Sample Essay On Modernization In New Jersey Dreaming: Capital, Culture, And The Class ‘58

New Jersey Dreaming: Capital, Culture, and the Class ’58 offer us the glimpse of Sherry Ortner’s take on modernization in which she analyzes the societal structure through investigation of class, culture, and race in class ‘58. She utilizes questionnaires and interviews as a means to get insights from the class. The school was based in Newark, New Jersey at Weequahic High School where the population has a concentration of Jewish people. The text can be subdivided into two parts: ‘the composition of the Class’58 and ‘the post-graduate life experiences of the class’58. The class population comprises of 83% Jewish descent and the remaining were African-Americans and other ethnicity. Most are classified as middle-class considering the family’s occupation and material resources. The class is also post-World War II babies and to top it off, they were born closely after the Great depression. After going through such economic and cultural struggle, the expectation for the parents of this generation is to find any means for living. They were immigrants with an American dream mindset because during those times, United States was coined as the land of opportunity and freedom. Therefore, most of the class of ’58 were considered the first generation of immigrants from different ethnicity. Working moms were common those days because either the father went to war or left their homes. There was also a hint of patriarchal control wherein the author mentioned that women would give up their jobs and men would become the breadwinner of the family. The context itself is very traditional and anti-feministic but latter on the text, she argued that some of her Jewish female classmates were deemed successful in their own right but the gender discrimination was likened to “African-American male.” Most of the Jewish had some significant movement to the upper middle class bracket. Upward class mobility can also be viewed as the rise of social capitalism where the job market competition is not limited to Americans but a considerable amount of Jewish people have moved up the ladder from lower middle class to upper middle class; hence, there was social movement. This behavior in itself is the embodiment of culture capital because of social mobility. Which was based on education attainment. From the author’s perspective, the class gap was absent in class ’58 because majority of the students were in the middle class. But even if one was an outlier, money was not an issue nor was the relative racial discrimination. There was one account in book that Weequahic high school was significantly tolerant to racial discrimination relative to other high schools in Newardk. Class’58 displayed minimal prejudice against their African-American classmates as opposed to common misconceptions that Blacks are in the bottom of the hierarchy (maybe because the Jewish classmates were also of a different race than the Whites). Half of the graduates (52%) stayed behind New Jersey to settle down or find work. This is a good indicator of a harmonious community meaning no one was ostracized or very minimal discrimination was evident. In support, this class is adapting the ideology of Weber on rationalization. The belief suggests the replacement of traditions and values backed by the development of modern views, giving rise to mid-century capitalism. But even so, the author continues that in terms of job opportunity and progression, discrimination is still prevalent even if the state is located in the North or South. Even though modernization allows the broadening of perspective, a thin line of racial divide is clearly palpable. Whites are typically preferred over African-Americans because of common misconceptions or stereotyping in a particular race.
The case is similar with the post-graduate experience of Class’58. This may have inspired her classmates into joining anti-racism activities and protests. Others were influenced by the rise of the Civil Rights movement, the Peace Corps, the anti-war movement, as well as the counterculture of prevalent vices as forces impacting their after-school lives. The author discussed that women were technically at a disadvantage even if they are at the top of the class. Her female classmates were particularly outspoken of the issue of women discrimination, which also resulted in protests and feministic campaigns. At the latter part of the text, most of the class of ’58 had passed down the counter intuitive concept of racism to their children who indicated improvement in racial discrimination and social movement.
Most of the successful people were of Jewish descent (which is expected due to the concentrated population). Jews are God’s chosen people and the gospel of God originated from them. Religion is mostly known as Christianity. The success of Christians was explained sociologically by Max Weber. His book, ‘The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism,’ summarizes his views on the ethics of Protestants in contribution to capitalism. Christians, in general, (as opposed to Catholics) has influenced economic development and growth of a society and who also are primary drivers of capitalism. Protestantism offers a better grasp of modernity wherein it challenges tradition, promotes freedom and rationalization. Basically, it separates the state and church, which traditional Catholicism is not. True to its theory, the Jewish men and women of Class’58 have mostly higher educational attainment leading to the theory of culture capital. This was because of the high work-success of class’58. It may be that her Jewish classmate has realized the American Dream as discussed widely in the book in terms of upward social mobility.
In conclusion, technology paved the way for modernization to arise. It brought about awareness and realization of different cultures and society. Urbanism and industrialism was made possible through ideas of challenging the norms. History and oppositions had made its footprints in contributing to the varying behavior of generations as well as changing the perspectives of the world.