1. The distinction that reading 4.3 makes between owners and workers is way in which they make their “wealth”. Workers, make their wealth of of wages and salary as they give their labor to owners. Owners alternatively make their wealth by the surplus value and profit that they receive by using and selling the labor put in by their worker. An example of both of these roles is a car dealership, where an owner uses the labor of its workers to sell highly priced cars. After selling the car, plenty of value is created for the company thanks to the labor put into the sale from the worker. The worker however will only see a small margin of this labor as they are compensated in their pay and whichever commission they received for their work. Meanwhile, the owner receive the surplus value of the sale which is the value of the sale not given back for the labor; where the owner had to do nothing except use a labor of their worker to gain.
  2. Adam Smith’s quote on labor is saying how labor is the strongest and most physical form of value. Although money can be used to gain labor, it is labor itself that allows for businesses and wealth to be accumulated. In other words, money is an item that is used to get what is truly valuable, that being labor. Ultimately, nothing can happen unless there is physical labor that can be put into it.
  3. My thoughts on the argument that class is NOT an identity I somewhat agree with the point of it being more like 2 groups being capitalist and workers and as they said ” more about interests and actions” I would agree that people are born with all the opportunities handed to them, or are born without these means and must work under someone else until they are able to reach a goal where they can become capitalist as well
  4. The statement “Class structure are built around a close form of dependency” from my understanding, means that both workers and capitalist are able to exist and chase their values from the help of each other, however in a way they exist in a checks and balances world where neither of the two sides are always in control. This means that both sides are capable of pushing back on the other if it begins to take advantage of the other. A good example of this would be like what is mentioned in the article with a strike. In a work office, workers are there to work because they need to in order to survive. As a result, they work for these capitalist owners, however if the owners attempt to push their power on these workers too hard, workers can join together and holdout against the owner in a strike. Although the owners have the money and resources, a holdout would leave them dry of their most valuable resource which is the labor of workers. Therefore, owners need to balance their needs and values with their workers. Alternatively, workers who begin to shift the power to themselves can be challenged by owners by being replaced by others workers who would be willing to provide the same service. Both sides have a dependency on each other and aim to provide a value to both sides.

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