In 1986 Fredric Jameson was one of the most famous American Marxist writers. In his essay published by the text Social Journal , “Third World Literature in the Era of Multinational Capitalism”, he became criticized for his work for years to come. Jameson speaks upon the “Three Worlds Theory” and how all texts that come from the Third World would function as the national allegory, therefore all groups from other world countries have the same cultural logic of the third world (Robert Tally JR).
Aijaz Ahmad argues that Jameson defines the “Third World” in terms of colonialism and nationalism. The problem here is that the so-called third world is defined in “experience” while the First and Second worlds are defined by their production systems (Ahmad, 78). This quote stood out to me, ” …this classification divides the world between those who make history and those who are mere objects of it”(Ahmad, 78). Ahmad is arguing that Jameson as a Marxist wasn’t rigorous enough in his argument around Marxism playing any role within the Three Worlds theory. Instead it is contradictory because Jameson as an American white male is talking about how to overcome capitalistic views. A single story coming from all third world texts can help overcome the ongoing battle.
The battle against capitalism is still present in this world and we still use ideas from the Three Worlds Theory. I’m going to relate this to the ongoing wage crisis in America. We are seen as the best country with many opportunities but this vision of America is read through the lenses of single stories from many third world texts. Immigrants come from all over the world to find better paying jobs in America but really we struggle with minimum wages. In a study done by OECD it is found that, “Immigrants perform relatively better than native-born workers on the labour market, but their working conditions are often poorer” (OECD,27). These people come here in hopes for a better life but get paid less to do specialized work for companies who profit so much off their small wages. This goes back to Jamesons theory of First world countries being the ones making history while the people who actually make the history are the workers from other world countries. We need to consider that these immigrants are the ones supplying us the ability to be a First World country considering that, “40 percent of the immigrant workforce that is employed in low skilled occupations” (Camarota,37). Without these workers working out lower skilled factory jobs we wouldn’t be able to survive as a First World country.
Sources:
OECD/International Labour Organization (2018), “Immigrants’ contribution to developing countries’ economies: Overview and policy recommendations”, in How Immigrants Contribute to Developing Countries’ Economies, International Labour Organization, Geneva/OECD Publishing, Paris.
Steven A. Camarotaon January. “The Wages of Immigration.” CIS.org, 1 Jan. 1998, cis.org/Report/Wages-Immigration.
Talley , Robert T. “Fredric Jameson and the Controversy Over ‘Third-World Literature in the Era of Multinational Capitalism.’” Global South Studies, U.Va., globalsouthstudies.as.virginia.edu/key-thinkers/fredric-jameson-and-controversy-over-%E2%80%9Cthird-world-literature-era-multinational.
You did a really great job at relating the information to a relevant event that is happening today. It made it so much easier to understand. I never really thought about the impact immigrant workers have in which they are the reason we are a First World country. Also how unfair it is to them that they come here for freedom only to be put in the lowest earning position, with poor working conditions. It is completely unfair and you are right that something needs to be done about this.
Thank you so much for your powerful insight to Ahmad’s writing! Reading this preface beforehand helped me comprehend the referred text much more easily. I found it so interesting that Jameson, a man who preached something as progressive as Marxism adopted such a linear way of thinking about Third World countries. It’s obvious that our world is in a constant state of change, and like Ahmad suggests, it’s trivial to refer to colonialism as the sole way of interpreting the people of a nation. I especially loved how you compared this thinking with the wage crisis in America. It goes to show how applicable Ahmad’s thinking is to even present day issues. Overall, great job!
I loved reading your context presentation and allowed me to further my thinking of Ahmad’s writing, and expand where I can see his “Three Worlds Theory” in other aspects of life and society. I really liked the connection you brought up relating to the wage crisis, and to build off of that I thought of the “American Dream.” The idea that many immigrants have when they picture moving to America, yet in reality they are faced with low paying labor jobs. But like you quoted above, these immigrants have better results for their future, and I think that purely comes from the drive to succeed in their new country. Really enjoyed reading and very helpful!
Hello, by far my favorite part of your context presentation that stood out a lot to me was the use of the quote ” …this classification divides the world between those who make history and those who are mere objects of it”(Ahmad, 78). It is an exceptional point and really gets me to think about the structure of information and single stories about various places. I also really liked your point about the wage crisis in the United States and even “first world” countries have extreme issues, no country is perfect, but every country tries to make itself better than the rest through attempting to provide its own single story.
This was really well done thank you for sharing, this greatly improved my understanding of the text. Your use of the wage crisis was expertly delivered and I think relating the Marxist ideas about the failings of capitalism to problems we directly face now as a result of capitalisms is a good way to highlight the point that the first world establishes the single story that defines something for the rest of the world. The image of America as a utopia for the working class is a single story told from the perspective of the powerful, however your example highlights the fact that for many of those who come here reality is not like what they where told it was. This helped a lot thank you!
