Economics

capital

resources we use to get things we want and need

- can be economic, social, or cultural

economic capital

financial resources that are or can be converted into money

income

steady sources of money

- salary, interest payments, social assistance etc.

wealth

money sitting in the bank and ownership of economic assets minus debts

measures of central tendency

median - middle value among a set of numbers (lowest to highest)

mean - sum of all values divide by the number of values

mode - value among a range of values that occurs most often

distribution of income

- households in the lowest fifth earn mean 16,000 a year while highest 5th earn about 277,000

- highest earning 10% of households make more than 53,000 every month

- hughest 1% with annual salary of 2800000 make about 233000

disproportionate

when a resource is distributed unevenly

- of all income earned by all americans in any given year, the bottom 90% of households share about half of it

- the other half goes to the top 10%

- nearly half of that half (24% of all income) goes to top 1 %

economic elite

minority of people who control a disproportionate about of wealth

- hold twice the wealth held by the bottom half of the US population

wage

cash payments given to workers in exchange for their labor

capitalism

economic system based on private ownership of the resources used to create wealth and the right of individuals to personally profit

- facilitated affordable prices

- higher rates of production

-level of luxury and convenience

proletariant

class of people who are employed by others and work for wage

Bourgeoise

class of people who employ the workers

means of production

resources that can be used to create wealth

labor

the work people can do with their bodies and minds

alienation

feeling of dissatisfaction and disconnection from the fruits of one's labor

crisis of capitalism

a coming catastrophic imlosion from which capitalism would never recover

class consciousness

understanding that members of a social class share economic interests

socialism

economic system based on shared ownership of the resources used to create wealth that is distributed by governments for the enrichment of all

Gilded age (1870-1900)

- by 1890, the 1% were so rich that they owned more property than every other American combined

- free market capitalism - capitalist system with little or no government regulations

- built monopolies, treated workers inhumanely, bribery and shady deals

proletariat response

- like marx's prediction, movement of workers rose up in response

- labor unions - associations that organize workers so they can negotiate with their employers as a group instead of individuals

(resisted violently by business owners)

The New Deal (1933-1936)

- following the great depression, politicians passed laws to protect the proleteriant and rein in the bourgeoisie

- unions normalized living wage (allows full time workers to afford basic needs)

social safety net

patchwork of programs intended to ensure that the most economically vulnerable do not go without basic necessities

welfare capitalism

capitalist economic system with some socialist policy aimed at distributing the profits of capitalism more evenly across the population

new middle class

- mostly white middle class

- new deal polices excluded black and hispanic americans or ensured that they recieved inferior benefits

- members of new middle class held contradictory class locations

contradictory class locations

positons in economy that are like the proletariant and in other ways like bourgeoise

new gilded age (2000- today)

- in the first gilded age, the top 10% owned 80% of the wealth; today they own 77%

- at first they took home 49% of the income; today they take home 50%

- unraveling socialist polices of the new deal

service and information economy

economy centered on jobs in which workers provide services or work with information

social mobility

opportunity to move up or down in economic hierarchy

- class systems sort people into different positions in an economic hierarchy but also allow them to rise or fall

- class based societies produce higher levels of social stratification

- mobility is limited in the US. class reproduces itself

- more important to americans than poverty relief and overall level of inequality

glass ceiling

invisible barrier that restrict upward mobility

- class at birth is correlated with life outcomes

glass floor

invisible barrier that restricts downward mobility

inequality and working

- fastest growing jobs are at the bottom of the income pay scale

- low paying service jobs are gigs (under age of 35, disproportionately women and people of color, immigrants, long hours, few workplace protections, piecemeal tasks, no paid sick days, overtime, no accomidations)

result is that....

americans are struggling financially

precariat

new class of workers who live economically precarious lives

- even college graduates are at risk of becoming members of the precaruart

- nearly half of college graduates work in jobs that dont require a college degree

working poor

people in labor force who earn poverty level wages

- low wages force many workers to supplement their incomes with government aid

- US has high poverty rates (measured by life expectancy, infant mortality, vulnerability to violence)

americans perfer...

government gaurenteed work over a social safety net that protects the employed and unemployed alike

- the richest a,erocams are especially likely to oppose social safety net programs

- stereotpes pf poor people portray them as lazy, untrustworthy and greedy w too many children

- more than half of americans belive that transfer payments to people in poverty just encourage them to stay poor