Content for Test 2

Chapter 14: Capitalism October 7th

• Origins of Capitalism

• Capitalism

  • is an economic system in which property and goods are privately owned; investments are determined by private decisions; and prices, production, and the distribution of goods are determined by competition in an unfettered marketplace.

• between 1500s-1800s, Europe had the change between. . .

  • Feudalism

    • economic and social system in Europe before capitalism.

  • Capitalism

• Technological revolutions

  • Agricultural revolution

    • new farming techniques that increased food production

  • development of the steam engine, which opened up markets through railroads

• Primitive accumulation

  • Marx came to the conclusion that the process through which land and labor were appropriated by force for the development of early capitalism

  • An example is Enclosers

    • the transformation of the public land into private land in Europe

      • No longer being able to let your cows graze across all land. Farmers were pushed away - they were able to keep animals, but were not able to keep the land their animals grazed on. They were forced to move to the cities to make a living.

• The colonization of the Americas

  • primitive accumulation of natural resources

• the Atlantic slave trade

  • primitive accumulations of labor force

• What seems natural development of capitalism, can actually have a much darker side to it.

• Adam Simth (the invisible hand)

  • capitalism is harmony.

  • Scottish economist and philosopher

  • Before Marx

  • founding father of economic liberalism

  • laid foundations for the way we live today (wrote a whole book about it)

  • Economic and Moral Question of the time?

    • Can unregulated capital accumulation coexist with civilization and civic values

      • Simth believes yes, with certain conditions

  • Smith’s theory of capitalism

    • if we let people purse their own interests, individuals end up improving the welfare of all society. Individual pursuit of own interests are driving force of commerce development.

    • economy is regulated by an invisible hand

      • it will just work, with some rules

      • everyone in a healthy competition

      • functionalism

  • Thoughts on division of labor

    • positive for capitalism and human development because it leads to innovation; the more specialized one’s work, the more likely one is to create new forms of conducting this work.

      • More likely that someone will find a way to improve a specific thing.

  • Monetization

    • the quantification of a products values is positive because it leads to more efficient trades

      • Putting a price on something to get even exchange (chicken is $5, goat is $10. trade 2 for 1)

• Marx opposed Smith

  • Marx was concerned with two things

    • how capitalism creates two social classed and puts them in constant conflict

      • bourgeoise/capitalist class

        • the group of people that owns the means of production

      • proletariat/working class

        • the group that only owns their own labor and sell it for a wage.

• Marx’s theory of value

  • everything starts with the commodity

    • Commodity is a external object that satisfies a human need

      • has two forms of value

        • Use Value

          • qualitative use of object

          • why you use something

        • Exchange value

          • quantitative value a commodity has in relations to other commodities when exchanged in the market

          • similar to price.

            • basis of capitalism. Quantification of human life

            • Calculated by MarxsMath

              • value=time

              • determined by socially necessary labor time. (how long it takes to make the thing)

            • One day for one worker to make one coat. two days of work to gather materials, hundred days of work to produce technology to make coat. Coat’s value is four days of work (2+1+machine (reusable, so add one day because that is time spent on machine))

            • Wage is determined by the minimum amount necessary for survival. One day of work is ___. Multiply by how many total days it took to make item. Then add some profit to it.

            • if something is 40, add 20 to make profit. 30+10=60 in capitalism terms

          • surplus value

            • the profit. the extra 20 on the coat

      • Marx argues that the capitalist appropriates the surplus value form the worker

    • essence of capitalist exploitation

      • workers are paid for their labor power, but the value of what they produce exceeds the wage they receive.

• Commodity fetishism

  • commodity casts a spell

    • what we see (use-vale and exchange-value)

    • we do not see that it is the product of so many days of work, and the product of the expropriation of surplus value.

    • The spell is “In capitalism, (unequal) relationships between people appear as (equal) relationships between things.”

      • we do not see the exploitation. Capitalism hides these relationships.

End of October 7 Lecture

October 8 Lecture

Neoliberalism

• Stages of Capitalism

  • 1780’s industrial revolution begins in great Britain.

