Chavez Ravine Theory

My paper’s focus will be on the events surrounding the controversy of Chavez Ravine, and the construction of Dodgers Stadium, with using the opposing theories of power elite theory, and interest groups theory, and which theory can explain best what happened in this controversial topic, known as Battle of Chavez Ravine. Both power elite theory, and interest groups theory are, theories that deal with who has the concentration of power in a certain community or state, and how that power is distributed in that community. The events of Chavez Ravine, and its outcome are a good example of this power distribution in modern day societies. The reason for that is, what happened in Chavez Ravine was a controversial event that took place in the early 1950s,
Wright Mills, and Mills’ findings and view on the power elite theory are also vital to this approach to the events surrounding Chavez Ravine. C. Wright Mills’ book “The Power Elite” published in 1956, holds the theory of power elite as its main point, and main subject, with an influence of German sociologist Max Weber (Barrow, 400-430).
According to C. Wright Mills, in the modern societies of the world, there is almost always a power elite, an elite collective of high ranking individuals, who are non-explicitly in charge of commanding and manipulating the finances, resources of the bureaucratic organizations and foundations, and the economy, therefore they are basically the rulers of the said modern society (Form and Mills, 2001) . The theory of interest groups (or veto groups) opposes the theory of power elite. The theory of interest groups state that, the power in a given society is distributed to different, and distinct people, and different organizations, and those people and organizations have interests that are differing, and conflicting with each
Chavez Ravine was not an area in which many white people lived. As the residents of Chavez Ravine were mostly people who were not white, and mainly Hispanic people with Mexican origin (Starr and Parson, 2005), the factor of race and ethnicity is important, and should be considered when thinking about the events of Chavez Ravine. With that in mind, it also needs to be taken into account that, people who were supporting and planning of the, neighborhoods of Chavez Ravine being turned into the current day Dodgers stadium, were Caucasian. Because of how, race and class is constructed in the American society, those in support of the construction of Chavez Ravine were arguably at an advantage due to being white, and having a high socioeconomic class.
Whether the actions that were done, in order to turn Chavez Ravine into the stadium we know today as The Dodgers Stadium, were fueled by racism or not, the outcomes of those actions can definitely be seen as racist, as a certain racial, and ethnic group was the main target, and also the ones that were at a disadvantage in this whole ordeal with Chavez Ravine (Starr and Parson, 2005). Although it might be an arguable topic for some people, generally any event that targets a certain racial or ethnic group can be considered as a racist act, or at least an act with racist roots.