Class Conflict in the United States, Research Paper Example

America is known as the land of opportunity, equality, and freedom. It has set the standard for how a society should function, however it is not without its own short-comings. Society has allowed class to control work, politics, and the overall community that is shared. This problem dates back to beginning of the American politics. Accepting the class conflict is not feasible at this point in modern society. There is no longer a means for social, political, or class inequality, society must confront and resolve this conflict for the overall well-being of America.

Class struggle has been an issue for as long as history has recorded. The rich get richer is the most mundane way to express this theory. They control the businesses, the communities, and have a way of getting into the political side of things as well. Although there is no evidence of a communist- socialist movement in American politics today, Marx’s Communist Manifesto emphasizes the stark and harsh reality of class struggle that exists within human society. According to Marx, there are two classes; those who control the means of production (the bourgeoisie), and those who do not (the proletariat). The relationship between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat is undeniably classified by oppression and injustice. (Marx & Engels)

The bourgeoisies, as Marx classifies it, has the control. History has shown that this can include labor exploitation and inhumane work environments because the owners have that option. The workers need the money to support their families and the owner knows it. The proletariats are the working class, the individuals who did not have the control. These are the lower working class individuals in society that has to work in unsafe work environments for an opportunity to bring in a very little amount of money. They had no way to stand up for themselves because they faced the possibility of starvation, homelessness, and direct violence if they did not do as they were told. These Americans were happy with an opportunity, no matter how horrific the conditions or terms of that opportunity, to have a way to make money. The upper-class, owners thrived off of the ability to exploit such workers so they could make even more money.

Class conflict did not only occur with day-laborers or immigrants. There were many factors that directly affected the conflict. In this article, Reynolds argues that contrary to “national myth”, America is a country that has a clear class division and social stratification that dates back to the industrial revolution and the emigration of thousands of Europeans to North America at the end of the 19^th century. “Frequently determined by economic factors such as those that created the wage-labor class during the Industrial Revolution, class is also influenced by social issues such as race, gender, ethnicity, regional affiliation, and education.” (Reynolds) It is important to look at the progression of the conflict that has taken place.

A century ago, class inequality was based on skin color and even gender. African Americans were viewed as property therefore their class was virtually non-existent. Women were void of rights, making them easy to exploit as well. Immigrants also had to take whatever working options they were given, which made them fall into the lower-class as well. Positions were not given based on education or equality they were given to who would do what they were told in the environment for which they were given. Marx wrote to a French historian Friedrich Engels, “You know very well where we found our idea of class struggle; we found it in the work of the French historians who talked about the race struggle.” (Marx & Engels) Essentially this means that social war essentially links the race struggle with the class struggle. It is factors that keep individuals from changing their stature even in modern day society.

This article from the Journal of American Ethnic History is similar to Claire Reynold’s in that it provides an alternative view of American societal history then typically presented in American literature and mythology. Shanahan and Olzak argue that American history and culture has been molded by clashes between various ethnic, racial, and social groups. The authors especially focus on European immigrant and native’s tension at the beginning of the twentieth century. The difficult issue of immigrant assimilation into American society is pertinent to the modern day debate about illegal immigrants dwelling within the United States. (Shanahan & Olzak) This is a problem even in today’s society. However the immigrants changed from European to Hispanic.

There is no way to explain the class variations in regards to immigrants other than being the bottom in the class conflict. Exploitation is a common practice and laws that have been set to protect individuals from this. However, when one is an immigrant they have no protection. Employers find that cheap labor is a good way to put more money into their own pockets. In addition, the immigrants are working hard to find a way to support their families. They work long days for a fraction of the money that others doing the same job are given. These immigrants are also taking money from the American workers, because they are willing to do it for a much cheaper rate. It is a vicious cycle, but it explains how American society is directly affected by immigrants and the working class.

Kim Moody has her own views on the class conflict in America. In her article she focuses specifically on the historical class conflict between the working class and the political leaders aligned with big businesses. Moody, contradicts Marx in his claim that “periods of expanded accumulation present the best conditions for increasing working-class living standards.” She contests that in recent American history what stands out is that “rising productivity, far from providing the basis for increases in working class income, had become coupled with flat or declining real wages and a fall in the value of labor power as the necessary condition to sustain almost any level of growth in the real economy. The link between productivity and wage-increases, central to Keynesian and institutional.” (Moody) The class conflict between the labor class and big business is critical to the structure of American politics.