    • population and economic growth, etc.

  • Monopoly Capitalism

    • monopoly is the exclusive possession or control of the supply or of the trade in a commodity or service

      • monopoly capitalism is when a service is ran by a particular family

    • large corporations develop monopolies over key markets such as steel, copper, sugar, and railroads

      • gilded age

    • there was a massive expansion of capital accumulation and income inequality

    • rise of financial institutions such as banks and stock markets

    • little state intervention in the market

      • now laws are passes so one corporation does not have total control

  • Early to mid 1900s major crises in US and Europe

    • century of wars, crisis, and despair.

    • The great depression (1929)

      • crash of stock market crashed due to financial bubble

      • overproduction and underconsumption: too many goods, to much economic inequality

        • lots of products, not enough people who can financially afford it

      • backs collapsed

      • massive unemployment

    • World War II (1939-1945)

      • Europe left in economic, political, and social crisis

      • need for social harmony ad peacebuilding

    • The great depression and WWII lead to the rise of a new stage of capitalism

      • One form/stage, then it collapses, then a new stage starts, and repeats.

  • 1945’s to 1970s Fordism (golden age of capitalism)*

    • Named after Henery Ford, founder of Ford Motor, due to his assembly line techniques and wage policy

    • this stage is characterized by mass production and mass consumption

    • higher wages for Workes to but what they produce

    • strong unions and collective bargain

    • state intervention in the economy through welfare policies and social safe nets.

      • * for white populations

  • After the 1970s

    • Collapse of Fordism

    • Slow economic growth, inflation, market saturation

    • Labor union, strengthened during the period, demanded higher wages, decreasing profits

    • 1973 Oil Crisis led to a world-wide economic crisis

    • Rise of new international competitors in major industries, especially from East Asia.

    • A new stage of capitalism forms again… (neoliberalism

• Neoliberalism

  • from the 1980s and on. . .

    • Neoliberalism is a theory of political economic practices that proposes the human well-being can best be advanced by liberating individual entrepreneurial freedoms and skills within an institutional framework characterized by strong property rights, free markets, and free trade.

    • the role of the state is to create and secure an institutional framework to such practices

    • if markets do not exist then they must be created

      • land, water, education, healthcare, social security.

  • This can be connected to Adam Smith’s theory

  • Neoliberalism led to major changes in

    • global economy

      • no state interventions

      • free global trade

      • collapse of local industry

      • deindustrialization (in the north)

      • multinational corporations and privatizations (in the south)

    • work

      • weakened labor unions

      • fewer labor rights

      • less secure and formal work

      • rise of informal contracts

    • community

      • weakened social security

      • less public goods

      • privatization of education, security, healthcare (everything. state is less and less responsible for this)

    • crime control

      • mass incarceration

      • mass policing

      • private security

    • Our ideas about the world

      • meritocracy

        • people get what they deserved, and if your struggling you didn’t work hard enough.

      • “self-made man”

        • if persons work really hard can make themself a millionaire.

      • individualism

        • ie, “I’m not responsible for what happens to you”

      • the end of rights

        • no one is entitled food, water, security, education, health, housing, etc. If you can’t pay, sucks to suck

      • everything is a commodity

        • the environment, yourself. Anything and everything can and should be sold.

End of October 9th lecture.

October 14th

The State Authority

• the state

  • an imaginary line (the boarder) defines our lives. It defines the laws, our rights, how we move through the boarders.

  • What is the state?

    • Max weber says it is “A state is a human community that successfully claim the monopoly of the legitimate use of force in a given territory”

      • Has a monopoly of violence over its citizens

        • monopoly of violence means that only the state can legally use physical force within a given territory.

    • Thomas Hobbes believed state is a result of social contract

      • citizens surrender rights and freedoms to the authority of the state in exchange for order and protection.

  • Max weber

    • concerned with how

      • state authority and social obedience are sustained in modern capitalism

      • growing rationalization and bureaucracy affect humans in modern capitalism

    • Because of the monopoly of violence, the state has authority over people.

