Holmes compares Shelly’s firm beliefs about Indigenous Oaxacans against his empirical observations as a social scientist. He concludes that Shelly’s beliefs reflect her own racism—meaning her belief in a hierarchy of some groups above others. But this makes sense, as the farm’s whole labor structure is based on a racist hierarchy. While the Oaxacan workers
are physically covered in dirt, Shelly clearly sees this as a problem with
them, not with their jobs. This is an example of symbolic violence, or a belief that excuses and justifies social inequities. It’s a circular process: the racial labor hierarchy forces Oaxacans to get dirty at work, but Shelly decides that they are dirty because they are inferior people. She then uses her belief that they’re inferior people to explain why they have the worst and dirtiest jobs. Accordingly, Shelly mixes up cause and effect, and her way of thinking lets social hierarchy justify itself.