1. Distinction between owners and employees?

Owners belong to the owning class, which have the wealth of society. They make money by investments, such as stocks, bonds, real estate, and financial assets. They can still earn money even while sleeping. However, employees belong to the working class, which must work for a living. They must sell their physical or mental labor for salaries. For example, a real estate investor who owns a lot of apartments is the owning class because she can earn money by collecting rent from tenants. In contrast, the real estate agent is the working class because he must actively facilitate property deals to earn a commission.

2. The quote by Adam Smith on pg. 28

Adam Smith considers labor as the real value of all commodities. Money is merely a symbol and medium used for transactions. The item itself doesn’t have that much value, but the labor increases it. For instance, Parenti points out that raw materials can’t generate profit by itself. Workers need to chop trees, operate machines, and transport goods to make raw materials as valuable commodities. The labor from workers during this process gives the real value of the product.

3. Class is NOT an identity

In my opinion, class is not a simple identity label because other identities tend to culture recognition, but class is related to the conflict of economy. For race, gender or other identities, people can through respecting each other and eliminating prejudge to live together peacefully. It has nothing to do with the economy. However, for social class, economic conflict always exists. The bosses want to use the minimum wage to make the biggest profit, while workers want less labor with high salaries. This is the direct conflict over money, being polite or respectful can’t resolve the problem over the social class. Therefore, class is a real economic conflict, not just an identity label.

4. Class structures are built around a close form of dependency

From my perspective, the close form of dependency means workers and capitalists are structurally bound together. Being a worker structurally requires dependency on an employer for a job, they need bosses to pay their salaries for living. While being a capitalist requires exploitation of workers to remain capital. Without the labor of the workers, the capitalist cannot generate more profit and remain capital value. For instance, a fast food worker depends on the salary to survive, and the owner depends on the labor of the worker to keep running their restaurant. Therefore, this structural dependency forces workers to stay in the system to survive, leaving them in a vulnerable position compared to capitalists.