The Importance of History in Political Analysis: Eric Wolf and Marxist Anthropology

Eric Wolf- Introduction to Europe and the People Without History

In Introduction to Europe and The People Without History, Eric Wolf seeks to give the first social analysis of the institution that we call The West, and establish the foundations of what could be called Marxist anthropology. Wolf is heavily influenced by Marxist theory; which is evident through his analysis of inequality, capitalism, and the creation of a western history. Marx’s main premise which asserted that material life determines social, political, and economic processes became a departure point for Wolf. Wolf felt that the capitalistic system was one entrenched with inequalities, which perpetuated certain ideologies, and hegemonic standards with the intention of maintaining parasitic hierarchical structures. Espousing dependency theory Wolf asserted that the numerous economic, and social problems of the “third world” were a direct causation of the unbalanced power structures developed by The West.

Wolf argued against the dichotomization of the world into The West and the rest. He felt this development scheme was misleading, simply because it turned history into a moral success story. He also felt that the social sciences were not properly conceptualizing systems, and structures. By turning names into things you create false models of reality. By treating named entities as static, the social scientists fail to see the temporally and spatially changing sets of relationships, and interactions that occur within these entities, and fail to conceptualize historical contingencies which shape such entities.

Social relations became the single cause for change, and somehow became autonomous from anything else, for Wolf this was a great mistake, because it disconnected the importance of social structure i.e. the pivotal role that economics, politics, and ideology has on influencing social relations, and representation. Wolf claims that our whole understanding of history is misconstrued, through the creation of these static entities, which lack development, indigenous people loose their history. Therefore one needs to analyze and take into account the perspective of the indigenous, to better understand historical process.

Are women really gaining equality in the work force? My analysis

     The bleak reality still exist that poverty worldwide has a woman’s face. According to The Women’s International Network of the 1.3 billion living in poverty 70% of them are women, women do about 66% of the worlds work yet only earn 5% of its income, and around 75% of the world illiterate adults are women (endworldpoverty2015.org). With these statistics in mind, it is hard to argue that we have made significant strides to improve the livelihood, and representation of women worldwide. Yes, women are becoming a greater workforce, but does this mean that we are becoming a more egalitarian society? Or is it simply a façade, which equates numbers with equality, yet fails to actually deliver real economic parity?  The Founding theories, which shaped the second and third waves of feminism, have become primordial to our current understanding of the relations between women and work. Theoretical perspective such as patriarchy, capitalism, and political economy are giving an understanding to the reason why such persistent inequalities, like the ones state above, are still so prominent throughout the world.

    The first wave of feminism was mainly defined by the attempt to pass an amendment that would allow women to vote. It is not until the great introduction of women into the workforce after WWI and the return of women into the home after WWII that we begin to receive a critical analysis of the situations of women and work. During the 60’s it became evident that the contradictions between the realities of paid work, and the ubiquitous call for domesticity became irreconcilable (Echols, 64). During this era the massive inequalities between different classes became very apparent, and led to the first attack on capitalistic values. Feminist during this era began to argue against capitalism, asserting that it created mechanisms of psychological, and cultural domination for everyone, they sought to understand the experiences of the oppressed and the marginalized (Echols, 68). Patriarchy also came under scrutiny during this era, prominent women such as Adrienne Rich argued that men by force, manipulate, constructed, and controlled practically every aspect of society in such a manner that determined what parts women should or should not play (Adrianne Rich (1985) cited in Echols (70)). Other thinkers such as Bell Hooks argued that patriarchy was co-opting the feminist movement, by subsuming issues of class, she eloquently adds, “white power reformist feminism enable[s] the mainstream white supremacist patriarchy to bolster its power while simultaneously undermining…feminism (Hooks, 99)” Theorist such as Eric Wolf also argued that the material condition of human existence strongly influence social relations. It is the people that control the means of producing who have wealth i.e. power. Wolf felt that the capitalistic system was one entrenched with inequalities, which perpetuated certain ideologies, and hegemonic standards in order to maintain parasitic hierarchical structures (Europe and the People Without History (1982)). Many of these theories and perspectives, which arose during the second and third wave of feminism, became highly influential in our current understanding of inequality, and the positions that women hold in the work force.

With the theoretical perspective grounded, modern theorist begin to link the subordinate, and low position held by women to the underlying systems that exist in our society. Lois Leveen examines Dora The Explore as both a children’s cartoon character, and a material commodity in order to contrast it with the position of women who work in maquiladoras. She rightfully argues that there is no animosity towards Dora, because to some extend she is ethnically ambiguous, she exist outside both political and historical realities (Leveen, 375). It is the capitalistic, and white media that would create a show that espouses contempt, and harmony towards a Hispanic girl, to normalize our views of the Hispanic community in the United States with disregard to the actual economic position that many Hispanic women hold in this country. While some studies have demonstrated that the advanced capitalistic state through the actions of local and federal agencies has lead to the creation, and growth of an underground economy. In the informal economy many of the women may hold low paying jobs, and loss of bargaining power (Fernandez-Kelly and Garcia, 59-62).

In a global perspective due to capitalism many women from developing countries have fled to urban centers for low-end job opportunities in other informal sectors. Most of the women that have to leave their families and loved ones move to other unknown areas to work as maids, nannies, or caretakers. These specific jobs are still considered “unprofessional” and only available for women of “low-status”. Researchers from the International Labor Organization remind us that this sector lacks any labor laws, and doesn’t provide any policies to protect its workers. Anthropologist Ehrenreich adds Worst of all “Domestic workers suffer from lack of decent wages, ill working conditions, undefined working time, no weekly offs, loneliness (separated from family and friends, and children), no career growth, no skill development, victimization at the hands of traffickers/placement agencies and even violence, abuse and sexual harassment at workplace (Ehrenreich and Hoschild (2003))”

The problem is now that we live in society that equates the increase of women in the workforce as a direct correlation of equality. Mainstream media, which again like stated by Wolf, influence policy, and ideology and promote unrealistic views. Magazines like Forbes and The Economist state, “the economic empowerment of women across the rich world is one of the most remarkable revolutions of the past 50 years (Forbes.com)” But we need not to forget that women still make 77 cents to a men’s dollar. It is important to also remember that positions of power, and positions equated with influence, strength, and intelligence are still dominated by men. Careers such as engineers, scientist, and politicians are still dominated by men, and both vertical and horizontal movement is very limited to women within such fields. There still is a lot to do in order to improve the position of women in the workforce.

It is those entrenched political and economic systems such as capitalism and patriarchy, which argue for modernization, and economic liberalization that will benefit all of humanity, which fail, and in reality tend to create numerous problems for people worldwide, particularly women. Political Economy, Marxism, and Feminism have helped re-shape many of the thoughts and ideals behind capitalism, and the perception that a woman entering the workforce means a positive move towards egalitarianism.