NATHANIEL CHIA
SENIOR PORTFOLIO
Interdisciplinary Connections
Marxism and the Farmers Movement
My understanding of The Farmer's Movement in the 1960s helped me further understand Marxist Theory.
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In hopes of finding better jobs and escaping poverty, millions of Latinos who moved to the US in the 50's were let down. Latino Farmers faced especially harsh conditions because they were not protected by law. Farmers would earn as low as 90 cents per hour, the equipment was dangerous (such as exposure to chemicals from pesticides), they also faced abusive treatment, and poor housing conditions.
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Marxist Theory is an analytical approach we learned in English, that examines how a text/author/audience can perpetuate or disrupt values of classism, or capitalism.
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When learning about Marxist Theory during senior year, I was able to connect back to a lot of different things that I learned in US History, such as the Gilded Age in the early 1900's, The 1%, a movie we watched in class, and the Latino Farmer's Movement, which was a movement that I researched in detail for a project in the spring semester. Making this connection helped me further my understanding of Marxist Theory, because it provided me with a real world example of how the values of capitalism and classism are perpetuated and disrupted. Marxist Theory became less theoretical for me, and more real to me, because I was able to see how it the Theory was applicable to these real world situations.
Values of capitalism and classism were perpetuated by owners of the farms, through the commodification of the farmers. By seeing the Farmers as mere commodities, the owners of the corporations (known as the Bourgeoisie) were able to manipulate, control and consume resources how they pleased, in order to make as much money as possible, and maintain power. We can see how the Latino Farmers consciously disrupted capitalistic and classist values through organizations such as the United Farm Workers of America. They are best known for their successful boycott of California grapes that led to increased wages for farm workers. By identifying the suppression of the proletariat (labor that benefits the bourgeoisie), and protesting in order to make changes, the United Farm Workers of America were able to consciously disrupt oppressive values of capitalism and classism.
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The Farmer's Movement furthered my understanding of Marxist Theory because it gave me a real world example of how Marxist Theory can be applied to create change. By connecting Marxist Theory and the Farmer's Movement, I am able to see a real world example of exactly how the perpetuation of capitalism and classism can lead to the oppression of others, and see how consciously disrupting these values can make a real change in the world.
Sociology and Economics
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An example of the conflicting perspectives is the different views of the "invisible hand". In Economics, the term "the invisible hand", coined by Adam Smith, describes that that as a producer in a market economy, being as efficient as possible is the only way to do well in a market economy. By being inefficient in any part of the production, you lose money, and are “weeded out” of the economy by going out of business. In Economics, the invisible hand is seen as a good thing, because it creates a competitive environment in an industry that paves way for innovation. From the perspective of my Social Problems class, a market economy creates a lot of problems. Because the government doesn't intervene or intervenes very little in the regulation of goods, a profit-driven economy leads to poverty and financial inequality. Poverty itself is a very fixable problem (as in, we have the resources to solve poverty in America), it's just that it is a problem that we are unwilling to fix, because of the "invisible hand", driving producers to be as efficient as possible (therefore leaving people behind).
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Although I do not have any physical evidence (Social Problems class was mostly reading the textbook), of notes or tests that directly connected the two classes together, being able to participate in both classes has allowed me to weigh the pros and cons of a capitalistic economy. Each class has allowed me to further the understanding of the other, because I view our own economy in a more objective (although not completely objective) light. I see how things like the invisible hand can be both good and bad for an economy.
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It has been very interesting to take both my Social Problems (SOCI 105) class and my Economics class during the same semester, because both of the classes view a market economy from very different perspectives. Social Problems is a Sociology course that examines societal problems such as poverty, racial division, prostitution and violence. It examines the moral challenges that result from the social and economic choices a society makes. Economics is a course that studies production, consumption and the transfer of wealth. It examines the financial and economic difficulties that come with the economic choices a society makes.
