Colonial motivation

Several of my colleagues have concluded that, at least as interpreted by Stern, the Spaniards' primary motivation was profit (or greed) and I am inclined to agree with them. The colonials had "an insatiable thirst for the money-commodities" and "commercial capital, understood as buying (or producing) cheap to sell dear, became the lifeblood of the colonial economy" (37). This desire to ensure commercial gain above all else is what led to the entrenchment of colonial society; the redefinition of social relationships and the creation of coercive dependencies was more the result of Spanish profit/greed than another part of their outlook (157).

As discussed in class, this leads to Stern associating religion with economic motives rather than taking a more inclusive approach along the lines of Conrad & Demarest. This makes sense given that he is taking a Marxist-flavored approach, as indicated by the phrasing of a sentence in his closing chapter: "An important aspect of peasant resistance, therefore, was the attempt to assert internal solidarities which strengthened defenses, and imposed pressures on Indians to remain loyal to their own people" (193). One of Marx's views was that allowing oneself/one's society to be driven to capitalism led to a flawed society, and we can see that reflected in Stern's emphasis on the uneven and exploitative nature of colonial society. (He does discuss resistance, but this is both to show indigenous agency and to highlight the problems of this profit-driven society.)