This was a really thorough explanation of Ahmad’s disagreement with Jameson’s rhetoric, you did a great job explaining it all the way through. While it is important to note how First and Second Worlds are perceived by their production systems and Third Worlds by “experience”, I believe that it is also essential to recognize how these Third Worlds are made up of a population with intersecting conflicts based on their identities (class, gender, race, region, etc.). With Third World populations being considered as minorities, it’s important to note this when taking account of how these nations are viewed from different cultural perspectives. Additionally, I found your connection of the Three Worlds Theory to modern day capitalism (wage crisis) to be spot on. It goes to show how without the people and influence from Third Worlds, we could not function as a First World nation. Overall, this was a great presentation that I was able to understand to a great extent.
Wow! I must say that after reading your context presentation I can say with authenticity that I have a better understanding of the Ahmad reading! This reading was definitely the most difficult one for me to interrupt and perceive for the week and I felt like I definitely had to do some extra leisurely research of my own to fully grip ahold of the meaning. You apply this “Three Worlds Theory” into an example of a real life situations that we face every single day such as the battle against capitalism. This was helpful for me seeing this theory put into a present day issue we face! You talk about immigrants often coming to America for work because there is “better opportunity”. It does seem like a bit of a contradictory statement if you think about it because America is supposed to be the land of the free and opportunity, and I often feel as though our systematic structure and standards prevents certain individuals from getting any true gain from that statement. I like when you said that “we need to consider that these immigrants are the ones supplying us the ability to be a First World country considering that, “40 percent of the immigrant workforce that is employed in low skilled occupations” (Camarota,37). I absolutely agree that it is time to put our focus and attention on immigrants and they definitely are providing us with the ability to even be considered a First World country. I did not realize that 40 percent of the immigrant workforce that is employed in low skilled occupations. This was something new that I learned from your presentation and it is very eye opening to me.
You did a great job, presenting the text in a well thought out manner. This is an idea that has been at the forefront of many discussions in the last century, the notion of “Us” and the “Others”. In modern times, the idea of the First world and Third World have been mainly characterized on geographic location. The west being the First World and Asia, Africa and South America constituting the Third World or less developed world. I also think that this is human nature, the categorize difficult concepts into ridged “boxes'”. Ahmad asks the question, how does one move from the Third World to the First World? If it were based solely on production, shouldn’t China be part of the First World?
First off, great job really breaking down the text into simpler terms for others to get a better understanding. I really loved reading about your example of the ongoing wage crisis in America. Examples like this that are not included in the reading but are relatable to others really helps me to further think in terms that I am more familiar with. Including the quote, “…this classification divides the world between those who make history and those who are mere objects of it”(Ahmad, 78), really allowed for me to use your example and relate it back to what Ahmad was saying. You also did a great job of including this with an explanation and how the immigrants are the ones supplying us the ability to be a first world country. I really enjoyed reading what you wrote and it was extremely helpful!
I believe that you made a very thorough analysis on this essay. I had no idea that 40% of the immigrant workforce is employed in low skill occupations. I agree with you that minimum wage in the United States needs improvement, but I also believe that minimum wage is not a, “living-wage” anymore within our country. When you say specialized work, do you mean work that requires trade-school or higher education? Would you agree that having less education or being categorized as having limited English proficiency as compared to native-born individuals (statistically) would likely lead to less-skilled job finding? I entirely agree with you that low-skilled/low-paying occupations are the backbone of this country, but I ponder the reason as to why we should pay everyone more for doing the minimal or not having proper qualifications.
Here is a link to some interesting statistics. The second link is quite outdated but is interesting.
https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/US/SEX255219
https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/publication/59111/310880-A-Profile-of-the-Low-Wage-Immigrant-Workforce.PDF
I’d like to commend you for a great post about Ahmed’s review of the “Third World Literature in the Era of Multinational Capitalism” I believe you did a great job on your presentation and it was very informative. I learned that Jameson’s classification of worlds by nominal means was based purely on subjectivity. His own perception of the collective experience ,held by the people of a “third world” country, is not a valid metric to determine if a country’s is developed or not. This stuck out to me when you pointed this out. In total I thoroughly enjoyed your research presentation and how you broke down the readings through worldly comparisons.
I really appreciated how thorough your background was here. I saw the post on Carmen defining nationalism and colonialism but your example in relating it back to capitalist issues with the wage gap in America really helped connect some dots for me. This will definitely make it easier for me going into the readings. Grey road map!
