Mo' Dernity, Mo' Problems
Tuesday, November 09, 2004
Ethnic America: A History by Thomas Sowell
A fun read (if you're a nerd). Thomas Sowell looks at the history of various ethnic groups - asking questions like, "what occupations did they go into? did they intermarry? were the people who immigrated generally upper, middle, or lower class? what oppression did they face?"
Lots of very fascinating stuff. For example - American slavery promoted a culture of laziness, since a slave is not paid for the work he does. If I do not see any of the fruits of my labor, I have no incentive to work hard. On the contrary, I may as well fake injury, ruin equipment, and generally goof around, since I get the same "pay" in either case. This culture of laziness did not immediately disappear after the end of slavery - it takes time to develop adjust to the new economic freedom. However, in slaves in the Caribbean were given a small amount of land that they were permitted to farm themselves. This small amount of land was enough to give Caribbean slaves a culture of ownership - and therefore prevented the kind of laziness that was fostered by American slavery. Even though West Indian slavery was more brutal than American slavery, the property rights of the West Indian slaves allowed them to maintain a healthier work ethic.
A fun read (if you're a nerd). Thomas Sowell looks at the history of various ethnic groups - asking questions like, "what occupations did they go into? did they intermarry? were the people who immigrated generally upper, middle, or lower class? what oppression did they face?"
Lots of very fascinating stuff. For example - American slavery promoted a culture of laziness, since a slave is not paid for the work he does. If I do not see any of the fruits of my labor, I have no incentive to work hard. On the contrary, I may as well fake injury, ruin equipment, and generally goof around, since I get the same "pay" in either case. This culture of laziness did not immediately disappear after the end of slavery - it takes time to develop adjust to the new economic freedom. However, in slaves in the Caribbean were given a small amount of land that they were permitted to farm themselves. This small amount of land was enough to give Caribbean slaves a culture of ownership - and therefore prevented the kind of laziness that was fostered by American slavery. Even though West Indian slavery was more brutal than American slavery, the property rights of the West Indian slaves allowed them to maintain a healthier work ethic.
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