      • authority is the ability to convince others to behave a certain way without coercion, only the threat of physical force.

      • Authority need legitimacy

        • the belief that an authority and its rules and commands are appropriate, justified, and worthy of obedience

    • With legitimacy, an authority is able to wield domination: “the will of the ruler influences the conduct of the ruled so they act as if the ruler’s sill were their own”

      • domination is willful obedience

        • We obey because we believe we want to.

• Forms of authority

  • Charismatic Authority

    • legitimacy rests on the personal appeal of an individual leader

    • the superhuman aura of a person inspires loyalty and obedience in others

    • because its legitimacy is attached to one person, charismatic authority is difficult to maintain or to pass on

    • there is little chance for historical continuity, unless it mutates into other form of authority

      • Cult leaders.

  • Traditional authority

    • legitimacy rests on the appeal of traditions

    • dominates “by virtue of age-old rules and power”

    • legitimation through the logic of “this is how it has always been”

    • Easy to pass on: The transmission of traditional authority happens through succession

    • has difficulty adapting to social and historical change

      • monarchy

  • Legal-Rational Authority

    • Legitimacy is based on impersonal rules that apply to everyone

    • It is routinized

      • follows standard procedures, regardless of the person who is enforcing the rules of the one being the subject of the enforcement. In theory, no exceptions for anyone.

    • Is rationalized

      • it is subjected to ever-expanding modes of organization that seek efficiency

    • Attached to pre-determined roles, not individuals (supreme court, president)

    • Organized and administered through bureaucracy

      • Characteristics:

        • Impersonality: rules follow objective criteria based on efficiency and merit, not personal relationships and feelings

        • Hierarchical structure: rules are enforced by a clear chain of command, in which a person at each level has specific attributions and restricted power

        • diffused responsibility: a bureaucracy legitimacy comes from the fact that the bureaucrat “does not make the rules”

    • Issue with this is bureaucracies have a hard time accounting for and accommodating difference.

      • It also diffuses power and therefore responsibility, across a chain of command. Make it hard to responsibilize people for harm. (holocaust, I was just following orders).

End of October 14th lecture

October 16th lecture

• The State Welfare

  • States are better understood as organizations that extract resources via taxation in the 20th century. It also attempts to extend coercive control and political authority over particular territories and the people residing in them.

  • Welfare state is a system in which the state is responsible for the well-being of its citizens. In practice, the usually entails providing a number of key necessities, such as food, health care, and housing, outside the economic marketplace.”

  • American Welfare State: The New Deal

    • Between 1929 and 1933, US faced a sever economic crisis with unemployment going from 4% in to 25%

    • This crisis led to emergence and strengthening of labor movements

    • In response, the New deal was developed in by president Roosevelt

    • It consisted in initiatives to intervene in the economic and protect workers.

    • National Industry Act [regulated industry]

    • Agricultural Adjustment Act [governmental control and subsidies]

    • National Housing Act [low-interest loans for housing]

    • National Labor Act [protection for unions]

    • Fair Labor Standards Act [set minimum wage

    • Started Social Security Act

      • Retirement Benefits

        • Financial assistance to retired workers and 65 or older

      • Unemployment Insurance

        • temporary financial assistance to workers who lost their job

      • Aid to Dependent Children (ADC)

        • financial assistance to families with children when the breadwinner was absent, unemployed, or deceased.

      • Grants to States for Public Health Services

        • Public grants for states to establish public health programs, including maternal and child health services.

    • How and why does a state develop a welfare system?

    • What is the function of the welfare system?

    • Industrialization Thesis

      • Nations develop social welfare benefits to satisfy the needs created by industrialization.

      • The state intervenes to take care of people who are not needed in the labor market: children, people with disabilities, and the elderly.

      • Because after industrialization there is a surplus of wealth, states can intervene to make sure people have enough food, clothing, and shelter.

      • In this perspective, the welfare state is the natural result of a healthy industrialized society

        • Functionalist thesis

    • State-centered Thesis

      • Government bureaucrats design policies based on perceived social conditions because aiding the population enhances their power.

