Wednesday, July 29, 2015
Chapter 19
John Steinbeck, in this chapter, portrays a different but interesting type of capitalism in California through the owners of the land. Due to the fact that the owners has so much power of the employment rate, they become in control. For example, the owners are very few; therefore, as individuals they own a vast amount of land. When you're an owner you can chose to either pay fewer people to operate machines or pay more people to do the work the machine would normally do. This also has the same concept when it comes to picking fruit. The owners sent out the handbills expecting that they would get more workers than they needed. By doing this they would get desperate, hungry people willing to compromise for wages lower than they normally would be. They become in control of what their paying and don't expect the migrant workers to disagree with the pay because there is little work to began with. In other words the land owners are in control of the employment rate and therefore dictate how the "squatters" live their life.
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Yes, but once again is it really a form of capitalism or is slowly and most likely a new form of a capitalist society?
ReplyDeleteNeither. Capitalism can not be changed, since it is an idea. It can be imitated to fit ones needs, but never changed. Moroever America's economy is built around the idea of capitalism, but is not purely capitalistic. Therefore, a capitalist scoiety is not achievable in America. Since there will always be federal regulations and certain industries controlled by the government. What Steinbeck describes in chapter 19 is not capitalism. It is exploitation of a free market, due to a national economic failure, and lack of the necessary federal control of the free market. While it is only possible to encounter this issue in a capitalist market, it is not solely the fault of the capitalist ideal.
DeleteChris' viewpoint is bery interesting, but I agree with Sayanne as well. The workers have no say in the situation due to the fact that they need to feed their family, and they can't afford going to jail. I think it's awful how the workers are being controlled by the wealthy and big companies. Although this novel is fiction, I can't help but feel pitty for the poor trying to find a way to survive during the time.
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