- What is the distinction that Reading 4.3 makes between owners and employees? Give an example of each.
Reading 4.3 makes it clear that “the owning class live mostly off investments, which include stocks, bonds, rents, mineral royalties, and other property income” while employees make their money through “mostly off wages, salaries, and fees”
Ex:Elon Musk
Ex:Tesla factory workers
- How do you understand the quote by Adam Smith on pg. 28? What is it saying about labor?
I think the quote is trying to say that a product only becomes valuable because of the labor that goes behind it. It is saying labor is the most important part.
- What are your thoughts on the main argument of Reading 4.4 that class is NOT an identity?
I agree that class is not an identity, i think like the reading discusses a registered nurse and a tomato picker can both be in the same class but have two different lifestyles and backgrounds
- How do you understand the argument Reading 4.4. makes when stating that “class structures are built around a close form of dependency”? What is this close form of dependency, and can you think of an example?
This means that both workers and owners depend on each other for profit.
A factory employee depends on the factory to earn income and the employer depends on the factory workers to produce products. Without the factory employee the employer would have nothing to distribute to customers.
I agree with your explanation, especially when you said that workers and owners depend on each other. I also think your factory example makes this idea easy to understand because workers need their jobs for income, while owners need workers to produce goods and make profits. Your point about class not being an identity was also interesting because people can belong to the same class even if they have very different lifestyles and backgrounds.