First off, you did a very good job explaining this very clearly! It was crazy to look at the way Armand’s thoughts are even relevant to issues we have today. Your explanations really helped me getting a better understanding while reading. I thought it was interesting to bring up minimum wage. It is very hard to live off minimum wage. I have a son, a house, and I had to find something with more pay because you can’t live off minimum wage. I also found it interesting when I thought more into Jameson’s theory of the First World countries being the ones to make history but others are supplying us with our needs. It made me have a better understanding of us not being able to be who we are without the support of others!
Relating Ahmed’s review to a modern issue that most people young adults have first hand knowledge of as most teens have worked a minimum wage job that underpays for their skill level to a somewhat difficult text to understand really helps with understanding it. Bringing the idea of a “single story” helps with understanding how immigrants view the united states brings another level of understanding.
You did an excellent job of connecting the information to an important event that is taking place in today’s world. It made everything so much clearer. I never considered how important immigrant workers are to our country’s status as a First World country. The example of America’s ongoing wage crisis is relatable, and it allows me to think in terms that I am more familiar with. Including the quote, “…this classification divides the world between those who make history and those who are mere objects of it” (Ahmad, 78), allowed me to use your example and relate it to what Ahmad was saying.
I especially liked your connection between Ahmad’s critiques, or rather Jameson’s faults, to immigration today. You definitely further informed my understanding of Ahmad’s text through your section on immigration. Of course, I hope that at least most, individuals are aware of the extremely low wages that immigrant workers make. However, personally, I didn’t make such a connection to Ahmad’s point. I was more or less focusing on the broad problem of collective experiences, but reading the quote you got from Ahmad’s text, ” …this classification divides the world between those who make history and those who are mere objects of it” (Ahmad, 78) I was greatly more able to connect the idea of immigration.
Your post on the opinion of Ahmed’s idea regarding the “Third World” theory of Jameson is really fantastic. The idea that you cite from Ahmed that people are divided into two groups–one is those people who make history and another is those people who are just objective to the history–plays important role understanding how Ahmed contradict Jameson that Jameson use a bad way to classify countries. Your example is really clear and understandable for me because the native people and immigrated people are perfectly correspond to Ahmed’s “people making history” and “people subject to history”. Your opinion that those immigrated people who are classified by “subject to history” is actually making the history efficiently shows that Jameson’s idea is not so decent.
You did an amazing job at summarizing this reading up within your first two paragraphs, all while tying it into today’s world of things within your third paragraph. In doing this, it helped me to focus on the major key ideas, and how they apply in todays world. The quote within your post, “… this classification divides the world between those who make history and those who are mere objects of it.” stunned me away. It is such an important realization that not very many think deeply about. However, this piece has shown me that it is something that is very crucial in understanding and acknowledging in the world around us today.
I like the information you used; it was an excellent explanation of the reading. What I found interesting is your paragraph talking about how it is still used today in society. Using the information from the reading and comparing it to the U.S and immigrants and jobs and native-born people and jobs. It allowed me to put the lesson of Ahmad and Jameson in today’s perspective and how it is represented. It also gave me a better look at “First-World” countries and “Third-World” countries.
Hello! Awesome post! I really enjoyed the quote you used that stood out to you because that same quote stood out to me. When Jameson is talking about the classification of those who make history and others who are objects you can really see the prejudice that he had against people on third world countries. Ahmad takes the opportunity to expose this as well as explain that doesn’t have to be the case. Like you said it goes along with single story video from week one, just because that may be how the media portrays them as a whole doesn’t mean that they should or even that it’s accurate.
Great post! Reading this post before and then after Mr. Ahmad’s piece helped me understand what was being conveyed. I really enjoyed the example you used with immigrants coming over to America for better jobs and wages. Obviously our minimum wage is very subpar and has been for years, and that has affected many people especially the immigrant-community. This country is considered a first world country in terms of Jameson but like you stated, many people who built this country were never born here. They came to seek a better life and built this country up to where we are now.
I really enjoyed reading your context presentation as it helped my gain a better understanding of the material! I think you did a great job in relating the reading to something that we still see happening today. As you mentioned, America is seen as having many opportunities, so immigrants come here to find better. I never realized that 40% of immigrant workers are in low skilled occupations, which seems incredibly unfair. I like how you mentioned “without these workers working out lower skilled factory jobs we wouldn’t be able to survive as a First World country”.
Very nicely written. I liked what you chose to share from the reading and your perspective helped me understand it further.
I also found your connection to issues in our country and current society to be affective. The sources you used really helped me understand the issue further. It is really upsetting to see how immigrants are treated in this country overall, especially with the exploitative and unlivable wages.