The second dimension therefore recognizes elite accommodation occurring
in a system which pluralists claim to be ‘open’. It is viewed as a system where
inequalities are created and maintained by allowing the dominant class to
determine the decision-making agenda, therefore establishing the quiescence of
the subordinated.
The first dimension assumes that lack of overt conflict means the
consensus of the mountaineers to their land loss, and the second would have
assumed consensus if there were no observable overt or covert conflict, but
still another dimension is essential to get to the actual root of consensus.
The third dimension considers the possibility of latent conflict where the
people’s wants and beliefs are unkowingly shaped to establish a consensus to
that which is contrary to their interests, but not recognized as such.
The Middlesborough workers developed no consciousness that saw
themselves as being exploited. The authority presented to them by the multi-
million dollar enterprise of the American Association Ltd., of London was
accepted as an overwhelming but legitimate power structure not to be questioned.
In the case of authority, “B complies because he recognizes that A’s command is
reasonable in terms of his own values and because it has been arrived at through
a legitimate and reasonable procedure”(Lukes,1974:18). The people complied
because the Association was put forward as an enterprise which valued harmony,
as they did, and would compensate them financially for the land.
Manipulation, however, was the key in convincing the mountaineers of the
Association’s legitimacy. The people were payed far too little for what the
land was worth. They were deprived of reaping future benefits because the
Company neglected to inform them of its true value and their aim to gain
millions in profits. Instead they focused only on the irrelevant matter of what
insignificant sum of money would satisfy the people into giving up their land
which was, at the time, of no real apparent value.
With manipulation, “compliance is forthcoming in the absence of
recognition on the complier’s part either of the source or the exact nature of
the demand upon him”(Lukes,1974:18). I highly doubt that the people would have
so quietly handed over their land if they had realised that, at the same time,
they were handing over their traditional way of life, and in so doing, hastening
its extinction. How were they to know that this was only the first step to
becoming dependants of the Company and that to make a living they would be
forced to work under the oppressive conditions of a higher power on land that
had once been their own.
After the acquisition of land and the initial economic boom, conditions
worsened for the mountain people and a set of stable controls was necessary in
order to maintain the system the Association had created and in turn, their
position of dominance. As Middlesborough developed into a Company Town,
the absentee and unitary control exercised by the British owners grew to ensure
the dependence of all upon it. They owned not only most of the land but
controlled the town’s key factors of production, requiring even independent
companies to function under their terms. As was mentioned earlier, the people
who had once been independent in earning a living for themselves were now
required to work as miners and labourers under the autocracy of a huge
enterprise. Even small entrepreneurs now found themselves answering to the
higher power of the Association.
Although the Company had created many jobs for the people, inequalities
developed as the absentee owners ,or upper class, extracted wealth from the
region leaving few of the profits to be distributed among the workers themselves.
Within the Appalachian area itself there developed a local elite who ranked
next in the class hierarchy. “They were the men of wealth, and fine backgrounds,
and politics was not new for them”(Gaventa,1980:59). They were usually those in
positions of political leadership where they could benefit the company and
promote its best interests. Next were a class of small entrepreneurs and
professionals who were attracted to the booming city by its promising commercial
future. The bottom of the hierarchy consisted of labourers, miners and other
manual labour workers. This class was composed mainly of those who were
originally from the region and had come from a rural background, while the
‘upper classes’ had been derived primarily of those attracted to the area
because of its economic potential. “[Mobility] was of a horizontal nature, the
coming together in one area of various representatives of pre-existing strata
from other areas”(Gaventa,1980:57).
The workers were therefore destined to poverty and inequality, but also
had to endure such things as poor and even dangerous working conditions with few
health benefits and little compensation. And one cannot forget the ongoing
demise of their valley as entire mountain sides were stripped away and the air
and water were blackened with millions of tiny coal particles.
Why then, in this state of economic, social and even environmental
depravation did the people not cry out with enough strength to be heard? While
nearby mining communities experiencing similar conditions responded with
militant, collective organizations, Middlesborough expressed grievances but
never took the form of organized action or went as far as creating a
consciousness of the situation. The first, second and third dimensions of power
would give different reasons for this in answering how the Association was able
to maintain the new order they had created and the quiescence of a people
amongst their condition of poverty and inequality.
The pluralist approach would recommend using the democratic political
process of the electoral system in determining the legitimacy of those in power
and of their policies and practices. If the leaders who have been elected by
the people and for the people do not voice concerns about the existing system or
the desire for change, it must be assumed that there were no concerns but
instead an overall approval of the status quo. The people of Middlesborough had
a choice between local and ‘Company’ candidates and with few exceptions
continued to place their support in the latter. Even within their own unions
where leadership had become increasingly dictatorial and Company biased, the
workers remained loyal to the existing leaders and opposed the reform movement.
By considering only the face value of voting practices, one would have
to agree that the Appalachian miners appear to be in accordance with the
management of the existing system and their place within it. The second
dimension of power would disagree, however, and would explain the maintenance of
the system and the compliance of the people as a result of the Company’s control
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