How did selling crops for money change how people ranked and saw themselves?
Research question: How did the economic shift from subsistence farming to commercial agriculture in the late 19th and early 20th centuries alter the social structure and self-identification of the region's inhabitants?
The records show that by the end of the nineteenth century, 'Cajun' had become a socioeconomic label covering Acadian descendants, poorer Creoles, recent French immigrants, and downwardly mobile Anglo farmers 4. Shared poverty, rather than ethnic origin, bonded these groups, and by the early twentieth century they had formed a common French-based culture that dominated south Louisiana 5. By the 1840s an Anglo elite had emerged, and many Acadian descendants increasingly adopted its values 7. The rise of oil and petrochemical industries later drew Cajuns off the land into working-class jobs, breaking down their isolation 6. The facts do not directly describe the shift from subsistence farming to commercial agriculture, so the causal link in the question is only partly addressed, and the sugar-industry source mentions only post-Civil War competition and decline 3.
Sources
"Many inhabitants of Cajun Country have Acadian ancestry and identify as Cajuns or Creoles"Acadiana
"In the broadest sense, the term "Creole" has been used to denote anyone who is "native to Louisiana", regardless of race or ethnic origin."Acadiana
"including cane sugar's competition with beet sugar and decline of the industry in the state."Sugar and Sugarcane: Historical Resources for a Sweet Industry
"By the end of the nineteenth century, the term Cajun had become a socioeconomic descriptor for sometimes distinct groups. In addition to the descendants of Acadians, Cajuns came to include poorer Creoles in the prairie and bayou areas, recent French immigrants, and downwardly mobile Anglo farmers in south Louisiana."Cajun South Louisiana (2004)
"Poverty became the bonding agent that brought them together despite their ethnic differences, and by the early twentieth century they had created a common, French-based culture that included contributions from other groups and came to dominate south Louisiana."Cajun South Louisiana (2004)
"The emergence of the oil and petrochemical industries in the early twentieth century promoted modernization and movement of Cajuns off the land and into working class jobs. This broke down isolation and led to more efforts to bring south Louisiana into the mainstream of US society."Cajun South Louisiana (2004)
"An Anglo economic, social, and political elite had emerged by the 1840s, and many descendants of Acadians in south Louisiana increasingly adopted their values and outlook."Cajun South Louisiana (2004)