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Classism in The Milagro Bean Field War
Classism involves discriminating against some people base on their social class. In The Milagro Bean Field War, many residents of a predominantly Hispanic town of Milagro are left jobless after a Bradford-owned company buys property rights, making it hard for residents to get irrigational water. The company plans to construct a leisure-time development, which will attract rich people, thereby raising land rates, which might become unaffordable for most of the residents. The land issue in the area affects almost all residents because they depend on agriculture for their livelihoods. However, their low social class puts them at the risk of losing their land because they might be forced to shift as land rates in the area go up. The class discrimination that occurs in Milagro is based on the unjust economic culture in the United States.
Land is a crucial economic factor in any part of the world, especially in the United States. The history of class hierarchy in the United States is rooted in land ownership, whereby people who own more land are of a high social class (Isenberg 310). In areas where ordinary citizens own large pieces of land, the government does not raise much money from such areas because they are considered less productive. In Milagro, residents were living ordinary lives without worrying about unaffordable taxes. However, the American culture is based on the principle of giving preference to people that are more productive to the government, without necessarily caring about the common good (Fiske and Markus 21). Therefore, the rich are always more likely to own land and develop it in any part that they like. In Milagro, Bradford acquired a piece of land and started developing it at the expense of the residents, an action that reflected how the United States has always handled the land issue.
The economic culture of the United States promotes classism by encouraging social discrimination against people of low classes. For example, in cities, ordinary citizens cannot own land because of the high land rates, something that is considered normal by the average American citizen (Bullock et al., 155). Consequently, the rich people and top organizations feel entitled to do anything to own property or conduct business, regardless of the economic implications it has on low-income citizens. In Milagro, the owner of Bradford went ahead with his development plans because he did not care about the implications of his actions on the residents of the area as long as his business blossomed. The denial of agricultural water to residents was meant to protect the interests of the company. Continued activities of the company would eventually drive low-income people from the area because they would have no food, and the taxes would become unaffordable for them. As the film suggests, the American economic culture encourages politicians and businesses to protect their interests by discriminating against the poor.
Classism subject low-income people to increased suffering, while ensuring that rich people become increasingly resourceful. The film The Milagro Bean Field War highlights how land is one of the issues that have been used to perpetuate discrimination against citizens of lower social classes. Since such people cannot raise as much money as rich people and companies, political leaders are willing to do anything to protect the interest of those who are profitable to them. Consequently, social classes continue to become increasingly defined.
Works Cited
Bullock, Heather E. et al. “SPSSI and Poverty: Reflections at Seventy-Five.” Journal of Social Issues, vol 67, no. 1, 2011, pp. 150-164. Wiley, doi:10.1111/j.1540-4560.2010.01689.x.
Fiske, Susan T, and Hazel Rose Markus. Facing Social Class: How Societal Rank Influences Interaction. Russell Sage Foundation, 2012.
Isenberg, Nancy. White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America. Penguin Publishing Group, 2016.