Political Economy, Labor Movements, and Industrialization

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering political capture, wealth defense, historical labor movements in Chicago, and the evolution of American industrialization as detailed in the lecture transcript.

Political Capture

The process by which extreme concentrations of wealth allow the ultra-wealthy to take over democratic institutions and bend them to serve their own interests, often occurring once a household accumulates more than roughly $40$ million in assets.

Myth of Meritocracy

The idea that the wealthy deserve their power because they earned it, which Collins argues makes political capture dangerous by disguising it as natural and fair.

Oligarchy in Disguise

A term used by Collins to describe a democracy where the principle of equal voting weight is eroded by a self-reinforcing feedback loop of wealth and political power.

Wealth Defense

An elaborate professional infrastructure of lawyers, accountants, and lobbyists built to shield money from taxes, regulation, and public accountability.

Offshore Tax Havens

Global locations like the Cayman Islands or Switzerland where the ultra-wealthy use shell companies to move money beyond the reach of governments, often legally.

Plutocratic Stage of Capitalism

A stage starting in the $1980 ext{s}$ characterized by deregulation, globalization, and technology replacing factories as the primary engines of inequality.

Nation Unto Themselves

Freeland's claim that the super-rich form a stateless community defined by shared economic interests and private infrastructure rather than national identity.

Transglobal Community of Peers

A class of elite individuals who operate across national borders (New York, Hong Kong, Moscow, Mumbai) and feel little obligation to the nations where their wealth was extracted.

Paradise for Workers and Speculators

James Green's description of late $19 ext{th}$ century Chicago, where explosive growth offered endless jobs but also extreme inequality and exploitation.

Eight-Hour Workday

The central cause for labor activists that symbolized human dignity and the reclaiming of control over life against industrial exploitation.

Brutal and Inventive Vitality

Chapter title by Green describing Chicago's growth as a mix of industrial creativity and the cruel discipline of industrial capitalism.

Chicago Anarchist Movement

A movement primarily composed of German and Central European immigrants who brought traditions of socialism and labor organizing to the United States.

Red Scare (Post-Haymarket)

A period of fear and repression following the Haymarket bombing where police and government officials painted all labor activists as dangerous radicals.

Mayor Carter Harrison

The Chicago political leader who attempted to protect civil liberties by declaring the Haymarket rally peaceful before the police intervention.

Judgement of History

Green's concept that while the Haymarket defendants were condemned in their time, later generations honored them as victims of injustice and symbols of labor rights.

Political Economy

Gregory's concept that an economy is always shaped by laws, politics, and social institutions rather than existing as a neutral or natural system.

Culture of Labor

The shared identity, values, and practices workers develop through collective action and the belief in solidarity against the power of money.

Cotton Phase of American Industrialization

A period between $1800$ and $1860$ where the cotton gin and enslaved labor transformed the U.S. into an industrial powerhouse.

Railroads (19th Century Significance)

The most transformative force in the U.S. economy between $1850$ and $1900$, creating the first corporate empires and billionaire class.

Cooperationism

A $19 ext{th}$ century movement where workers formed their own businesses to share profits and control workplaces within the capitalist system.

New Model Unionism

A British approach to labor organizing focusing on skilled workers and practical bargaining rather than radical social reform or frequent strikes.

Mortgage-Backed Securities

Financial products highlighted in the film 'Inside Job' that Goldman Sachs sold to investors while secretly betting against them via insurance from AIG.