Citizenship And Marxist Theory: Evelyn Nakano Glenn, Citizens

Many Mexican Americans have been able to accomplish their own versions of the American dream by attending a 4-year college, owning businesses, and taking on political and public service careers. However, Mexican Americans and Mexican immigrants continue to face the hardships that their ancestors went through in the 20th century. The ethnic Mexican experience in the United States has been a difficult one for Mexican immigrants and Mexican Americans of the first generation. Two key factors that continue to shape the lives of Mexican Americans and Mexican immigrants are labor laws and the citizenship process. Focusing on the research, statistics, and information provided by Mai Ngai “The Architecture of Race in American Immigration”, Natalia Molina’s, “In a Race All Their Own": The Quest to Make Mexicans Ineligible for U.S. Citizenship”, and George J. Sanchez, “Becoming Mexican American” will provide the cause and effect of labor laws and citizenship laws that made an impact on the lives of Mexicans during the 20th century.

When immigration policy is discussed, typically, it is discussed within the confines of egalitarian notions and sentiments, and inside the boundaries and parameters set by generally Marxist-influenced social democracy. Characteristically, it is not discussed pertaining to the concept of a social order built on the rights of property owners, sharers, and contributors to and of the common stock- which at their discretion- may exclude bad apples, lazy contributors, rotten characters, trespassers, and terrorists. Once egalitarian sentiments and notions are rejected full-scale- (only giving credence to those that have empirical weight or logical consistency) more proper, more substantive interdisciplinary analyses may reveal that the current investigative techniques employed by current mainstream political theorists are- in the context of reality, incorrect, superficial and quite shallow.

They help to preserve the societal status quo by, firstly, legitimating the exploitation of immigrants, secondly, diverting workers’ attention from the true cause of their insecure position, thirdly, splitting the labor movement and weakening class consciousness” (Castles and Kosack, 460). The first function, in particular, is practiced within American society. For instance, Mexican immigrants are subject to work in inferior labor jobs that do not pay well. Illegal immigrants are treated almost inhumane having to do low paying jobs such a meat packing that causes injuries and disease among

To say that immigrants in America have experienced discrimination would be an understatement. Ever since the country formed, they have been seen as inferior, such as African-Americans that were unwillingly brought to the 13 colonies in the 17th century with the intention to be used as slaves. However, post-1965, immigrants, mainly from Central and South America, came here by choice. Many came with their families, fleeing from their native land’s poverty; these immigrants were in search of new opportunities, and more importantly, a new life. They faced abuse and Cesar Chavez fought to help bring equality to minorities.

Fredrick Engels (1950) gives an example of the labourer’s exploitation with the worker selling their labour power for wages and the capitalist exploiting it, therefore undoubtedly dividing classes. Cited in Engels, (1950: p13):

The mass incarceration in the United States, has grown hand in hand with the well-disguised scheme of racialized social control that worked similarly to Jim Crow institutions.  Howard Zinn describes social-economic structures that justified slavery, also prevented a class movement between poor whites and slaves that would threaten the power of the elite. The birth of white privilege and segregation of African Americans aided in creating Jim Crow policies and in the criminal justice and political spheres. American society is still systematized around preserving and safeguarding white privilege. The uneven path America took toward emancipation, freedom and partial radical equality resulted in the failure to pay black soldiers equally, the migration of freed blacks from southern states and the highly racist attitudes whites held toward blacks. Therefore “white privilege simply confers dominance, gives permission to control, and blank check” to pass and implement laws that would benefit one group over the other”.

Despite that Fox mentions that Mexican Americans fare more benefits than Western Europeans, social workers nonetheless determine their eligibility for citizenship based on race which affected Mexican Americans especially. In addition, race and power were also used by social workers. Specially, Fox (2012) states how social workers were able to use their power to construct a social, political and racial framework that characterized European immigrants as deserving and superior from Mexican Americans. As an immigrant, this affects me because I am aware how race and power combined can affect the interaction and well-being of many immigrant people in the US. For example, I will see how many immigrant workers in the farming sectors are unable to get adequate treatment or conditions because of their race and the status.

In Shelby Steele’s essay, “The New Sovereignty,” he targets two audiences. The audiences are Minorities who have taken advantage of their benefits from the government and just everyday American citizens. Shelby Steele’s purpose is to inform the people of the collective entitlement problem that has taken over America. Using repetition and historic examples, Shelby was able to make these rhetorical choices effective since the problem he addressed has also been repeating over time.

