Money and Power An Introduction to Capitalism Karl

Money and Power: An Introduction to Capitalism Karl Marx The Bourgeoisie/ The Proletariat Labour Theory Alienation

Conflict �Conflict occurs due to a differences in opinion, or social inequalities �Conflict can also occur between what people feel they deserve and what they receive: distribution of wealth and power in society

The Bourgeoisie & The Proletariat Karl Marx, a sociologist, economist, revolutionary socialist in the 1800 s examined inequalities between two types of people: �The Bourgeoisie (the people who owned property, the means of production); and �The Proletariat (the working class, the people who owned their labour power)

�The Bourgeoisie accumulated power by controlling and owning the means of production= own large-scale operations and corporations that produce the goods people in society consume �The Proletariat are the working class; they work for the ruling class and consume products of big companies �Marx= the bourgeoisie exploited the working class and opressed them through this ideology we like to call : CAPITALISM

Capitalism: An Ideology � Marx saw capitalism as destructive= wanted to get rid of it � Many Westerners see Capitalism in a positive light � Superstructure of society: law, morality and education � The key to understanding a society at any point in history: mode of production (ex. feudal times= landlords owned and controlled it; capitalist= capital, machinery, mines, factories- owned and controlled by capitalists � In capitalist societies, capitalists own and control the productive resources; workers only own their labour

“Mo Money (for the capitalists), Mo Problems (for the labour workers)”

Marxism and Alienation �What is alienation? �Marx refers to alientation in economic terms: the aspect in which workers are disconnected from what they produce and why they produce= systemic result of capitalism �Workers lose control over their lives by losing control over their work= workers cease to be autonomous �Pre-capitalist societies example: A shoemaker would own his shop, set his own hours, determine his working conditions, shape and sell his own product= he was connected to his work.

�Today’s capitalist societies: average worker is replaceable; impersonal �Workers have lost control over the process of production, the products they produce, the relationships they have with each other= they have become estranged

Karl Marx’s Ideas �Humans cannot be humans under alienated conditions �Capitalism must be abolished if a society’s emancipation is to be complete �Real liberty does not exist until a worker controls his/her workplace and the products they produce �Profit should be dispersed equally amongst those who have contributed to the labour of the product

“Capitalism: A Love Story” �http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=UNl_G 0 m_ABU

New Vocabulary � Working Class: sometimes called the proletariat, typically blue-collar jobs, those who work for a salary. � Eviction/Notice of Eviction: removal of a tenant/tenants (person/people living in a household) from rental property by the landlord; removal of people from a home that is in foreclosure � Foreclosure/Foreclosed: the process where a bank will sell or take repossession of a home after the owner has repeatedly failed to pay their mortgage � Profit: money that is made off goods � “Bottom Feeders”: those people who exploit the weak and win economic advantage; who feed off the poor in hash economic times � Housing Crash: severe decrease in price of homes, which is a result of home owners holding mortgages that exceed the value of their homes � Free Enterprise: the economic system of capitalism: a separation between government interference in the economy; it is based on the idea that consumer’s interests will be best met with restricted government involvement in