4/20/17 Journal 4: Race Rebels and Weapons of the Weak

Lina Osofsky

4/20/17

913603947

ASA 4

Kelley, Scott

From Kelley’s article about McDonalds I immediately noticed a trend. The workers at McDonalds realized that they were underpaid and overworked, but didn’t do anything about it. Instead, they focused on things they knew they could actually control -- like the radio station, or having people punch in early for them, or getting a little extra from the milkshake machine. They didn’t fight for the important stuff like wage, they fought for things that would get them through the day -- making life more bearable. This is a sign to me that the underclass, minority people KNEW that they were being mistreated but DECIDED to do nothing about it. To me this is an example of hegemony. Because they were lower class (and they accepted it) they decided not to do anything about their unfair working conditions and just lived with it because they accepted that they were lower class and probably nothing would happen if they fought back.

In Scott’s article a similar theme comes up: resistance. He says that open subordination is will almost always have more of an impact than insubordination that never actually questions the hierarchy. I agree with this because if someone is being openly insubordinate more people will have the confidence to join in and also be openly insubordinate -- it’s like a ripple effect. Someone who is passively insubordinate would probably just make the person above them angry and they would be punished.