out for the group of black guys that would come up to the jewelry kiosk because they would try to overcome you and steal the jewelry while you showed it to them.It was very eye opening to read this and to go back and compare it to what I had learned about people where

I had worked. According to Williams, a renewed commitment to the values of the citizen consumer is necessary to bring about changes in the retail industry. She said that the political economy of shopping must change and that the retail industry must be reined in by new legislation mandating worker rights to living wages, health care, and equal opportunities.

I think that what she says is true. The whole retail system need revamped to take in the consideration of the workers, and until the consumers start to realize this and demand changes, nothing will change. I learned a lot from this book. I learned a lot about why some stores are structured the way they are and how race, class, and gender are deeply imbedded in everything in the world and in everything we do. There is nothing we do that does not involve at least one of these aspects.