Blogging Social Difference in L.A: Week 6

In modern days, city is a place with lots of diversity; it is because various race, class, gender, and sexuality play role in making the city we've formed over the last hundreds of years. After learning about axes of difference by class in the lecture, I've decided to take a closer look at the urban environment and structures. Class is a very important component when we talk about difference in city. In fact, William Julius Wilson talks about this issue in his work "The Truly Disadvantaged". In his work he talks about difference in the city across different categories and argues that it's not simply race and ethnicity that caused segregation, but it is mixed with class difference in broader economic changes.
Mainly, I wanted to concentrate on David Harvey and marxian view of class difference -- the 3 ways that a city is used by the upper class to produce surplus value -- while observing the urban areas.To do so, I went on a 1 hour bus trip from school to van nuys. I took the metro 761 from Hilgard/ Westholme and ended up at Van nuys/ Vanowen. The photos below are my observations: (Please understand the weather condition and the moving bus..!)

Through riding the bus, broadly I've seen parts of West Los Angeles, Sherman Oaks, and Van Nuys. Each area had distinctive look and buildings. Along Hilgard and Sunset, there were many expensive houses. I did not see any people except for students running around the school. After the bridge above the freeway 405, there were few stores and Getty center on Sepulveda Blvd. Sepulveda Blvd. was very long. It contained broad and curvy roads towards Sherman oaks, in which many houses and gated communities were built with no sidewalk. When it got close to Sherman Oaks, I could notice that there were high buildings and work places surrounded by many stores and restaurants to provide easy and convincing way to get food and items while working; I saw lots of people walking, driving, and taking public transportation as well. On the other hands, there were lots of car shops along Van Nuys blvd., which promoted consumption of different cars such as Honda, Fiat, Benz, Lexus, Audi, and much more.

Looking at these things, made me to think about how all these buildings and structures can be seen as the outcome of capitalism in terms of Marxian view. Marxian view sees the city as a part of capitalist movement, in which the bourgeoises produce surplus value by exploiting proletariats who own nothing but their labor power. In this view, the city is a tool for production of surplus value, for reproducing labor, and a site of cultural ideology that legitimizes capitalism (drawn from lecture note). The pictures above are the examples of this idea. For instance, the roads and bridges (fig. 4, 8, and 9) are not there to provide us a way to get around, but it is to move surplus value, goods and labor in Marxian view. Also, the Walmart truck (fig.7) is an example of transporting goods from factories to other stores in order to support factory production  (supporting differentiated economic system).

According to Marxian view, city is a tool for reproducing labor. In the modern society people work and those who work the means of production want to keep them happy and alive in order to reproduce the labor so that they will keep working for them. Examples for this idea can be shown in buildings/structures like schools, entertainment places, and consumption places. In figures 1, 2, 6, 11, 13, 14,15, 16, 17, and 18 you can see how there's lots of places to make workers spend money and enjoy the life. School (fig. 1) is there to produce educated workers to learn new skills. Church and  hospital (fig. 2, 16) are good to take care of worker's physical and mental health. Also, there's entertainment places where workers can enjoy and produce labor and profits; examples of that are the Getty center (museum), Sherman oaks galleria (buildings with movie theater, restaurants, stores, and cafes, and many other stores along Sepulveda and Van Nuys Blvd. (fig. 6, 11, 15, and 18). Another example of reproducing labor is through consumption, making workers to consume to have social ideal. For example, party city, cvs, TJ max, and honda shop (fig. 13, 14, and 17). The last point of a city being a site of cultural ideology could be seen through our society that shapes our mind and idea to think that capitalism is a good choice to make.  

Below are the maps showing West Los Angeles, Sherman Oaks, and Van Nuys' population percentage of 18 years and older in 2012 (data from simplymap). I wanted to show how there's high percentage of people who are legal to work near these locations with lots of places where workers can enjoy and consume to feel good about their work. It can also be a way to explain the Marxian view of workers and consumption place relationship.

 

 Van Nuys

 West Los Angeles

 Sherman Oaks

 From UCLA to Van Nuys