Looking at this blog's title, you probably think I will involve myself in some physical altercation or a boxing match in the ring with an opponent. In reality, I am talking about another celebration other than Christmas that happens during the wintertime. This holiday is known as "Boxing Day." No fists are needed for this celebration.
You may be wondering, "what is this so-called Boxing Day?" or "are boxes being stocked?" Boxing Day is held every December 26th in many countries associated with the British Empire. Instead of boxes being stocked, these boxes are intended to be given to those who work hard in what they do: employees. Workers were allowed to have this day off to spend time with family and friends. Also, the workers were to receive gifts from their employers to show their gratitude for the hard work and appreciation that workers have done. The boxes that the workers received were filled with money or items with value, such as expensive jewelry. Santa and his reindeer can finally take a break. Although the filled gift boxes have value inside, Boxing Day has lost its true value as a traditional holiday overtime.
This new "getting paid while off the clock" holiday was first celebrated by giving needs to the poor or the less fortunate. However, years down the line, this public holiday became capitalized, materialized, and drew a framework of classism. It transitions from giving to those in need to catching those sales indeed.
Like Black Friday, which is celebrated in the United States, Boxing Day has various sales and deals offered for individuals to go out and splurge their money again, specifically those in the elite class. This modern modernism has created a whole new meaning of social control.
The Boxing Holiday, in modern times, is made for those in the wealthy class. Although this is not brought into the light, you can see that the elite class not only benefits from the system but have social control over those who this class believes depends on them. Since Boxing Day is just another Black Friday after Christmas, those in the wealthy class are handed a dart to throw at the working class's target. The workers are known as the servants, while the employers are known as the masters during this holiday. Although this form of gratitude shown has no malicious intent, it still shows how the effect of classism creates a divided society. While this elite class is giving away money free handed, they can also control this giving process.
Money has been socially constructed and embedded in society's head as a form of success. Without the accumulation of wealth, individuals, Hypothetically speaking, become dependent on others to fit in. This invention made by man has become an internalized moral code, especially during the holidays such as Boxing Day. We have seen how holidays have lost the true value of their initialized design. Deals, sales, and discounts have become a way for those in the working class to exploit their position to gain more profit and some power in society. Boxing Day has yielded a way for those in the working class to gain control over themselves. However, the elite class can impose their coins indefinitely.
Although Boxing Day is known for giving and sales, it can also be understood how one social class can dominate another social class. In other words, the class struggle between the owner class and the suppressed working class and how the rich exploit the poor. These workers who are receiving gifts from their "masters" or aiming to catch those sales during Boxing Day may seem happy at the moment, but in reality, they are still the means of production in the work industry. This Capitalistic perspective varifies the ownership and control of production means by the elite class who employ workers to make money off them from the goods and services produced despite Boxing Day's goal.
Boxing Day is intended to put a smile on people's faces. However, we have to keep in mind the reality of what is really happening: social control. Despite the gifts being received, there are still issues, and a person must keep working to provide the needs for his/her home or himself/herself receiving low work pay. The materialistic reality paved the way for humans and their capacity/ need to work to have a sustainable lifestyle. The elite class, however, plays a role as another form of dependence for the working class. This sense of social control is illustrated by Boxing Day and other holidays.
Put up your dukes or catch this fade of social control.
Additional source: https://nationaltoday.com/boxing-day/