Sociology

With the advent of industrialization, agriculture has undergone massive mutation. Its practices have changed, those involved in agriculture have changed, means of distribution and access of food have changed and the agricultural enterprise has grown tremendously to wield considerable power on our everyday lives. Ever increasing mechanization and cost of input have made agricultural ventures so expensive that they are beyond the reach of farmers who want to produce agricultural products at a large scale. This is strictly the forte of large corporations who have centralized agricultural operations to the detriment of the traditional farmer and whose products we are dependent upon for survival. According to Mills, The economy-once a great scatter of small productive units in autonomous balance-has become dominated by two or three hundred giant corporations, administratively and politically integrated, which together hold the keys to economic decision(Mills Pg 7). The major drawback of the food that corporations feed us is that we dont know where it comes from and how it is produced. The agricultural industrial complex has become a potent force, governing major decisions in the lives of normal consumers who are completely dependent upon the profit driven actions of corporations for a basic necessity such as food. This disconnect between our choice of food and how it is produced is causing severe problems ranging from new diseases to scarcity of food. We need to find a way to if not completely marginalize, then at least reduce our dependency on the agricultural industrial complex. Decisions for issues as important as food should rest with the masses whose primary concern would be welfare, unlike the profit driven concerns of corporations.

In this theory Mills tries to explain what comprises the power elite. Who are these entities From where they derive their sources of power and how they impact our lives
Mills argues that the American population is living in a faade of a pluralistic society. They are used by the power elite to vindicate their own actions. The power elite derives its influence from three pillars in the society which are the basic institutions of a country, that is the military, the corporate giants and the government. A series of events in history has gained the power elite the power that they have today. They not only replace family and religion as basic decision making institutions but because of the nature of their positions, their actions can have disastrous consequences, the effects of which will be borne by the rest of the population. Their common interests and perceptions of the world, coupled with alliances within the three institutions lead to further accumulation of such power and wealth.

According to Mills the majority of the population feels pessimistic about the power of their actions. There is a need to bring the mass society back into the realms of political decision making, and to transform them into a community of publics.

Corporations have shareholders to satisfy and their most important objective is profit maximization. Food industry is a big business with sales estimated in many billions of dollars. Thus marketers are more interested in pushing these products down our throats rather than helping us to make informed decisions. Under such conditions, the disconnect between consumer and his food is bound to arise.

Karl Marx suggests in his manuscript Estranged Labor that laborers suffer when an arrangement forms in which society is segmented into two classes. One segment is that owns property while the other segment doesnt own any property. If this kind of structure forms in a society, the labor suffers estrangement and also suffers poverty.  He suffers alienation because the end product that is in the market is not related to the worker anymore. It is a drawback of capitalism that worker who strives to develop the product is not recognized and everything he makes, contributes to a place which is outside his domain. This is the first form of alienation and  can be briefly said, alienation that a laborer experiences from the product he makes.

According to Karl Marx, worker or laborer can face four types of alienation.  In his manuscripts he writes man is a species and experiences alienation when he loses relationship from the activity of production. When he does not do the work on his own will but rather works for his own survival, he breaks off from his specie. The third feature of an estranged labor is determined from the two afore-mentioned features of an estranged laborer. Our life is centered around the work we do. It is a human nature to make something out of a raw thing through creativity and work. The worker loses relationship with human identity and life purpose. The last type of estrangement is the estrangement of man to man.. Whatever he makes is owned by a third person. This eventually causes the worker to hate the entire system and this person now sees this capitalist and the person who now owns his product hostile. Marx argues that we need to reform our consciousness and we need to realize societal evils for what they are. Those with tools of production cant keep on exploiting the labor class. The political state has to change from a corporative to a more representative system if society has to overcome its struggles.

These theories take unique approaches in trying to dissect the problem of the growing disconnect between consumers and their food. C. Wright Mills correctly identifies the three most important institutions of society Government, military and corporations. The actions of all these institutions have a profound impact on the lives of the normal consumer. The corporations have successfully centralized and streamlined their operations to achieve economies of scale. Under present circumstances, the consumer doesnt make his decisions about food, rather the corporations make these decisions for the consumer. Aggressive marketing by corporations ensures that we are constantly bombarded with seemingly highly nutritious and highly beneficial food products. Under this plethora of advertisements, consumers neither have the time nor the ability to judge what is beneficial for them. If the marketing effort is carried out for quite some time and the advertisements are attractive, the product is going to have a psychological effect on us. When we would continuously be told about only the positives of a product, we are bound to make a positive opinion about the product. The aim of this entire marketing effort is not to maximize consumer benefit, rather the aim is profit maximization. Thus according to Mills, the influence of the agricultural industrial complex would have to be checked in order to remove the current disconnect between us and our food. Consumers need to be told that this impersonal approach to food that is currently the norm is  very detrimental for them. For example corporations selling junk food only emphasize the positives of their product i.e excellent taste, fulfilling etc. What they dont tell you is that several years down the line, you would end up in hospital because of their greasy, unhealthy products. Sales for corporations such as McDonalds, KFC, Pizza Hut etc are consistently soaring and so is the number of people with heart diseases. The products of these corporations are promoting unhealthy food and eating habits. By emphasizing that bigger is better, these corporations influence people to think that eating more is better for them. This situation can be rectified by returning to traditional farming practices through which new sustainable economies can emerge giving new meaning to old ideas. Industrialized food corporations must now adapt.

Karl Marx views the agricultural industrial complex as a tool of exploitation of the un landed labor class. The estranged labor class inadvertently commits its only resource-manual labor-to the industrial complex which produces products which are not even in the benefit of the consumers (of which these laborers are a part). Karl Marx believes that society needs to recognize its short comings and as a first step, he recommends a shift in the political state. According to Marx, the current struggles and class clashes are the result of the political state being dominated by corporations who are exploitative in nature. This corporate political state has to be changed into a more representative political state. This would serve to greatly reduce the influence of the corporations and when individuals would have greater power and greater freedom to make their choices, they would definitely make choices that are more beneficial for society.

Karl Marx gives hope for change, and credits the consumer with the possibility that within the constraints of the political state, power can be obtained. If we view food corporations as Marxs Political State then we can find the new world only through criticism of the old(Marx Pg 13). Farmers markets are an example of this, and as a result Wall Mart is now carrying fresh fruits and vegetables from local sources. Marx offers a better path of resistant, because power has the potential to change forms and move freely. Millss power is limited to one dominating source. Karx Marxs theory is useful because its put the everyday man in perspective with the political structures around him, but at the same time leaves possibilities of the use of this political structure as a source of personal power. This is the prime flaw in Marxs proposed representative political system.

While it can hardly be denied that consciousness is something that the world must acquire (Marx Pg15), it is the erosion of the power base of a select class-the capitalist elite-that hinders this transition to the representative system. However consumers need to educate themselves of the dangers posed by a political system dominated by corporations because as long as such a political system is in place, consumers benefits would be compromised and corporate greed would continuously reap land-slide profits.