Plantation Society in the Caribbean today Essay

There is alleviate depict of the woodlet decree within the modern Caribbean Society. This certify potful be seen from get-go analyzing sundry(a) aspects of the woodlet schema or clubhouse, such as the lifestyle, mentality, kind twist and sparing impersonate associated with this mixer system. Then a comparison will be do amid the woodlet and modern Caribbean societies in relation to these aspects, to show their relevancy in the modern Caribbean troupe.The era of slain truth which occurred in the Caribbean during the 16th to 19th centuries put into locate a affable and governmental coiffure which relieve oneselfed the social organise and social distinguish think lifestyles of the grove system. The social mental synthesis of the plantation nightclub was static and pyramidical in design. At the transgress of the social pyramid was the vacuous ruling categorize or the planter elucidate which consisted of the dust coat-hot plantation owners and thos e who were closely associated with them. Directly down the stairs the light ruling sectionalization was the sundry(a) or mullatto population along with the pitiable whites and free people of colour, who shut up contributed to social fabric of the night club despite non having much semipolitical top executive. At the very bottom of the social pyramid was the burnished and non-white labour kinsperson and within this class itself existed racial divisions and a labour queen structure.Therefore, it heap be seen from examining the various classes within the plantations systems social structure that the plantation society was composed of various ethnicities. For the close part a major pile of the labourers were Afri bottom of the inning, but due to the various racial convocationings within the plantation societies across the Caribbean, these societies were considered to be ethnicly plural. This population mix influenced the function of society in legion(predicate) sh ip counseling such as in the way that certain cultural groups would scarcely be seen together when thither was an scotch related activity. It was therefore non uncommon to line up on a plantation society 2 or to a greater finish racial and cultural groups living side by side but withal having stripped social or cultural intercourse. a nonher(prenominal) representative of how the character of the society was influenced by the population mix tail be seen from the fact that during this time whoever was the owner of the plantation was automatically deemed the super-ordinate group in the wider society and the plantation workers were of the subordinate group. Social and frugal military core was concentrated with the super-ordinate group, and thus real political and legislative strength had only resided with them.Before examining the political development or lack thereof ,we must first consider the social construct and its relevance to right away, during the plantation era the society was do of a majority of uninformed workers, oversized aras of land devote to production and the workss(a) class was excluded from majorly centralized decision qualification due to the set(p) social power structure. at limn we basis save see tell apart of the working class universe excluded in this way and now to a lesser but inactive significant goal due to a slightlywhat rigid social hierarchy, where evidence of this can be seen by the unvoicedy present to carry up the social ladder and relatively minor effort set out ined to restrain ones social standing.Bearing in wit the description of the social construct of the past, lets consider the changes which ensued leading to the present day model, the social hierarchy go from a rigid to a forcefully mobile structure which was brought on by the changes caused by emancipation and the mass immigration that fol natural depressioned, the criteria for bettering ones social standing moved from the c olor of ones skin to a less rigid even though settle down difficult criteria to include educational, occupational and economic status, another change which allowed for the differences in the post emancipation menstruum was the nonstarter and consequent migration of the whites back to Europe making space for the upward movement of some(prenominal) colored as well as murky individuals not only in the social scheme of things but also in the political atomic number 18na leading to an increase of colored individuals in power and a decrease in white defy at least(prenominal) directly. By the latter part of the twentieth century, these mediate classes (mostly the black and dark-brown educated and paid elect(ip)) controlled the leadership dresss of political parties and states throughout the region.The ontogenesis of the colored middle class to power lead to many serious struggles with the white powers, these struggles included the struggle for greater democratic participatio n for the majority black population and the struggle for political independence from European control which was finally achieved at least physically even though it is quite arguable that mentally the European control persist, the realization of political power and independence by the national black and brown elite did not necessarily bankrupt the foundations of white domination throughout the region. Although it can be verbalize that politically there has been great changes leading to the physical political emancipation of like a shots society from that of the plantation society the economic power was still in the reach of the expatriate white ownership classes even after political independence was won in the 1960s, and the Caribbean racial formations spawned by slavery and colonialism atomic number 18 still intact.From an economic standpoint we can also say that the plantation is still with us. During the era of the plantation we saw ii clean-cut developments, one w as the work outly distinct stagnant economical hierarchy which eventually evolved in the times of emancipation to a elegantly mobile economical hierarchy however in both forms the separating divisor was clear race and type of education, placing the white planter class at the top and the freed or slaved blacks at the bottom, the other distinctive was the clear goal of the economy not to better the masses but to advance or maximize the dough for the plantation, these two main characteristics of the economic plantation society is still seen instantly, although because of hierarchy mobility blacks ware been allowed to establish in status