Caribbean Piracies/Social Mobilities: Some Commonalities Between Colonial Privateers and Entrepreneurial "Profiteers" in the 21st Century

Order created by illegal but licit activities including piracy and organized crime has been used in the colonial and contemporary Caribbean to maintain social control. The thin line of intentionality between "outlaw" and "hero" creates a platform for people engaged in illicit activities to officialize actions as for the public good. Legal demystification was initially introduced to the Atlantic with British jurisprudence. Strategic attainment of social mobility through wealth accumulation during colonial era piracy is situated within the same legal space as contemporary mobility strategies utilized by poorer Jamaicans. Working class Jamaicans struggle against gate keeping ideologies maintained by creole elites through social and economic strategies. Officialization facilitates strategic manipulation of localized values like reputation and respectability for status attainment. The Caribbean, therefore, continues to be a unique space of mobility despite efforts by the traditional creole elite to maintain status differences grounded in social hierarchies established by the British.