Blog #4

“From Race Rebels” and “From Weapons of the Weak”

In “From Race Rebels”, D.G. Kelley speaks of his own experiences working as a McDonald’s employee and how struggle is being depicted in his perspective. He describes of the different stereotypes that people think of McDonald workers such as looking at them as being stupid and probably most of them were from poor families (P.96), but in fact there is more to the story. I found that this reading was very meaningful because it seems like they are well aware of the situation that they are being treated poorly in working conditions and being underpaid on top of that worsen things. They know what situation they are in but they choose to go “against” their “masters” in a more optimistic yet effective way. Rather than fighting heads on with their employer and demanding for more pay these workers are finding ways to make the best out of their situations such as fighting for their own identities in the work place, with females having long beautiful nails and cashiering, and then guys are able to dress a certain way. It was an eye opener seeing that they are able to fight in a different way because they know that if they go heads on to the employer that would get them fired. They worked on building their own identities in America and at the same time it was fun for them.

In “From Weapons of the Weak”, James C. Scott spoke about peasantry and centered around Malaysian peasants that were struggling to obtain better livings. The many ways that peasants showed their resentments to the lowly paid jobs they would not work as efficiently in order to show to their “masters” that they are not happy with their current paying conditions. They would be called “everyday forms of resistance” as self help (P.90) because they are simply wanting to survive in this economy. The workers would put on “passive resistance” and that alone was nearly unbeatable because “masters” need their workers in order to have work carried out. I think that was a smart way to declare resentment because workers are well aware that their hard work is needed and if there is no addition of pay then people would rebel. They also realize that their resistance only goes so far because ultimately they have no power. The most interesting I read was about the “forest crimes” of how people would go so far as to crossing borders and boundaries to obtain what they need in this case poachers wouldn’t care if the rabbits they took or firewood they took came from a certain land or employer (P.94). It makes sense and I thought it was relatable why peasants did that for survival because it’s not fair that they are working so hard and being underpaid.