Throughout the 19th and 20th century capitalism was on a rise and many writers had different perspectives on the positives and negatives of capitalism and how it shaped America. Thomas DiLorenzo who wrote How Capitalism Enriched the Working Class, focused on how the world became better because of capitalism. Melvyn Dubofsky’s Industrialism and the American Worker, focused on how the lives of working people were deteriorated because of the development of labor and what conditions these people faced. Douglas Blackmon’s Slavery by Another Name, provided evidence that slavery did not end along with the Civil War and that African-Americans continued to be enslaved and exploited under the system. DiLorenzo agrees that capitalism helped improve wages and workers in America, but Blackmon and Dubofksy show evidence of other arguments that prove to us that capitalism was not a positive impact.

Since the first human civilization, cheap, exploitable labor has been inherent to the economic system. This was illustrated in The Life of Peasants, one of the provided stimulus materials, in which it was accepted that providing for the upper classes was “the obligation of the servile class”. Ergo, the US can trace its history through the various exploited labor systems, starting with our dependance on indentured servants, to slavery, to our current reliance on undocumented workers.Unfortunately, the cultural progress indicated by the advancements of modern life, have not been paralleled by an alternate method of production. Worker exploitation, especially in agriculture, is conventional and commonplace. In the midst of the 2016 presidential primaries, with illegal immigration a hot topic among all candidates, it is becoming increasingly apparent that the people most often victimized by this system are mexican immigrants. “America’s immigration system is broken” - Hillary “The country has to be able to lock its doors” says Kasich. Trump suggests building a wall. Bernie advocates for comprehensive immigration reform and a path toward citizenship. Regardless of political leanings, our politician’s inciting statements whisper of truth. The immigration system is broken, and there is an overwhelming number of undocumented immigrants in America. An estimated 11.4 million of them (as of 2012 according to the department of homeland

Unlike the primary labor, this labor does not have much security or benefits that that can help these people progress (Healey, 2013, pg. 431). Under this labor, owners/bosses from construction sites or export industries favor undocumented immigrant workers due to the control they can have over them (Healey, 2013, pg. 431). Haitian’s, Dominicans, undocumented immigrants, and other less educated groups fall under the second labor market (Healey, 2013, pg. 431). Under the ethnic enclave mode of immigrant incorporation, there is a high concentration ethnic of individuals/groups who enter the U.S as entrepreneurs (Healey, 2013, pg. 431). They built their own business, like retail stores and bring economic, social, and other type of support for immigrants in many different social classes (Healey, 2013, pg. 431). The interconnections they get from their businesses help built relationships with the larger American society (Healey, 2013, pg.431). Cuban’s, Jewish, Koreans and Arab Americans usually follow this pathway (Healey, 2013, pg.

The concept of “citizenship” is a social construction because everyone in our society plays a part of defining citizenship. One may refer to citizenship as being a naturally born citizen or and immigrant who got their citizenship papers. Social media, news outlets, and even our family may change our perception of citizenship. Citizenship is usually tied in with immigration and how we think of immigrants. Thus, it would have never existed without society’s help of shaping the meaning and norms. Therefore, this has formed bills, debates, and independent opinions. These include the I-Word Campaign, the DREAM Act, Anti-Immigrant Movement,

Along with its economic classes, American is known for its freedom, its liberty, and the melting pot of ethnicity. This ethnic diversity comes form the immigrant population in the country. However this perfect country is a major falsehood. These untrue ideals of harmony, freedom, success, and equality are deceptive and do not show the struggles that immigrants face when coming to this class dominated country. The immigrants of today do not come from just Europe, but overwhelmingly from Asia and Latin America. “They are driving a demographic shift so rapid that within the lifetimes of today 's teenagers, no one ethnic group – including whites of European descent – will comprise a majority of the nation 's population’ (Colombo, Cullen, Lisle). These immigrants challenge the social myth that everyone has an equal chance in life. They

All human societies have been class based in some way, shape or form and, interpreting this in the most basic way, it can be said that in every known human society there has been a fundamental division between two broad social groups, the buorgeoisie that own and control the means of production, and the proletariat who own nothing but their ability to sell their labour power (that is, their ability to work) in return for wages. The anger and dissent over the differences in social classes has never wavered

Karl Marx, also a philosopher was popularly known for his theories that best explained society, its social structure, as well as the social relationships. Karl Marx placed so much emphasis on the economic structure and how it influenced the rest of the social structure from a materialistic point of view. Human societies progress through a dialectic of class struggle, this means that the three aspects that make up the dialectic come into play, which are the thesis, antithesis and the synthesis (Avineri, 1980: 66-69). As a result of these, Marx suggests that in order for change to come about, a class struggle has to first take place. That is, the struggle between the proletariat and the capitalist class, the class that controls