SOCIOL 155BW Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Class Conflict, Bourgeoisie
“Connections” Paragraph
Baseball and Society
Name: Edgar Mancia
ID #: 26837670
Article/Book Title: Baseball, History of America’s Game
Date: April 4, 2018
After analyzing this week’s reading, you can clearly determine how Marxism philosphy
influenced the sport of baseball dating back to it’s earliest days. From ideologies of class
struggles to revolts of employees, the history of baseball has Karl Marx’ principles written all
over it. For instance, according to Marx there were two classes during his epoch, the
“Bourgeoisie and Proletariat.” (Marx and Engels 475) One of them were the capitalist who were
extremely wealthy, the other was the lower class who worked for the rich. Similarly, a division
of class is present in the early days of baseball. Teams usually consisted of two groups of people:
“organized social clubs”, these people had an abundance of resources and were widely
recognized in newspapers. (Rader 10) The other group were “those employed in a particular
craft”, usually hard working people with nothing to lose. (Rader 10) Socioeconimic status played
an important role in the history of baseball. Those with white-collar jobs had greater access to
the game while the blue-collar class suffered from oppression due to their lack of resources. This
same class struggle which transpired during the Marx era became very crucial once baseball
became commercialized. It led to the very first revolt of baseball players. Albert Spalding
addressed the issue in a very simple manner. It was “the irressitble conflict between Labor and
Capital.” (Rader 61) Karl Marx expected workers to do this under capitalism. They formed a
union and demanded higher wages. Evidently, baseball players took a page out of Marx’ book
and it turned out well.
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
After analyzing this week"s reading, you can clearly determine how marxism philosphy influenced the sport of baseball dating back to it"s earliest days. From ideologies of class struggles to revolts of employees, the history of baseball has karl marx" principles written all over it. For instance, according to marx there were two classes during his epoch, the. Bourgeoisie and proletariat. (marx and engels 475) one of them were the capitalist who were extremely wealthy, the other was the lower class who worked for the rich. Similarly, a division of class is present in the early days of baseball. Teams usually consisted of two groups of people: Those with white-collar jobs had greater access to the game while the blue-collar class suffered from oppression due to their lack of resources. This same class struggle which transpired during the marx era became very crucial once baseball became commercialized. It led to the very first revolt of baseball players.
