Social Issues in Self Help in Hard Times by Zinn

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Table of Contents

Social Unrest is a By-product of Inequality
Resistance to Change
Works Cited

The following are the main points from the chapter 15 of the Self Help in Hard Times book that were determined as Zinn’s main points of interest:

The first main point of Zinn in this chapter is that social unrest is connected to inequality in the current system. As seen in the case of the IWW, the various protests brought about by the defunct socialist party as well as the other subsequent protests that were shown in the chapter, the concentration of wealth and opportunity towards a small sector of the population breeds considerable discontent (Zinn 380). Simply put, the more processes implemented that favor the wealthy, such as tax deductions and priority treatment, the more likely people are to rebel resulting in social unrest.

Zinn points out that the development of social unrest through organizations such as unions is only a by-product of a greater case of social resentment over the trickle down effect having little in they way of sufficient positive social benefits. It is based on this that Zinn implies that the problem with worker strikes is not the creation of unions; rather, it is the way in which the current system is setup where a select few are given disproportional advantages over the rest of the population (Zinn 385). So long as this problem persists, the same protests, violence and societal unrest will continue to exist well into the future. The problem, as Zinn points out, is that there is a considerable difference between a living wage and what employers pay their workers. If workers are actually paid enough for them to live comfortably, it is unlikely that they would even strike in the first place.

Resistance to Change

Another of the main issues pointed out by Zinn in this chapter is the resistance to change presented by the government, the wealthy and other local organizations. For example, despite the Seattle protests being generally peaceful, the response of the authorities once it was over was to violently arrest the individuals who lead the IWW. Not only that, there are numerous instances showcased in the chapter of law enforcement generally overreacting when it came to peacefully addressing the problem of worker strikes (Zinn 379). There was also the case of resistance to change on the part of the rich wherein instead of acknowledging the fact that their workers were being underpaid and giving them better wages, they actively attempted to repress the workers as much as possible in the form of the armed guards or bringing in new workers who were not part of the union.

The government was also not any better as evidenced by the policies that were implemented that continued to favor the rich despite widespread social discontent. One way of explaining why there is resistance to change is to look at it from the perspective of institutional theory which states that people are more likely to adhere to a particular institution due to how long it has been present despite the existence of alternative institutions that are better and more efficient. This is due to age being perceived as a form of stability wherein, despite the presence of better alternatives, people would still prefer something that they know is stable. This helps to explain why the rich and those in power continue to uphold the current system despite clear evidence that it is unstable.

Works Cited

Zinn, Howard. “Self Help in Hard Times.” Self Help in Hard Times. 2005. Web.

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Social Unrest is a By-product of Inequality

Resistance to Change

Works Cited

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