      • Sometimes, the state acts on its own accord to formulate social policies, without being pressured by society.

      • In this perspective, the welfare state is tool used by government bureaucrats and politicians to further their interests.

        • Weber’s interpretive sociology, focusing on people motives.

    • Neo-Marxist Thesis

      • How can democracy and capitalism coexist?

      • When wealth is concentrated in the hands of a small group of people, the general population’s impulse might be to organize to confiscate that wealth through revolution.

      • To avoid that, the welfare state provides basic necessities and a degree of social and economic security.

        • Giving the people the minimum, will make them calm down

      • From this perspective, the welfare state is a mediator of class conflict

        • Conflict theory

• Rights

  • What rights are citizens entitled to?

  • What is a citizens relationship to the state?

  • T.H. Marshall - three types of rights

    • Civil rights (Not the one you're thinking of)

      • Guarantee a citizen’s personal freedom from state interference, including freedom of speech and the right to travel freely.

        • freedom for the state.

          • Seems to be defended the most. Freedom of speech, religion, press, etc.

    • Political rights

      • Guarantee a citizen’s right to participate in politics, including the right to vote and the right to hold office

        • Seems less important in American culture in foreign perspective. (having options to vote, redlining, etc.)

    • Social rights

      • Guarantee a citizen’s protection by the state, including “protection from the free market in the areas of housing, employment, health, and education” (Hasenfeld et al. 1987)

        • freedom from the market

          • right to health, educations, food, housing

        • this is the role of welfare state

    • There is an inherent contradiction between social rights and civil rights

    • how to balance market and welfare, freedom to and freedom from, is the center of debates about capitalism and democracy.

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October 21st Lecture

The Family - Origins

• What does the family have to do with capitalism and the state?

  • Everything, according to Fredrich Engels

    • The family is not a natural

      development.

    • The family is a social institution

      related to the modes of production

      (economy).

  • early human communities (pre-capitalism, pre-industrialization, pre-colonization) according to Engels....

    • Resources such as land, food, and tools were collective owned and shared.

    • Economy based on subsistence such as hunting, gathering, and horticulture.

    • Little division of labor and equality between men and women.

    • Families were not organized around monogamous, patriarchal units.

    • Families were communal or group-based, where sexuality was fluid and child-rearing was shared.

  • matrilineal societies

    • descent (family name) and inheritance

      were transmitted through mothers

• Pre-industrial patriarchal family

  • Human societies developed more advanced economic and production systems, especially agriculture and animal domestication.

  • With these new technologies, there was, the first time, a surplus of products (food, animals) that could be accumulated, stored, and inherited.

  • The surplus gave rise to the notion of private property.

  • The shift from shared resources to private property marks the beginning of

    class divisions and social inequalities within communities.

  • With the rise in importance of private property, men - who were more directly responsible for agriculture and herding - began to assume control over economic resources.

  • So was born the patriarchal, patrilineal family

    • patrilineal societies

      • descent (family name) and inheritance

        were transmitted through fathers

        the pre-industrial patriarchal family.

        • Started with emergence of private property

        • leads to a problem of questioning if men’s children are their biological children.

  • To establish patrilineal inheritance, monogamy was enforced for women.

    • Monogamy: the practice of having a sexual relationship with only one partner.

  • The establishment of monogamy was driven not by moral or religious ideals, but by the need to pass on private property to ‘legitimate’ children.

  • The state emerges as the institution that regulates patriarchal monogamy, with laws on marriage, inheritance, property, and women’s rights.

  • In this process, women lost the authority they carried in communal societies and became, themselves, property.

  • A patriarchal society, family, or system is one in which the men have all or most of the

    power and importance.

  • In pre-industrial patriarchal families, men were the head of the family but the

    division of labor between men and women was still minor

  • All members of the household (father, mother, and children) worked to produce the basics of their subsistence (food, clothes)

  • They all worked in the home (farming, carpentry)

• The family: post-industrial revolution

  • After the Industrial Revolution, families transitioned from a subsistence-

    based lifestyle in rural areas, where they grew their own food and made what they needed to survive, to working for wages in urban areas.

