Final answer:
Barbara Ehrenreich's experience in 'Nickel and Dimed' as a white middle-class individual likely offered her certain invisibilities and privileges not available to people of color or single parents, though explicit discrimination is not the main focus of her narrative.
Step-by-step explanation:
Barbara Ehrenreich, in her undercover investigation for Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America, aimed to explore how people survive on minimum-wage work. Throughout her experience, Ehrenreich was aware that her identity as a white, middle-class individual shaped her experience differently than it would have for a person of color or a single parent. While discrimination is not the central thesis of her book, she acknowledges that her race and class granted her certain invisibilities and privileges that might not be afforded to others in a similar economic situation.
Ehrenreich's privileged background may have afforded her more leniency from employers, and a higher likelihood of being hired quickly due to conscious or unconscious biases. Her interactions with managers and coworkers, as well as her ability to find housing, might have been smoother due to societal preconceptions. Therefore, while discrimination is not the main focus of Ehrenreich's story, it implicitly shapes her narrative by the unaccounted advantages she had, thus underscoring that her struggle, already Herculean, could have been even more arduous for someone without her demographic characteristics.