American politics play a direct and very vital part of the class conflict. Within the politics, working conditions, minimum wage, and other factors are determined. The big businesses have the money and the means to “donate” to politics in exchange for favorable working factors. This is no secret that politics are not always honest; in fact, it has become notorious for being misleading and down-right dishonest. Setting a fair and honest opportunity for the labor class and the big businesses is highly unlikely. The structure of American politics is dependent upon these two factors that directly aid in the class conflict that we have been battling for centuries. It is not a true argument that higher productivity increases wages it ultimately aids the big business and the owners, not the individuals who produce these results. This does not set an opportunity or an environment that enables the working class to progress into a higher social status. They are kept in their current state because the upper class has the ability to dictate it, even in today’s society. No matter how much progression has occurred, there still has been no real solution offered for political and social change.

According to James Petras, the political class in its current state that operates or supports the resistance in the imperial framework has no option of changing the ruling class. “The historical legacy of the ruling class offensive and the emergence of new systemic ‘fault lines’ demands new political movements reflecting the weight of the new dispossessed classes: the specific demands of the downwardly- mobile middle class, businesspeople and workers; the desperate demand for jobs by the vast army of unemployed youth with no future. “ (Petras) Millions of Americans are losing their homes, their cars, and have a difficult time putting food on their own tables. Some have even struggled with the opportunity of knowing employment at all.

The political powers must step in to take action in the political and social change. Eliminating unemployment and providing Americans an opportunity, a fair opportunity, to make a life for themselves and their families. Preventing foreclosure and allowing these working class individuals to keep their homes. Demanding that the public works creates jobs and understanding that factory occupations can also help save jobs as well. Allowing the worker an opportunity to take over the factors and create a regime change within that industry. This political revolution provides an opportunity for separation with the tributary empire.

Murray Bookchin also had his solutions for remaking society. Bookchin concludes, “the bases for conflicting interests in society must themselves be confronted and resolved in a revolutionary manner. The earth can no longer be owned; it must be shared.” (Bookchin) This being a more radical vision can truly support the idea of an ecological society. When it comes to the possibility of who controls and owns the earth, this is nothing more than a way to determine who is in what class. The social and ecological standpoint of diversity and unity is that a new true understanding of class struggle and what comprises class in general must take place. Utilizing open communication, workers have the opportunity to get a better grasp of what class struggle entails.

There is no longer a means for social, political, or class inequality, society must confront and resolve this conflict for the overall well-being of America. The way America has run has been adequate for centuries. That does not mean that it is necessarily right. There is a need for change where class conflict is not determined by political or social structure. Class should be determined by individual choice not just opportunity. Allowing the individuals who have the highest means of income to dictate what opportunities are available is not only unethical but it has expired as well. Recognizing the problem will provide an opportunity for Americans to determine what type of change is necessary. This is not a historical problem that has managed to work itself out it just has continually presented itself in different ways. Progression, not just in technology, but as an engine for a much needed political and social change.

References:

Bookchin, Murray. “The Modern Crisis”. Montreal: Black Rose Books, 1987. Print.

Marx, Karl & Friedrich Engels. “The Communist Manifesto. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1967. Print.

Moody, Kim. “Contextualising Organised Labour In Expansion And Crisis: The Case Of The US.” Historical Materialism 20.1 (2012): 3-30. Academic Search Complete. Web. 26 Mar. 2013.

Petras, James. “The Economic And Social Crisis: Contemporary Capitalism And Class Struggle”. 2013. Web. 26 Mar. 2013.

Reynolds, Claire E. “Class and Conflict in the United States.” Atq 22, no. 3: 459-462. Academic Search Complete, 2008. EBSCOhost (accessed March 26, 2013).

Shanahan, Suzanne, and Susan Olzak. “The Effects of Immigrant Diversity and Ethnic Competition on Collective Conflict in Urban America: An Assessment of Two Moments of Mass Migration, 1869-1924 and 1965-1993.” Journal Of American Ethnic History 18, no. 3 (Spring99 1999): 64. Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost (accessed March 26, 2013).