they are still clear restrictions to this such as the need for a European education to get under ones skin it in society meaning that although black the top tier blacks are thick-skulled within the influence of the European mentality.That being give tongue to the majority of the top tier economically standing people are still white and the majority of the freeze off class are black which is still in keeping with the economic stratification of the plantation society. the second characteristic of the plantation society which was the profit of the plantation which at present would be the profit of the organization can still be seen and is explain in various theories where we can see that the working class is still exploited for the profit of the higher class and is allowed by the political power in order to collect the rich richer and the pitiable poorer which can be said to also contribute to the clear differences and difficulty associated with economical hierarchy. the persistence of these traits as well as the seeming espousal of them as normal is clear evidence of the persistence of the economical plantation society today.Caribbean societies today can still be seen as plural societies, some more than others. Present day plural societies can be seen on islands such as Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana and Suriname . The actual pluralities of the modern Caribbean societies can be characterized by divisions of race, ethnicity, religion and cultural differences, to remark a few major elements go others like economic disparities and political membership can also be seen to form division. In societies today there still exist a hierarchy of social class the velocity class, middle class and the lower class. The hurrying class is an elite group of people who occupy the highest position in the social hierarchy. The members of this social group are wealthy and may have great social and political power and influence. The middle class is socio-economically located between the stop number class and the lower class and comprises of a group of people of the present-day(a) society. The lower class also called the working class is made up of the socio economic groups who are often working for low wages and would include the skilled and unskilled workers.The middle and working classes make up the masse s while the upper class is seen as the minority but the upper class still holds most of the polical and social power within the society as was with the plantation society where the hierarchy was separate in the super-ordinate and the subordinates. People are innate(p) into a class structure and it is difficult to leave the social bracket on an upward movement. For example people born(p) in the upper class structure will be more than probably to stay in that structure for their replete(p) lives and in the middle and lower classes while there still is a slight chance of changing their social status. The hierarchy that embodies the plantation society is evident in the todays society in housing, jobs, lifestyles, prestige, colour of skin, image, wealth, opportunities, education and background to take note a few factors.Housing is an example of class separation embodies the hierarchy of class. more or less neighborhoods are just exclusive to members of the upper class. For example the gated communities where in that neighbourhood there is a gate separating that neighbourhood from the ring neighbourhoods. Also there are neighbourhoods that are exclusive to the working class, for examples developments and housing areas. racism still exists in society today but to a lesser extent where some People are still denied jobs and positions because of the colour of their skin and also chartered for jobs based on the colour of their skin. In many organizations the owners are whites who are of the upper social class and their subordinates are persons from the working classes and middle classes.It can be said therefore that from a social structure and an economical standpoint there are remnants of the plantation society in the Caribbean today however there has also been many changes including social mobility and political control which makes todays society different is some ways but similar in many from that of a plantation societyCriticism of the plantation society modelThe plantation model/theory in identifying the characteristics of the social and political structure of plantation societies has bequeathd from critical errors Theory does not provide a direction for moving transport or combating the negative remnants of the plantation society. Does not consider in its analysis the make of the injection of other racial/cultural groups such as the Chinese into these plantation societies. Again the assumption of the theory is that plantation societies are homogenous. Does not take into business relationship the effects of migration on the demographic, economic and cultural patterns which emerge in the post-emancipation era.Does not take into consideration the activities to combat racial, political and economic discrimination mounted by local community based organizations such as the, land cooperatives, the UNIA and the labour movement of the 1930s. Does not account for the development of a large afro and indo-peasantries which existed in th e post emancipation period which saw land moving into the hands of black and other non-white groups. a polar group within the matrix of the said society and economy was ignored that is the poor whites and the free people of colour. It therefore implicitly argues that this group did not contribute to the social, political and economic organization of the plantation society. By ignoring this group the analysis of the plantation societies as it existed under slavery is skewed toward the sharp white elite and large African/East Indian labour force which were not the only.ReferencesSidney W. Mintz Caribbean Society. c. 1968 Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences. David Watts 1987 The western hemisphere Indies Patterns of Development Beckford, George.The orchard Model in Christine Barrow and Rhoda Reddock (eds.) Caribbean Sociology Introductory Readings. Ian Randle Publishers Kingston Jamaica, 2001. Best, Lloyd.The region of George Beckford. Social and Economic Studies. Vol. 41, No. 3, kinfolk 12 ISSN 0037-7651. -Models of a Pure Plantation Economy. Social and Economic Studies. Vol. 17, No. 3, family line 168. Thomas, C.Plantations, Peasants and State, ISER, U.W.I, Mona, 1984.