English 7
Mr. Cain
Research Handout – Mario Barrera‟s Race and Class in the Southwest
Three Theories of Inequality
Deficiency Theory : They are to blame. There is a deficiency in the group itself, such as low intelligence, their “savage” or primitive culture, poor morals or a
“godless” society, failure to adapt to “progress” or Western culture.
Bias Theory : We are to blame. We are prejudiced by nature. This natural prejudice is what produces the discrimination which keeps a group subordinate.
(NOTE: DO NOT USE this theory as the basis for your essay. We are interested in political or historial causes, not philosophical ones.)
Structural Theory : The system is to blame. Government and business manipulate and exacerbate individual bias through their laws and practices. The
structure of labor, education, and a hierarchial society, along with the political acts and practices of the power elite and their bourgeoise supporters perpetuate
prejudice in order to keep their power intact. ( Barrera favors the Structural Theory, which he connects to Colonialism. ) An example of the Structural Theory as
used against Mexicans would be the Land Act of 1851, through which Mexican Americans were charged a $1.50 per acre while their white counterparts paid
only $0.35 per acre.
Manifest Destiny :
( See also Howard Zinn‟s, People’s History of the U.S., esp p. 150 – 64 )
The Mexican American War lasted from 1846-48. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended the war and resulted in Mexico losing one-third of its territory, with
the U.S. gaining California, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, and part of Colorado, as well as all of Texas. One cause of the war is said to be that the
Southern Planters, who relied on slave labor, initiated and supported the war in order to expand cotton agriculture and to add additional slave states to the
union, in their battle with the Northern Industrialists for control of the government. Lincoln and the Northern Industrialists, meanwhile, sought to eliminate slavery
in order to eliminate the South‟s cheap source of labor. According to this view, both the Mexicans and Negroes were pawns in the power struggle between these
two economic powers. A second explanation for the expansion of the United States into the Southwest is that it was our “Manifest Destiny.” According to
Barrera, “Anglo-Americans were possessed of a vision of history in which they were divinely chosen to populate the North American continent and to bring the
blessings of democracy and progress to this area.” Barerra tells us of their enthusiasm to “extend the „area of freedom,‟” into South America, in Cuba and in the
Pacific. He concludes by saying that Manifest Destiny was essentially a manipulated appeal and an attempt to secure broad popular support for an expansionist
policy of particular benefit to certain political and economic interests” through nationalistic rhetoric and media manipulation. ( Barrera, p.13 )
The Colonial Labor System :
The growth of agriculture and ranching, railroads, and mining in the Southwest led to the emergence of a racially
stratified labor force. Mechanization and commercialization turned small farms into large agribusinesses which required a large, cheap source of labor. This led
to the emergence of the Colonial Labor System which Barrera defines as follows:
A colonial labor system exists where the labor force is segmented along ethnic and/or racial lines, and one or more of the segments is systematically
maintained in a subordinate position.
While his book focuses on the segmentation and subordination of Chicanos, he tells us that they were not the only group affected by the need for cheap labor.
He tells us :
It was not uncommon to find Native Americans and Blacks experimented with as a subordinate work force, (and) Asian labor (also) took on major
significance, especially in California. By 1880 the Chinese represented one-third of the agricultural labor force in California...working in the mines,
and (on) the railroads in constructing their lines across the Southwest, always in the hardest and lowest-paying jobs. When Chinese immigration
was banned by the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, Southwestern employers turned to the Japanese. The use of the Japanese laborers in
agriculture increased rapidly, until this source of labor was curtailed by the “Gentleman’s Agreement” with Japan in 1906. The large-scale
importation of Mexican labor followed shortly thereafter.
What becomes evident in this labor pattern is that each group is exploited as a cheap source of labor until that group‟s success and prosperity, even in these
low-paying menial niches of employment, begins to grow and thus threatens the status of the poor Anglo workers, at which point laws emerge to eliminate the
competition for these jobs and insure Anglo success.
The Five Aspects Of A Colonial Labor System:
Barrera outlines 5 aspects of this system:
Labor Repression: In addition to the above labor laws cited above, as well as slavery, other forms of labor repression include indentured servitude and debt
peonage. An example of debt peonage can be seen in mining towns, where miners had little choice but to buy tools and supplies at the company store.
Employers kept wages low enough and prices high enough to keep miners in a state of perpetual debt and thus unable to leave.
The Dual Wage System: This system paid one wage to minority workers and another to nonminority workers who perform the same task. For example,
Mexican miners were paid $12-30 per month, while “American” miners were paid $30-70 per month, plus board. In California, Mexican miners “had to settle for
discriminatory wages of only 50 cents to $ 1.50 per day, whereas his less experienced gringo brothers drew from $2 to $3. (Lingenfelter, p.6) As a result “a twoclass socio-economic system evolved.” (Park, p.243)
Occupational Stratification: Barrera calls this “the most significant aspect of colonial labor.” It refers to the practice of classifying certain kinds of jobs as
suited for minorities and others as suited for nonminorities. Barrera‟s sources confirm that “Mexican miners were restricted largely to menial and dangerous
work, and they lived in segregated areas.” (Meir and Rivera, p.108), and that “As mining became mechanized, the pattern was for Anglos to operate the
machinery while Chicanos did the manual labor. (Park, p. 151)
Chicanos as a Reserve Labor Force: This practice employs minority labor in two ways: 1) for elasticity, to prevent labor shortages that would otherwise
drive up the price of labor, such as in seasonal and migratory labor, and 2) for control of labor, in strikes or labor disputes to serve as an alternative source of
labor and weaken the bargaining position of the other laborers.
Minorities as Buffers: Here, minority workers can be the “last hired and first fired”, to serve as “shock absorbers” in times of economic dislocation. Today we
see layoffs in recessions follow this pattern. In the future, perhaps all American workers may become “minority” buffers for a global workforce that is cheaper to
hire than American laborers.