I am responding to Antonio Figueroa’s Week 5 Blog about his
bus ride on Wilshire Blvd.
I think this is a great example of seeing social difference
and how Spencer believes that difference is natural because in order for a
system to work, there must be people in the bottom class to do, like you say, “the
dirty work.” Beverly Hills is a rich neighborhood and it would make sense to
see, for instance, Hispanic or non-Caucasian workers around the streets doing
some sort of low ended work, such as mowing the lawn. It may not very typical for
wealthy people to do these little and simple things for themselves.
I have actually never agreed with them about this point. Usually, wealthy families would hire maids, nannies, lawn mowers, etc to do all the nitty gritty work around the house for them, but I never think this is necessary, even if they have the money to spend on these workers. I think the wealthy or higher class can do their house work themselves and I would not say it’s embarrassing either (compared to someone the same age as them working at a fast food place or something similar). Because I believe individuals can do the simple things, why must there be people at the bottom in cases like this. What happened to being a mother who actually takes care of her children or people who clean up their mess at home? I think those people are better than the people who hire maids because that just proves how well rounded they are.
When I think about what you saw on Wilshire, I think in this case, such as taking care of a house, natural difference is not essential to make a system work. If this can be applied to a house, maybe it can be applied to larger issues of social difference also. For example, a local store keeper at a crafts store can be both a clerk and the producer of his or her product. If everyone does something like that, there wouldn't be as much social difference or class differentiation. I guess this isn't the way to do good business because today, capitalists are the ones making high income from social difference and relying on the low status labor workers to make profit. I think in this way, the world has become very harsh on the people who are labor workers, thus, social difference makes a difference by harming the less wealthy.
(Updated: 12.9.2012) I think this observation also fits into how Marxian views and defines class. This view thinks that "classes are determined by what [people] own. Bourgeoisie own the means of production (factories, tools, etc.) and the proletariat own only their own labor" (Lecture 4). Over here, the workers who take the bus to Beverly Hills only own their labor and their bodies, and the residents of Beverly Hills provide their workers with tools and place to do their jobs such as lawn mowers or house cleaning supplies, etc). Therefore, here, class differences can be seen.
I have actually never agreed with them about this point. Usually, wealthy families would hire maids, nannies, lawn mowers, etc to do all the nitty gritty work around the house for them, but I never think this is necessary, even if they have the money to spend on these workers. I think the wealthy or higher class can do their house work themselves and I would not say it’s embarrassing either (compared to someone the same age as them working at a fast food place or something similar). Because I believe individuals can do the simple things, why must there be people at the bottom in cases like this. What happened to being a mother who actually takes care of her children or people who clean up their mess at home? I think those people are better than the people who hire maids because that just proves how well rounded they are.
When I think about what you saw on Wilshire, I think in this case, such as taking care of a house, natural difference is not essential to make a system work. If this can be applied to a house, maybe it can be applied to larger issues of social difference also. For example, a local store keeper at a crafts store can be both a clerk and the producer of his or her product. If everyone does something like that, there wouldn't be as much social difference or class differentiation. I guess this isn't the way to do good business because today, capitalists are the ones making high income from social difference and relying on the low status labor workers to make profit. I think in this way, the world has become very harsh on the people who are labor workers, thus, social difference makes a difference by harming the less wealthy.
(Updated: 12.9.2012) I think this observation also fits into how Marxian views and defines class. This view thinks that "classes are determined by what [people] own. Bourgeoisie own the means of production (factories, tools, etc.) and the proletariat own only their own labor" (Lecture 4). Over here, the workers who take the bus to Beverly Hills only own their labor and their bodies, and the residents of Beverly Hills provide their workers with tools and place to do their jobs such as lawn mowers or house cleaning supplies, etc). Therefore, here, class differences can be seen.
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