  • The home was no longer the setting of family and work

  • This is the beginning of the division between the public and private spheres: the public domain was associated with work, politics, and formal institutions; and the private domain was associated with family life, home, and personal relationships

  • Following this idea, men belong to the public sphere and women to the

    private sphere

  • With women being confined to the private sphere, their role in society

    narrowed.

  • Thus the capitalist sexual division of labor is established: men work for wages in the production of goods in the public sphere; and women work in the reproduction of humans in the private sphere, without a wage.

    • But didn’t working class women work after the Industrial Revolution?

      • They did. The process through which women were confined to domestic work was long and never fully realized in practice.

      • But the idealization of the patriarchal family has consequences nonetheless:

        • Working-class women worked in production and reproduction, which sociologists have called “the second shift”

        • Women’s work was devalued and jobs associated with women (sewing, cooking) were paid lower wages. This continues today.

      • The confinement of women to the private sphere did not “just happen,” it was the product of social and political struggles, including in unions.

      • In the 1850s, capitalists wanted to hire women and children to reduce men’s wages and control the labor market.

      • Faced with a choice between organizing with working women and demanding equal wages for both genders (which would increase the earnings of proletarian families) or attempting to ban women from employment and secure a family wage (which would consolidate men as breadwinners and fully institutionalize the ‘separate spheres’ for proletarian families), unionized working men chose to ban women

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• • • In the sexual division of labor, women are expected to engage in reproductive labor: cleaning, cooking, sewing, childbearing, child education, childcare, fulfilling the husband’s emotional and sexual needs, and caring for the elderly and sick

• The Family: Contemporary Issues

  • Fordism, or “the golden age of capitalism” and the golden age of the American family.

    • Named after Henry Ford, founder of Ford Motor, due to his assembly line techniques and wage policy

    • This stage is characterized by mass production and mass consumption

    • Higher wages for workers to buy what they produce

    • Strong unions and collective bargain

    • State intervention in the economy through welfare policies and social safety net

  • The family wage

    • a wage paid to male workers sufficient to support a dependent wife and the children

  • With the rise of mass consumption, women became the essential consumers

  • With the rise of mass production, men became the breadwinners

  • The family wage. . .

    • imposed strong incentives for women to marry and stay married, even when marriage was oppressive or unhappy

    • solidified myths about women’s dependence on men and their inability / unwillingness to work

• After the 1970’s

  • A combination of economic (the collapse of Fordism, see Week 6) and cultural (the feminist movement) developments led to women’s increasing entrance in the job market

  • Since the 1970s, women’s participation in the job market has increased and the fertility rate has dropped. In 1950, only 30% of American women worked outside the home.

  • That number more than doubled to 60% by 1999, and in 2018 was at 57%. (YMAY)

  • “Since the 1970s, daughters have increasingly departed from their mother’s paths.” (YMAY)

    • Basically:

      • The family is the smaller and the most essential production unit in capitalism.

      • The family is where the workers are produced.

      • As capitalism changes, so does the family

    • But what happens when the structure of the family is transformed due to women’s entrance in the job market, but nothing else changes?

      • Three interrelated consequences:

        • the second shift

          • Feminist sociologist Arlie Hochschild coined the concept of the second shift in 1989

          • The concept describes the unpaid reproductive work that women do at home on top of their paid work in the job market

          • As a consequence. . .

            • women are less likely to advance in their careers and increase their earnings

            • women have less time for leisure, community, and political organizing

        • women’s earning gap

          • Women, on average, consistently earn less than men

          • Their collective entrance in the job market increased their average earnings, but the gap remains

        • continued risk of domestic violence

          • The earning gap heightens women’s financial dependence on men

          • “So what?” you may ask?

          • “Broad social factors like poverty, single-parent households, and low levels of educational attainment are associated with higher levels of domestic abuse.”

          • Women are more at risk of violence in their home than anywhere else

            • “In a study of 10,000 homicides of women, over half of them were related to intimate partner violence.”