4/20 James Scott's Weapons of the Weak and Robin Kelley's Race Rebels

Angel Truong 4/20 Journal Weapons of the Weak and Race Rebels

            James Scott and Robin Kelley’s readings relate to the concept of cultural resistance through the strategies of the marginalized group; the working class. James Scott’s reading introduces the concept of resistance that involves the working class where they go against the social hierarchy by resisting through stubbornness. From this reading I found this form of resistance interesting and I tied it back to the current generation form of resistance. For example, from a personal experience, a form of resistance derived from this strategy was an event in my high school called “A Day of Silence” where students would stay silence for the day to fight against LGBT discrimination. Moreover, Robin Kelley’s reading gave an example of food service workers indirectly fighting the food service hierarchy by finding joy and fun from their work. I thought this article is a great example for Scott’s concept of resistance. However, the article in the end by Adolph Reed Jr. does make a good point that the notion of everyday resistance is not enough to create a real political movement for today’s current time. I support his argument that Kelley’s example is a way to cope with the social hierarchy, not fight it. In the end, I believe the combination of confrontation and silent resistance will be effective to make changes. 

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